Bluebells, Cockleshells

DESCRIPTION: "Bluebells, Cockleshells, Evy ivy over, (You buy salt and I'll buy flour, And we'll bake a pudding). (Up the ladder And down the wall, A penny an hour Will serve us all.) Salt, mustard, vinegar, pepper"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1972 (Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren)
KEYWORDS: playparty food jumprope | spices
FOUND IN: New Zealand US(MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(West) Ireland
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #41, "Bluebells, cockleshells"; #42, "Bluebells, my cockleshells" (2 text, the first just "Bluebells, cockleshells, Eevy, ivy, over"; the second including the "SIx white angels by my side... two to carry my soul away" floating verse)
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p. 104, "(Bluebells, cockleshells)" (2 texts); p. 107, "(Bluebells, cockleshells)" (1 text)
Brady-AllInAllIn, p. 83, "(Bluebells, cockle-shells)" (1 text)
Peirce-KeepTheKettleBoiling, p. 26, "(Bluebells, cockle shells)" (1 text)
Sackett/Koch-KansasFolklore, p. 224, "Blue bells, cockle shells" (1 text)
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 50, "Dr. Brown"; "How Many Miles" (2 texts, with different conclusions but the same opening)
Ainsworth-JumpRopeVerses, #2, "Blue bells, cruicille shells"; #17, "(Blue bell, cocker shell)"; #69, "(Blue bell, Cockle shell)"; #75, "(Blue bell, cockle shells)" (4 texts)
Delamar-ChildrensCountingOutRhymes, p. 120, "Blue bells, cockle shells"; p. 126, "Bluebells, cockleshells" (2 texts); cf. p. 121, "Eevy Ivy, eevy, ivy, eevy, ivy, over" (1 text, with this chorus line although it's about Professor Bright teachig children)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Teri John, "A Collection of Jump Rope Rhymes," Vol. XXI, No. 1 (Apr 1973), p. 16, "(Silver bells, Cockle Shells)" (1 text); p. 17, "(Salt, Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper)"; "(Vinegar, Salt, And red-hot pepper)" (2 texts, which might be this or one of the other "vinegar" verses)
Roud #19213 and 19426
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Mabel, Mabel" (verse regarding vinegar, salt, mustard, pepper)
cf. "Baker, Baker, Bake Your Bread" (verse regarding vinegar, salt, mustard, pepper)
cf. "One to Make Ready" (verse regarding vinegar, salt, mustard, pepper)
cf. "Up the Ladder, Down the Wall" ("You buy X and I'll buy Y" lyric)
cf. "Wavy, Wavy, Turn the Rope Over" (lyrics)
NOTES [83 words]: Based on the citations in Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, this must be one of the four or five most popular jump-rope rhymes in the English-speaking world -- although it takes on so many floating verses that it's hard to really decide what is this and what is some other verse. (More than half the citations in Abrahams appear to be mixes of this with other rhymes.)
The "Salt, mustard, vinegar, pepper" not only floats, it seems to have existed on its own; see the fragment on p. 78 of Brady-AllInAllIn. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: SuSm104B

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