Again, boys often bind one another to a bargain or promise by
a sort of oath, which is completed by spitting. It runs thus:
"Chaps ye, chaps ye,
Double, double daps ye,
Fire aboon, fire below,
Fire on every side o' ye."
After saying this, the boy spits over his head three times, and without
this the oath is not considered binding; but when properly done, and the
promise not fulfilled, the defaulter is regarded as a liar, and is kept
for a time at an outside by his companions.
When two boys made an arrangement (I am speaking of what was the custom
fifty years back), either to meet together at a stated time or to do
some certain thing, the arrangement was confirmed by each spitting on
the ground.
When a number of boys or girls were trying to find out a puzzle or guess
put to them, and which they failed to unravel or answer, and when they
were searching for something which had been hidden from them, and which
they could not discover, the usual method of acknowledging that they
were outwitted was by spitting on the ground; in the language of the
day, they would be requested to "spit and gie't o'er," that is, own that
they were beaten.
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