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What Shall We Do Now? 77
something—of any description whatever—asks them in turn, " What is my thought like ? " Not having the faintest idea what the thought is they reply at random. One may say, " Like a dog " ; another, " Like a saucepan " ; a third, " Like a wet day " ; a fourth, " Like a pantomime." After collecting all the answers the player announces what the thought was, and then goes along the row again calling upon the players to explain why it is like the thing named by them. The merit of the game lies in these explanations. Thus, perhaps the thing thought of was a concertina. The first player, asked to show why a concertina is like a dog, may reply, " Because when it is squeezed it howls." The next may say, " It is like a heavy saucepan because it is held in both hands." The third, " It is like a wet day because one soon has enough of it" ; and the fourth, " It is like a pantomime because it is full of tunes."
Another old game of this kind is " P's and Q's." The players sit in a circle and one stands up and asks them each a question in turn. The question takes this form, " The King of England [or France, or Germany, or Africa, or Russia, or India, whatever country it may be] has gone forth with all his men. Tell me where he has gone, but mind your P's and Q's." The player who is addressed must then reply, naming, in whatever country is mentioned, some town that does not begin with P or Q or with any letter before P in the alphabet. Thus, if the question refers to England, he may say " Salisbury " but not " Bristol," " Redruth " but not " Oxford " ; or to France, " Toulon " but not " Lyons," " Versailles " but not " Dieppe."
The game is capable of improvement or, at least, of variety. For instance, instead of P's and Q's, the questioner may say, " Mind your K's and L's," or instead of ruling out all letters before P, all letters after Q may be stopped. And one need not confine the game to geography, but may adapt it to include animals, or eatables, or books. |
P's and q's. |
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