Memories Of Saying "Ollie Ollie Oxen Free" During Hide & Seek Games

 Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about the children's phrase "Ollie Ollie oxen free" (also spelled "Olly Olly oxen free") and similar sayings that are yelled out while playing hide &  seek (also known as "Hide & Go Seek") and other games.

This post also includes comments from several online sources that document some childhood memories of saying "Ollie Ollie oxen free" and similar phrases.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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INFORMATION & COMMENTS ABOUT THE PHRASE "OLLIE OLLIE OXEN FREE" OR SIMILAR PHRASES

These online sources are given in no particular order.

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

Source #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hide-and-seek
"Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three)[1] conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chosen player (designated as being "it") counting to a predetermined number with eyes closed while the other players hide. After reaching this number, the player who is "it" calls "Ready or not, here I come!" or "Coming, ready or not!" and then attempts to locate all concealed players.[2]

The game can end in one of several ways. The most common way of ending is the player chosen as "it" locates all players; the player found first is the loser and is chosen to be "it" in the next game. The player found last is the winner. Another common variation has the seeker counting at "home base"; the hiders can either remain hidden or they can come out of hiding to race to home base; once they touch it, they are "safe" and cannot be tagged.

The game is an example of an oral tradition, as it is commonly passed by children.[3]

[…]

In some versions of the game, after the first hider is caught or if no other players can be found over a period of time, the seeker calls out a previously-agreed phrase (such as "Olly olly oxen free", "Come out, come out wherever you are" or "All in, All in, Everybody out there all in free") to signal the other hiders to return to base for the next round.[6]”…
-snip-
I added italics to highlight the saying "Olly Olly oxen free". 

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Source #2
From https://idiomation.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/ollie-ollie-oxen-free/ Ollie, Ollie, Oxen Free,
Posted by Admin on March 7, 2011
"In the video games, Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike, the phrase “ollie, ollie, oxen free” is used a number of times to pass along information to other members of the team.  In Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, if a player shoots an enemy and then hides, the player is hunted down with the phrase “Ollie, ollie, oxen free! Come out, come out wherever you are!”

Aside from that, it’s hard to find published references to the phrase “ollie, ollie, oxen free.”

Children’s sayings were hardly recorded until the 1950s, and even then, the sayings are very variable. That’s because they’ve been passed down orally from one generation to the next, with no adult intervention or correction.  And so, errors in passing the sayings down from generation to generation is not unlike the misheard lyrics of popular songs over the decades.

The most likely explanation for the phrase is that it is a corruption of the German “Alle, alle auch sind frei” which, when translated, means “Everyone, everyone also is free.” 

When “alle, alle auch sind frei” is said in a normal speaking voice, phonetically it sounds somewhat like this: aw-luh aw-luh owhk zint fry. Imagine how it sounds when excited children are running about, shouting this at the top of their lungs and it’s easy to see how it becomes this: aw-luh aw-luh owxin fry. With minimal effort, it easily becomes: ollie, ollie, oxen free.

It may also be a corruption of “allez, allez” which is a Norman addition to the English language from French and is pronounced “all-ay, all-ay.” The word “allez” in French, of course, means “go.” The ensuing “in kommen frei” was a phrase popular in Dutch/German New York and Pennsylvania and meant “come in free.”  In this case, “Allez, allez, in kommon frie” may have morphed into a French-English hybrid: “Allez, allez, come in free!”

What we do know is that French court historian and poet, Jean Froissart (1337 – 1405) wrote of having played hide-and-go-seek in England as well as in France.  We also know that the game of hide-and-seek is nearly identical to the game described by the 2nd-century Greek writer Julius Pollux.

Idiomation was unable to located the phrase used in the game of hide-and-seek that was used to call hiders back to “home base” in either Froissart’s era or Pollux’s era."
-snip-
Here are some comments from this article's discussion thread (with numbers added for referencing purposes only)
1. Kathy Calhoun, March 21, 2017
"We used this phrase in the 1950’s when playing hide and seek. Grandmother was from Germany"

**
Reply
2. Joe Livak, April 22, 2017 
"We used this phrase in East Oakland in the 1950s and none us the kids were of German extraction, but the explanation by Elyse makes the most sense. A lot of people my age (75) are fondly familiar with the phrase."
-snip-
"East Oakland" is probably in California.

**
Reply
3. Pam, June 24, 2017 
"I’m younger than Joe above (in my early 50’s) but we used the phrase “Ollie, Ollie, oxen, free!” to call in remaining hiders in hide and seek in Texas when I was a kid in the late 60’s and early 70’s. So it was alive and well back then. That said, I have not heard children use it since then. Is it still used today?"

