Call and Response Games Round And Round The Village
( Call and Response, Command and Response, Dancing, Running, Singing and Song )
Go round and round the village
Go round and round the village
Go round and round the village
Go as we have done before.Go in and out the windows
Go in and out the windows
Go in and out the windows
Go as we have done before.Now stand and face your partner
Now stand and face your partner
Now stand and face your partner
And bow before you go.Now follow me to London
Now follow me to London
Now follow me to London
As we have done before.
The players form a circle clasping hands with one player outside. In this game the circle stands still and represents the houses of a village. The player outside sings the first verse dancing around the circle. On the second verse “In and out the windows ” etc. the players forming the ring raise their clasped hands to represent windows and the outside player passes in under one arch out under the next and so on winding in and out until the circle has been completed. She tries to get around by the time the verse is finished and then goes on singing the third verse while she pauses in the circle and chooses a partner. These two then run around the outside of the circle while singing the last verse “Follow me to London ” etc. returning at the close to the center of the circle where they bow and part the first player taking her place in the ring. The game is then repeated with the second player running around the outside of the village.
Where large numbers are playing several players may be chosen instead of one to run around the village and in and out of the windows. In that case several partners will be chosen and at the close the first players will return to the circle and the partners whom they have chosen will go on with the game by running around the village and singing the first verse again.
FOR THE SCHOOLROOM.–In the schoolroom two players may be chosen to run “Round and round the village ” starting from different parts of the room. The remainder of the class sits and sings while these players run up and down through the aisles each touching two or three pupils who rise and run after them. When the windows are mentioned the seated players who still have neighbors sitting across the aisles stand and clasp hands with the neighbors to form an arch under which the runners make their way.
Variations.–A pretty variation in this game adapting it to the modern city environment with which many city children are more familiar than they are with village life is to substitute for the words “Round and round the village” and “In and out the windows” the words “Round and round the city” (presumably on elevated or subway trains) and “In and out the stations” or “In and out the subway.” While this tampering with a traditional form of the game is questionable there is no doubt that children much enjoy playing about things related to their own experiences. A gradual and probably unconscious adaptation to environment is one of the manifestations of the folk-lore spirit.