Ickle Ockle Black Bottle

DESCRIPTION: "Ickle ockle black bottle, Ickle ockle out, If you come into my house, I will kick you out." Or "...bottle, Fishes in the sea, If you want a pretty maid, Please choose me." Or "...bottle, Ickle ockle out, O-U-T spells out, And out you must go."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren)
KEYWORDS: playparty wordplay
FOUND IN: Britain New Zealand
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 238, "Ickle ockl, blue bockle" (1 text)
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p. 88, "(Ickle ockle black bottle)" (4 texts); p. 98, "(Ickle ockle black bottle)" (2 texts); there may also be relics of this among the texts on p. 95
Roud #20650
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "One Two Three Four, Mary at the Cottage Door" ("O-U-T spells out" lyric) and references there
NOTES [61 words]: NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Leonidas Betts, "Folk Speech from Kipling [North Carolina]," Vol. XIV, No. 2 (Nov. 1966), p. 40, has an interesting form beginning "Eeny, meeny, tipsy, teeny, Apple jack, John Sweeney" and proceeding for six more lines, then ending "O-U-T spells out, And out goes you"; this appears to be an unusual composite of several counting rhymes.
Last updated in version 4.4
File: SuSm088A

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