**
4. Nohboddy, August 5, 2017 at 9:15 am
"I’m 31 and I used it throughout my childhood in Gonzales, LA. It was a MUCH smaller town back then than it is now, but it shows that it was used at least by some through the 90’s. I learned it from my grandmother, though I’m not sure where she learned it from. I haven’t heard kids using it as of late either but I still use it when my 9 y/o son decides to hide away from us. If we keep using it around our kids/grand-kids then it’ll stay alive in at least some parts."
-snip-
"LA" = "Louisiana, USA"

**
Reply
5. Shawndra, October 15, 2017 at 4:25 pm
"I’m 32 and used it in CO growing up as well!! My several-year-older siblings taught me, and in turn I taught my nieces and nephews, lol. Long live customization and idiomism!!"
-snip-
"CO" = "Colorado, USA"

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Source #3
From http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-oll1.htm
..."One guess is that the original [phrase that "Ollie ollie oxen free" is based on] was something like “all in free” for “all who are out can come in free”, to indicate that the person who is “it” in the game of hide-and-seek has caught somebody to become the new “it”, and so everybody else can come out of hiding without the risk of being caught.

Oral transmission has garbled this in fascinating ways, with all in, for example, being translated by a series of mishearings to the name Ollie (short for Oliver, once more common than it is now). And oxen may have come from an intermediate form out’s in free — other recorded versions are awk in, Oxford, and ocean.

Various subscribers remember versions that suggest the first part of the catch was once something like “all of you”. Charles Wilson wrote: “When I was growing up in the American South we actually said, ‘All ye all ye outs in free’ when playing hide-and-seek (although we called it ‘hide-and-go-seek’)”...

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Source #4
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=155234 Subject: Folklore: in come or oxen free?

[Pancocojams Editor's Note: These are selected comments from that discussion thread. That thread is still open for comments.]

1. -Bettynh. 11 Aug 14 - 02:28 PM
"When I was growing up (very close to Boston, Mass. in the 1950s) my mom would call us home from playing by singing out

"Allee allee in come free"

Thirty years later and thirty miles away, I was informed by my kids that the chant should be

"Allee allee oxen free"

That never felt right to me. What do cattle have to do with this? Anyway, I just called them by name. But now I'm wondering: was the difference location? or progression of time (it's hard to imagine a sensible call to become nonsensical but..)? I can't remember if other mothers called their kids in that way when I was young. I do think I've heard the "oxen" variation elsewhere (on TV or in a movie?)."

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2. Q (Frank Staplin), 11 Aug 14 - 02:51 PM
"Allee, allee, outs in free.

From a hiding game; all those kids who hid and remained undiscovered could come home, as a new kid had been caught/found and would have to search for a replacement (or the game was over).

I remember playing the game in the 1930s.

So, do you know what I'm talking about here? What variation did your family use?"
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: I was a member of Mudcat Discussion Forum for a number of years. If I remember correctly, Q (Frank Staplin) grew up in the United States and later moved to Canada. Most of the commenters (posters) in this discussion thread who gave geographical locations are from England.

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3. GUEST,mg, 11 Aug 14 - 02:51 PM
"i heard ox in..used to call people in from a game of tag etc."

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4.  MartinRyan, 11 Aug 14 - 03:13 PM
"When I think of it, in my (late '40's) childhood, the end of a hiding game was always announced with the call "All in! All in! The game is all up!" sung out in a kind of lilt."

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5. GUEST, topsie, 11 Aug 14 - 03:32 PM
"In Somerset in the 1950s "All in ..." was the call to gather players together before starting a game - children would link arms and call "All in who wants to play 'The Big Ship Sails' (or 'The Farmer's in his Den' or whatever game it was going to be)". When enough payers had joined the line the game would start.

I can't remember a call for ending a game."

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6. Black belt caterpillar wrestler, 11 Aug 14 - 04:04 PM
"Somerset in the 1960s it was definitely "oxen".

I could never work out why either."

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7. Steve Gardham, 11 Aug 14 - 04:23 PM
"1950s Hull Yorkshire.

'All-ee, all-ee in' to gather participants together for whatever reason. Any hide and seek game ranging over a fair distance down back streets, particularly for re-alley-o (Relievo) but Block as well.

I don't remember it being used in long-rope skipping as there was usually a rhyme or chant to call everyone in to this. 'All in together, girls, this fine weather, girls' etc."

