found in the
folk-lore of almost every country in the world. Commenting on the
opening line, the late Mr. Charles G. Leland, author of the _Hans
Breitmann_ ballads, and an acknowledged authority on the language and
customs of the Eastern Gypsies, sets against it a Romany stanza, used as
a spell, beginning:--

Ekkeri, akai-ri, you kiar-an,

and remarks that "Ekkeri, akai-ri," literally translated, just gives the
familiar "One-ery, two-ery," which is etymologically analogous to
"Hickory, dickory," in the all-pervading nursery rhyme:--

Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock;
The clock struck one, and down the mouse ran,
Hickory, dickory, dock.

An American version of which, by the bye, goes:--

Hiddlety, diddlety, dumpty,
The cat ran up the plum tree;
Half-a-crown to fetch her down,
Hiddlety, diddlety, dumpty.

But still, before leaving the familiar chapping-out rhyme of Marjorie
Fleming, let us see how it occurs again in Scotland and among the
children of some of the other English-speaking nations, to go no
further. Charles Taylor, in the _Magpie; or Chatterings of the Pica_,
published at Glasgow in 1820, gives it thus:--

Anery, twaery, duckery, seven,
Alama, crack, ten am eleven;
Peem, pom, it must be done,
Come teetle, come total, come twenty-one;

and remarks:--"This is reported to have originated with the Druids; the
total number of words is twenty-one, and it seems to be a mixture of
words put into rhyme." In the streets and lanes and open spaces of
Aberdeen it runs:--

Enery, twa-ery, tuckery, taven,
Halaba, crackery, ten or eleven;
Peen, pan, musky dan,
Feedelam, Fadelam, twenty-one.

In the county of Wexford, in Ireland, it goes:--

One-ery, two-ery, dickery, Davy,
Hallabone, crackabone, tenery, Navy;
Discome, dandy, merry-come-tine,
Humbledy, bumbledy, twenty-nine,
O-U-T, out. You must go out!

In the Midlands of England:--

One-ery, two-ery, dickery, dee,
Halibo, crackibo, dandilee;
Pin, pan, muskee dan,
Twiddledum, twaddledum, twenty-one;
Black fish, white trout,
Eeny, meeny, you go out.

In Massachusetts, U.S., America:--

Ena, deena, dina, dust,
Catler, wheeler, whiler, whust;
Spin, spon, must be done,
Twiddleum, twaddleum, twenty-one.

In the island of Guernsey:--

Eena, deena, dina, duss,
Catalaweena, wina, wuss;
Tittle, tattle, what a rattle,
O-U-T spe