Wall-flowers, Wall-flowers - English Children's Songs - England - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World - Intro Image

Notes

*Or "Hieland Fling"

*****

Here's another version which you can hear online:

Wall-flowers, wall-flowers
Growing up so high,
We are little children
And we shall surely die,
Excepting (kid's name)
And she's the youngest child,
She can hop and she can skip
And she can turn the mangle stick.
Fie, fie, fie for shame,
Turn your face to the wall again.

Game Instructions

The children form a ring by joining hands. They all dance slowly around, singing the words. When one child is named by the ring she turns around, so that her face is turned to the outside of the ring and her back inside. She still clasps hands with those on either side of her, and dances or walks around with them. This is continued until all the players have turned and are facing outwards.

Comments

Alan Hutchinson sent the following version from Durham county:

Wall flower, wall flowers
Growing up the wall
All little children
They're all going to die
Except (kids name)
She's the only one
Oh for shame
Ah for shame
Turn your head around again.

*****
Kay Redmond wrote about "Wall Flowers" in Liverpool:

"Wall Flowers - I looked this up on your site because I was talking about it with a group of friends in Liverpool and some hadn't heard of it, and others had different versions.

My version is -

Wall flowers, wall flowers,
growing up so high,
We're all ladies and we shall have to die,
Except for. ....... (name),
She's the only one,
She can hop, and she can skip,
And she can turn the candlestick.

On the word turn, you turned to face out of the circle as described on your site.

We used to play this game in the late 1940s; we lived in Wirral, Cheshire - now Merseyside."

Best wishes,
Kate

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Diagram of how to play the game comes from "The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland" (1898) edited by Alice Bertha Gomme. Thanks to Alan Hutchinson and Kay Redmond for sending us their versions of Wall Flowers.