The hound chases the odd rabbit, who may take refuge in any tree, always running in and out under the arms of the players forming the tree. But no two rabbits may lodge in the same tree; so as soon as a hunted rabbit enters a tree, the rabbit already there must run for another shelter. Whenever the hound catches a rabbit, they change places, the hound becoming rabbit and the rabbit hound. Or the hound may at any time become a rabbit by finding shelter in an empty tree, whereupon the odd rabbit who is left without shelter must take the part of the hound.
This game may be made very lively, and has much sport in it even for adults. The trees should be scattered promiscuously so that both rabbits and hound may have many opportunities to dodge and run in various directions, with false starts and feints that add zest and interest to such a game.
For large numbers of players it is advisable to give each a better chance to participate actively in the game by having the rabbits and trees change parts whenever a rabbit is caught. The hound, and the rabbit who was caught, then choose their successors.
[Illustration: HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON?]
The players are divided into two lines and stand facing each other, with a distance of about ten feet between. Each line numbers off in twos, and the players in each line take hold of hands. The following dialogue takes place between the two lines, all of the players in a line asking or answering the questions in unison. The lines rock forward and backward during the dialogue from one foot to another, also swinging the clasped hands forward and backward in time to the rhythm of the movement and the words. The time should be rapid.
"Threescore and ten." "Will we be there by candle light?" "Yes, and back again." "Open your gates and let us through." "Not without a beck [courtesy] and a boo [bow]." "Here's a beck and here's a boo, Here's a side and here's a sou; Open your gates and let us through."
As the players in the first line say, "Here's a beck and here's a boo," they suit the action to the words, drop hands, and make each a courtesy, with wrists at hips for the "beck," and straighten up and make a deep bow forward for the "boo"; assume an erect position and bend the head sideways to the right for "Here's a side," and to the left for "Here's a sou." Then the partners clasp hands and all run forward in eight quick steps in the same rhythm as the dialogue that has been repeated, each couple passing under the upraised hands of the opposite couple, which represent the city gates. Having taken the eight steps, the running couple turns around, facing the other line from the opposite side. This is done in four running steps, making twelve steps in all. The couples that made the gates then turn around in four running steps (a total of sixteen steps or beats) until they face the first line, when they in turn begin the rocking motion and the dialogue, "How many miles to Babylon?" This is repeated indefinitely, each line being alternately the questioners and the gates.