King of the Castle

DESCRIPTION: "I, William of the Wastle, Am now in my castle, And a' the dogs in the town Winna gae me gang down." Or, more simply, "I'm king of the castle, you're the little rascal."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1680 (FLetcher, The Perfect Politician, according to the Opies)
KEYWORDS: playparty home
FOUND IN: US Ireland
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren, #111, "Defence of the Castle" (1 text)
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 287, "I'm the king of the castle" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #76 n. 20, pp. 81-82, "(I'm the King of the Castle)"
Brady-AllInAllIn, p. 35, "King of the Castle" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Edith Fowke, _Red Rover, Red Rover: Children's Games Played in Canada_, p. 72, "King of the Castle" (a description of the game without text)
Roud #19815
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sic a Wife as Willie Had (Willie Wastle)" (character?)
NOTES [45 words]: We played this as a game when I was young, using the "I'm king of the castle, you're the little rascal" form. The idea was to dislodge the castle-keeper from the designated castle. I cannot remember what rules, if any, there were for how one went about doing that. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: Newe111

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