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8. GUEST,leeneia, 12 Aug 14 - 02:46 AM
"All-ee, all-ee in free

 chicagoland, 1950's, to signal the end of a round of Hide and Go Seek. (Not Hide and Seek.)"
-snip-
Chicagoland= Chicago, Illinois ("Chicagoland" isn't a standard nickname for that United States city.)

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9.  clueless don, 12 Aug 14 - 08:49 AM
"Washington DC, in the 1950s, playing Hide and Seek (not Hide and Go Seek.) If a hider was able to get back to base without being caught by the seeker, he/she could holler "Free", and would be free for the rest of the game. On the other hand, he/she could holler "Olly Olly Oxen Free", which meant that not only was he/she free, but all of the other hiders were also free - in other words, the seeker had failed. I believe it was sometimes considered mean to yell "Olly Olly Oxen Free", since it didn't give the seeker a chance to find one of the other hiders."

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10.Don Firth, 12 Aug 14 - 01:52 PM
"Folk process in action. Oftentimes words get misheard and it's amazing what they can turn into sometimes.

I remember back in the 1930s (when the Big Bang occurred, I was the guy who yelled, "What the hell was THAT!??"), kids in my neighborhood played games like hide-and=seek and kick-the-can a lot, and from time to time the call went out, "Ollie Ollie oxen free!"

Somebody, a grown up maybe, pointed out that they had always called "All ye, all ye, outs in free!" Made sense to me, but there was quite a dispute about it among the kids. Never settled, but no matter...."
-snip-
This is how this comment was written in that discussion thread.

**
11. Steve Gardham, 12 Aug 14 - 03:52 PM
"When we shouted 'allee allee in' I presumed we were simply shouting 'All in' with the customary y added on the end as in mate>matey, dog>doggy etc.

These threads are both valuable and interesting as short phrases and calls like this often went unrecorded when the collectors were writing down the rhymes and games. 'Calling out' is something I haven't heard in 50 years. When our houses were packed together like sardines and we all lived on top of each other, if we wanted to ask a friend if he was coming out to play we would stand at the back gate and shout 'Yow, (name)!'. A frequent response from a mother would be, 'He's having his tea. He'll be out after.' To attract the attention of a friend in the distance we would yodel 'Ee-yow-oo!. Crescendo on the last syllable."

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12. GUEST,Blandiver, 13 Aug 14 - 04:06 PM
"All in, all in, Mother Goose is calling!

 (SE Northumberland, 1960s)"

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13. Mysha, 14 Aug 14 - 12:44 PM
"Hi Don,

Ah, earlier times. Yet, "All ye, all ye, outs in free!" probably isn't the original either. The heralds cry is: "Oyez, oyez", which means "Hear ye, hear ye." It would seem to me that that call for attention is what is used here. (And that cry has other forms still.)

I'm also not sure of the "outs in free" bit, but if English ever used the verb "syn", rather than "to be", it must have been quite a while back. Still, "All syn free" has a better ring than the unusual "outs"; I've never heard of them actually being called "outs" except for this one cry…."

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Comments About The Children's Game "Who's Afraid Of The Black Man"

Edited by Azizi Powell

Revised November 9, 2018

[Former title "Internet Quotes About The European Children's Game "Who's Afraid Of The Black Man"/"Beware The Black Man"]

This pancocojams post presents a compilation of internet quotes that I've found about the European children's game "Who's Afraid Of The Black Man". This game is also known as "Beware The Black Man".

In the online quotes that I've found (as of November 18, 2017) the European countries where children have played or still play the game "Who's Afraid Of The Black Man"/"Beware The Black Man" are Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, Finland, and, Austria.

The content of this post is presented to raise awareness of this game for socio-cultural purposes and NOT for recreational purposes as I strongly prefer that children would not play this game.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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QUOTES ABOUT THE CHILDREN'S GAME "WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BLACK MAN"/"BEWARE THE BLACK MAN"
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
Except for the first two examples, these quotes are given in no particular order.

A few editorial comments are added after some of these quotes.

Numbers have been assigned to these quotes for referencing purposes. With the exception of the first two examples, I retrieved all of these examples from the internet on November 18, 2017.

Example #1:
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcfPVj5qR1E Afro.Germany – Being black and German | DW Documentary
DW Documentary, Published on Mar 29, 2017

Black and German: news anchor Jana Pareigis has spent her entire life being asked about her skin color. What is it like to be black in Germany? What needs to change?

