Frog in the Middle

DESCRIPTION: Children's game: "Frog in the middle And can't get out. Take a stick And punch him out." (Or "Frog in the meadow/millpond, Can't get him out; Take a little stick And stir him about.")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1921 (Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5); 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: playparty animal
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, p. 130, (no title) (1 short text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5, p. 535, "Frog in the Middle" (1 short text, 1 tune)
McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, pp. 81-82, "Froggie's in the Meadow" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Skean-CircleLeft-FolkPlayOfKentuckyMountains, p. 8, "Froggie's in the Meadow" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 25, "Froggie-in-the-Millpond"; p. 78, "Froggie in the Millpond" (2 texts)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, (Rachel Cranford, collector), "Games and Game Rhymes", Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jun 1948), p. 13, "(Frog in the Mill Pond)" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, Frances Boshears, "Granddaddy Roberts," Volume 3, Number 3 (Fall 1953), p. 154, "(Froggy in the meadow can't get him out)" (1 text)
Roud #14047 and 21632
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Frog in the Meadow
NOTES [122 words]: I suspect that there is a good deal more to this game than Scarborough describes. But until we find another version, we're left guessing, e.g., as to how one becomes the "frog" (whom she describes as a child in the middle of a circle, and poked out into the ring). The Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 version is no help; it's just a few words and a tune, with no description. McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks is only a little better; he had a short description, and an informant claimed the game had a moral: "You will be punished if you steal."
Roud seems to split this in two based on whether the frog is in the MIDDLE or in the MILL POND. But the rest is the same, so I regard them as the same. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: ScaNF130

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