only one person of a side can be engaged at a time. At a given signal one of each side commences, trying to lift one of the potatoes with the spoon without touching it in any other way, shoving against the wall, or doing anything to make it easier to lift. Having got it on his spoon, he has to stand erect, carry it to the opposite side of the room and lay it gently down from the spoon. If the first player is successful, he hands his spoon to another of his own side, who proceeds to try and carry over the next potato in the same way, but success or failure means passing the spoon to another of his own side. The party that can first show its three potatoes laid, according to the rules of the art, close to the opposite wall from which it started, is the winner.
POSTSCRIPT.
(P. 43, after line sixteenth from bottom.)
"How many fingers" is thus played in the Lewis:
The one who has to guess sits on a chair and the one who shows the number of fingers stands behind, striking the sitter on his cheeks with his thumb nails, suddenly released from the pressure of his first finger, as one might throw a marble. During this he repeats:
"Aon mhuchain, da mhuchain
Maide sùr, cul an duirn,
Cearc bheag mhineach bhan
Rug aon ubh air an spar,
'S thuit e sios air an lar.
Tomhais romhad 's do dheigh,
Cia mheud adhairc air a' bhoc."
(One flick, two flicks, / Probing (?) stick, back of the hand / A small gentle white hen / Had an egg upon the spar / And it fell down to the ground. / Guess before you and after / How many horns are upon the buck.) The questioner now holds up as many fingers as he wants guessed. If the answer is wrong, the same process of pinching and repetition of the lines goes on till the guesser is right.