“Where are you from?” Afro-German journalist Jana Pareigis has heard that question since her early childhood. And she’s not alone. Black people have been living in Germany for around 400 years, and today there are an estimated one million Germans with dark skin. But they still get asked the latently racist question, "Where are you from?”

Jana Pareigis is familiar with the undercurrents of racism in the western world. When she was a child, the Afro-German TV presenter also thought her skin color was a disadvantage. "When I was young, I wanted to be white,” she says.

Parageis takes us on a trip through Germany from its colonial past up to the present day, visiting other dark-skinned Germans to talk about their experiences. They include rapper Samy Deluxe, pro footballer Gerald Asamoah and Theodor Michael, who lived as a black man in the Third Reich. They talk about what it’s like to be black in Germany.”
-snip-
Quote at 2:01-2:26 of this video:
Jana Pareigis: "I mean I always had a lot of friends. I remember in kindergarten that um we played these funny games like “Who’s Afraid Of The Black Man” and “Ten Little Negroes” it’s called in German. So um I remember sometimes they run after me and said “Jana Africana” it’s something like “Jana is an African. Jana is an African". And the problem is that “African” meant something bad.
-snip-
This quote from this documentary reminded me of the first time that I had read about the game "Who's Afraid Of The Black Man" (in 2008; Read Example #2 below). This documentary's quote about that game motivated me to search for additional online mentions of this game and then publish this pancocojams compilation.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/11/youtube-comments-about-being-black-in.html for Part I of a two part pancocojams series that presents comments from the discussion thread for the above mentioned YouTube video and discussion threads for two other YouTube videos about growing up Black in Germany. The link for Part II of that series is given in that post. Part II presents selected comments from the same three YouTube videos' discussion threads about being a Black adult in Germany or in certain other European nations.

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Example #2
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=123578
[given "as is" with spelling errors]

a) Subject: Folklore: The Devil The Color Black
From: Azizi
Date: 12 Sep 09 - 09:57 AM

The purpose of this thread is to explore the old belief that the devil and demons were the color black.

I'm interested in any recollections people may have of any supersitions, proverbs, folk songs, or children's rhymes, and children's games that refer to the devil, demons, witches being black (with no disrespect intended for those who are Wicca).

I'm also interested in any references to religious songs,folk songs, proverbs, or children's rhymes of the color white being good (pure) and black being evil (impure).

The impetus for my [current] research of this subject is a 2008 query that I found last night on an anti-rascist parents blog. The query was from an American mother living in Germany who requested information about a German children's game similar to tag called "Who's Afraid Of The Black Man". I'll post that query in my next post to this thread, and explain how that query led me to this subject.

I'll also provide a number of hyperlinks and excerpts from online sources that I have found on this subject. And of course, I hope that others will also do so.

By the way, I used Mudcat's search engine to try to identify any previous discussion thread on this subject, but didn't find any. If there is such a thread (or threads, or posts withing others threads) I would appreciate someone identifying them.

Thanks in advance for your participation in this thread.

**
b) Subject: RE: Folklore: The Devil The Color Black
From: Azizi
Date: 12 Sep 09 - 10:07 AM

Here is the query that I referred to in my first post to this thread:

"# 15. Sue armstrong wrote:

I live in Germany and was horrified to hear that my son was playing an (apparently common game ) in his gym class called "who's afraid of the black man?"

I told the teacher that I personally found the words offensive and that coloured children in the class might also feel really bizarre singing these words.

Her reply was that she had explained to all the class beforehand that the song was about a chimneysweep and none of the kids had a problem with it and were completely happy.

She basically told me I was overreacting and making an racial issue where there wasnt one.

I am lost for words. I have a meeting with her next week to discuss further.

I am not quite sure though how to get through to her as she obviously does not see a problem there.

I talked to my son who is asian about it and he understood what she had said and was okay with playing the game, but definitely understood how some might find it offensive.

What would you advise me to say to the teacher?"

Posted 18 Sep 2008 at 5:55 am

http://www.antiracistparent.com/2008/07/14/ask-arp-is-it-wrong-to-sing-this-childrens-rhyme/*
Anti-Racist Parent "Ask ARP: Is it wrong to sing this children's rhyme?"

-snip-

There are no responses to this query to date (though I probably will attempt a response summarizing my theory that "the black man" in this children's game originally was the devil, and then likely morphed to refer to a dark skinned person, perhaps a "gypsy"."

**
c) Subject: RE: Folklore: The Devil The Color Black
From: Azizi
Date: 12 Sep 09 - 10:21 AM

Here is what I posted last night in the Wikipedia talk section about the children's game "Tag" (with several additions of omitted words):

"As an African American I have concerns about the game "Who's afraid of the Black man" even if it really was/is about chimney sweeps.

I found another online mention of that game here: http://watchingamerica.com/News/17920/white-southerners-still-don%E2%80%99t-trust-obama/ about attitudes among some White Americans in the South about Obama winning the Presidential election Die Welt, Germany "White Southerners Still Don't Trust Obama"By Katja Ridderbusch' Translated By Ron Argentati' 19 January 2009

See this note at the end of the article (made because the reporter said that the interviewer still "was afraid of black men": ..."the German children's game "Wer hat Angst vor dem schwarzen Mann," or, "Who's afraid of the black man" is similar to the American kid's game "tag" where the object is to avoid being touched by the "monster." Misunderstood political correctness has also reached this facet of German culture and the adjective "black" is now increasingly being replaced by "wild," or "evil" although the original game had nothing to do with race."
-snip-

I then found a mention of "Whose afraid of black man" in this google book:

"Death bringing the plague (or should one say, the plague bringing death?) survives in the game of German and Swiss children "Who's afraid of the black man?" (Wer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann?) pg 14 The gender of death: a cultural history in art and literature - by Karl Siegfried Guthke" ? 1999 http://books.google.com/books?id=ml36rowcpTUC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=german+children's+game+%22who's+afraid+of+the+black+man%22&sou
-snip-

A reader's review of this book also mentions that game by the "Who's afraid of the black man" name:

Ancient and Modern Britons: Volume One (Ancient & Modern Britons) by David Mac Ritchie (Paperback - March 15, 1991)
http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Modern-Britons-One/product-reviews/0939222108/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

-snip-

Finally, I found a reference to the game "Who's afraid of the black man" this google book: Twentieth-century theatre: a sourcebook By Richard Drain: http://books.google.com/books?id=WMwk3Wrn-14C&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186&dq=german+children's+game+%22who's+afraid+of+the+black+man%22&s

In the sentence I refer to that game is described as a "ridiculous party game" [for adults] p.186 To say: "should I go to the theatre today?"isn't the same thing as: "I've got to go to the theatre today. With an obligation to go to the theatre like that, the citizen concerned gives up of his free wil all those other stupid evening pastimes, like skittles, cards, pub politics, romantic rendezvous, not forgetting ridiculous party games that just waste your time like "Who's afraid of the black man?", "Tailor lend me your wife", and so on."

-snip-
I'd love to know more. The teacher's comments about the "Black man" [originally?] prreferring to chimney sweeps" is probably not correct, since chimney sweeps (who, because of their profession) were blackened by soot were thought to be good luck, particularly seeing them at the first of the new year, but maybe at other times.I've read that this is because in some European cultures chimney sweeps also carried baskets of shamrocks at certain times...Anyway, that superstition about it being good luck to see a chimney sweep at the first of the new year morphed into the belief that a dark haired man entering your door the first of the new year meant good luck etc. My point is that the chimney sweep origin doesn't wash with me (if you'll excuse that expression). I think the "black man" reference was probably a demon or a monster or the devil. But I have no sources for this.

Again, I hope that someone adds more information to this. And maybe one way of doing so is to mention the game and hopefully some German people or other people will add what they remember or know about it now-since it appears that it is still being played-but hopefully with a name change."
-This is the end of my quotes about that game on that Mudcat forum.-

*This anti-racistparent.com page no longer exists as of at least 11/18/2017. Another archived "antiracistparent.com" page with a similar title “Is it wrong to sing this rhyme?" refers to the children's game “brown girl in the ring” http://archive.li/B9uoe#selection-213.0-455.4.

I recall that I attempted to write a response to this blog post as noted above, but I had difficulty using the response feature on that website. I'm not sure if my response to that blog post was ever published and I don't have a copy of that response.

In addition to the theories that I mentioned above about the possible meaning of "black man" in that game- theories that I wasn't sure were correct then and still am not sure are correct now- the gist of my response was probably that I hoped children wouldn't play the game "Who's Afraid Of The Black Man". I hoped then and still hope now that instead of playing "Who's Afraid Of The Black Man", that game would be replaced by very similar tag games such as "What Time Is Is Mr. Wolf" because, whether or not "the black man" who is referenced in this game actually was or is meant to refer to a Black man, that game as it is titled and described could have negative psychological and sociological impact on children playing that game who are Black or dark skinned AND children who are White or other races.

** If a reader review of the 1884 book Ancient and Modern Britons: Volume One by David Mac Ritchie mentioned the children's game "Who's Afraid Of The Black Man", I can't find it now. It's possible that I extrapolated from reading some of these reviews that a game in which a "black man" chases children who aren't black until his touch turns them black may be a memorialization of a time when members of a dark skinned race conquered lighter skinned people or White people. Some such history appears to be documented in the 1884 book Ancient And Modern Britons. Here's one brief reader review of that book:
"5.0 out of 5 starsThey will not teach this in your Rockefeller owned schools ...
ByWalt Lomaxon June 16, 2015
They will not teach this in your Rockefeller owned schools of North America. This is literature that scholars have for their private collection and know full well but further the reconstructed history of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Hegemony to enforce the Secret Treaty Verona, Doctrine of Discovery, Romanus Pontifex, Codes Noir etc etc. Bro David Macritchie is a Mason and was highly maligned and condemned by his peers for exposing that many Nobles from Western Asia (Western Europe) were Moors. The Danes, Dubh, Silures (Celts), Picts well all Moors and swarthy in complexion. Masonic Libraries have images of King George III with an Afro and he is clearly a Moor."
-snip-
I've added two similar readers' review of this book in the comment section of this post because they may provide an explanation as to why "black man" was used as the name of the character who chases people in the children's game "Who's Afraid Of The Black Man Game"/"Beware The Black Man".

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Example #3 [This post includes a video of children playing with words in Slovene ? or German ?]
From https://abcwellbeing.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/whos-afraid-of-the-black-man/
January 24, 2013 · by sloveniaabcwellbeing · in Comenius, Games, School, Slovenia. ·
"Participants: 1 Black man and up to 30 children (or more)

Equipment: Outdoor (or larger gym); a playground with two lines

Instructions: We choose a hunter – the Black man. He stands on one of the lines and the other pupils stand on the other line which is on the other side of the playground. The Black man asks: >>Who’s afraid of the Black man?Nobody!And what if he comes?Then we’ll run away!<< and they run to the other side of the playground. The Black man runs to the other side, too, and while he runs, he tries to catch them. Whoever is caught becomes his assistant ad helps him to catch the others. All the players, including the Black man, can run only towards the other side of the playground. They’re not allowed to return to the start line. If they do, they have to join the Black man and become his assistants. The person, who is caught last, becomes the Black man in the next game."

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Example #4: [selected comments]
From https://www.toytowngermany.com/forum/topic/95788-common-schoolyard-games-in-germany/ Common schoolyard games in Germany
a) Started by Showem, 1 May 2008
England
Posted 1 May 2008
"My sister-in-law is teaching German in Australia to primary school kids and wants to lighten up the curriculum by playing some games. She was wondering if there are any specific schoolyard games that kids in Germany would play? I couldn't think of anything in particular (having not really been around kids in school much) other than "Fang", the name for tag. Any other ideas or game names?"

**
b) blowwavedave
Isarvorstadt, Munich
Posted 5 May 2008
"Apparently there's one called "Beware of the black man"...seems to be pretty popular here, although don't quite think that's very PC..."

**
c) Freising
Posted 5 May 2008
..."Wer hat Angst vorm Bösen Wolf (instead of "Beware the black man")
The wolf stands on one side of a playing field, the sheep on the other
Wolf: "Wer hat Angst vorm Bösen Wolf."
Sheep: "Keiner!"
Wolf: "Und wenn er aber kommt?"
Sheep: "Dann laufen wir davon."

Now all the sheep try to reach the other side, and the wolf tries to catch as many as he can. Every caugth sheep turns into a wolf and has to help to catch the others in the next round."....

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d) Guest meikeerik
Posted 9 May 2008

blowwavedave said:
Apparently there's one called "Beware of the black man"...seems to be pretty popular here, although don't quite think that's very PC...

I always thought "der schwarze Mann" was death incarnate or "the black death" or something like this. I'm pretty sure it's not referring to anyone's skin color, but maybe I'm just naive? :unsure:"

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e) Freising
Posted 9 May 2008
"It´s the german bogeyman. He has been around for centuries in fairy books, ghost stories, etc. He might also be the devil. "Der schwarze Mann" is supposed to scare children, and he is probably more scary, when they dont exactly know what it is. I dont think that children would have had any reason to be especially scared of Africans...

On the other hand, I imagine that in the USA for example, a kid hearing the expression "the black man" might get a different idea about what it means."

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Example #5
From https://books.google.com/books?id=tx4uDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT496&lpg=PT496&dq=who%27s+afraid+of+the+black+man+(children%27s+game)&source=bl&ots=a8DgregkCW&sig=nMJ2kGWzAPi0Qg9xrL1tKRcJGjg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiB4MPljMnXAhUDWCYKHY-pDOYQ6AEIaTAP#v=onepage&q&f=false Children Away from Home: A Sourcebook of Residential Treatment
Editors: James K. Whittaker, Albert E. Trieschman
Aldine, 1972; no page number given
“Lotspiech: At the risk of bringing up Jung’s name, do these games follow symbolic structure patterns, such as dream patterns follow?

Lorenz: “Some do. For instance, the game “Who’s Afraid of the Black Man”. It is one of those infectious games in which you put a group of children at one end of a long alley and one single child, who represents the black man, at the other end; then they must change places. The whole group has to get to the other side of the alley, and the black man has to touch one or more of them, who, in the process, are thus converted into black men. I have been told by the Austrian educator, Meister, that this game was a symbol of pox and that it was played as a sort of religious ceremony symbolizing infectious diseases.

Fremont-Smith: There get to be more and more black men?

Lonenz: Yes, until all of them are on the same side. The more children have become black, the less chance the rest of them have to escape being infected with blackness."

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Example #6:
From https://anteroinen.tumblr.com/post/100176708095/whos-afraid-of-the-black-man Who’s afraid of the black man!?” “Kuka pelkää mustaa miestä?!”
"That was a game when I was a kid. I guess it still could be, but I don’t go into kindergartens, so I don’t know what kids play these days. There are two safe zones and the Black Man is in the middle, whenever the Black Man shouts “Who’s afraid of the Black Man?!” you must change the safe zone and the Black Man can make you another Black Man if they catch you. This repeats until everybody is a Black Man.

It was brought to my attention that some people think that the game is racist, and I get why they say that. (The Black Man is apparently originally Saint Jacob, who is traditionally thought to make the water get cold after the summer. Practically nobody knows this though.) But at the same time, I haven’t met anyone who actually thought the Black Man was an actual black person when playing the game either.

My Black Man was quite mannequin-like with a featureless face and black fumes coming out of it. Horrifying in retrospect, but it was fun enough as a kid. Others have described monsters from their nightmares too, others just thought of it as some regular person with black clothes like Batman and lastly a chimney sweeper is a common interpretation.

I guess a few reasons as to why people don’t quite so easily associate the rhyme actual Black people are:
Musta (lit. black) isn’t even that commonly used for black people. I’ve heard that tummaihoinen (lit. dark-skinned) is preferred, although I am not sure. Finnish racial politics are mostly skewed towards immigration, so actual racial monikers are rarer anyway.

Musta (lit. black) has the meaning of dirty and tarnished. If you say that “something is all black” in Finnish, you will mean it is covered in dust and soot and it needs to be cleaned. This goes a long way to explain the chimney sweeper interpretation of the rhyme.

Black people aren’t exactly plentiful in most places in Finland. If you live in the country side the ratio of all POC to ethnic Finns is probably without exaggeration as low as 1:200. In the cities the situation is different but I think 10% is probably too high an estimate. It is hard to say for sure, since the Finnish Census Bureau doesn’t keep racial statistics.

Obviously though, times change and people gather new ideas (and meet new people, more importantly for this case). What to me was a creepy but great game might ruin someone else’s day. So I went looking for what people have come up with:
“Who’s afraid of the octopus!?” (note: in Finnish octopus is mustekala or ink-fish)
“Who’s afraid of ice man?!”
“Who’s afraid of the forest troll?!”
“Who’s afraid of Groke?!”
Etc.
The octopus one is the most common, and kind of clever since it ends up using the stem from the word black innocuously. Though, I must say I don’t feel like a flubbery octopus is even remotely as threatening as the faceless, oozing obsidian mannequin I conjured up in my mind, so that one doesn’t really satisfy me. An actual monster like the Iceman or a Troll is much, MUCH better.

Opinions, followers?

“Who’s afraid of Slenderman?!”
-snip-
That blog post has no comments as of this date (November 18, 2017).
I added line spaces to enhance the readability of that blog post.

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Example #7
From https://www.thelocal.ch/20111017/1496
Parents slam school over 'racist' game
Meritxell Mir
17 October 2011
"The parents of children who attend a primary school in Valais in southern Switzerland have complained over the use of a game entitled "Who’s afraid of the black man?", a hide-and-seek game they argue is “racist".

Hedi Putallaz, the parent of a pupil at a primary school in Monthey first became aware of the game, used by teachers in a gymnastics class, back in 2010.

He complained to the head of the school, who instructed the teachers to suggest that the game should instead be called "The wolf in sheep’s clothing", according to a report in the La Tribune de Genève daily.

But in a recent class, one of Putallaz’s son’s teachers again suggested playing the game entitled "Who’s afraid of the black man?"

According to the head of the school, the staff member concerned was an external coordinator, so he was not aware of the directive.

This was however the final straw for Putallaz and his wife, who is of afro-American origin. Now the couple want the educational authorities in Valais to issue an “official directive” to change the name of the game in all the schools in the canton, where it is still widely used.

“The Valais should not be considered the Mississipi of Switzerland,” say the parents in their request to the cantonal authorities because they consider the game to be a throwback to a racist past many blacks had to overcome.

“If the game was called ‘Are you afraid of the Jew’or ‘of the homosexual’, how would people react?” Putallaz said.

Jean-François Lovey, chief of the Department of Education of Valais, is yet to review, but he told La Tribune de Genève that he does not see the situation in the same way: “Honestly, it is a harmless game,” he said.

“The reasoning of these parents shows the extreme [political] correctness of our society,” Lovey added.

The Putallaz family is now awaiting a resolution from the educational authorities in Valais, but they have already warned that if their petition is not accepted, they will bring the issue in front of the European Court of Human Rights."
-snip-
I don't know what the outcome was for this formal complaint.

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Example #8
From http://abneyj.blogspot.com/2012/09/whos-afraid-of-black-man.html
Jamiere Abney; Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Who's afraid of the black man...
Nobody?
"Apparently this is children's game here in Europe (Germany/Austria?). So here's the story...

Marvin, Jose, and I are driving on our way to a local school where we are teaching kids the fundamentals of flag football to build the relationship between the Seals football club and local youth. We were discussing drills or games we could have the kids do today during the hour or so we have with them. We talk about different versions of tag using the flags vs just taggin the individual or playing some type of capture the flag type game w/ the football being the "flag". Then Marvin explains to us a tag like game, similar to something I've played w/ a twist. It's call "Who's afraid of the black man". What makes it hilarious is that Marvin is a black guy from Austria and apparently growing up he often played this and would be the sole individual picked as the "tagger" since he was the fastest growing up. The basic rules of the game are as such:

The game begins w/ a single tagger ("the black man" or Marvin, an actual black man in this case lol)
The sole tagger tags others who then also become taggers or "black men"
The initial single tagger states: "who's afraid of the black man". The group responds: "Nobody" . The tagger then says: "What will you do if he chases you". And the group shouts: "run". And the game of tag begins.

Now this sounds somewhat horrible, but we all died laughing at the cheer irony that A) Marvin often was the initial tagger at his school and B) that this game was allowed to be played at all w/ a name and back/forth responses like that. Ahh good times w/ my roommates.”
Posted by Jamiere Abney at 1:23 PM
-snip-
A photograph of Jamiere Abney is placed next to his name attesting to the fact that this writer is a Black man.

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Example #9
From http://schouweiler.ecole.lu/projets/comenius/schollyardgames/germany/game_1.htm Schoolyard Games from Germany
"
Who is afraid of the big "black man" (It's a synonym for one child.)
It's a game for 10 - 40 children. There is a field like a rectangular.The "black man" is standing on one side of the rectangular. The children are standing opposite of the man.The man calls:"Who is afraid of the big "black man ?" The children answer: "Nobody !" Than they run to that "black man" and try to pass him without being caught by him. The children who were caught by the man belonge to the team of the "black man" now. the last child who wasn't caught is the winner."

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Children's Game "Mother May I?" (with A "Mother May I?" clip from "The Real" talk show)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about the children's game "Mother May I?" and features a YouTube video of an adapted form of that game that was played in a segment of the syndicated American talk show "The Real".

The content of this post is presented for cultural, recreational, and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remains with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in this embedded video and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHILDREN'S GAME "MOTHER MAY I?"
These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

Excerpt #1:
From ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_May_I%3F
”Mother May I”? is a children's game, also known as " Captain May I? " and "Father May I?".

Objective, Rules, and General Gameplay
One player plays the "mother", "father" or "captain". The other players are the "children" or "crewmembers". To begin the game, the mother or father stands at one end of a room and turns around facing away, while all the children line up at the other end. The children take turns asking "Mother/Father, may I ____?" and makes a movement suggestion. For example, one might ask, "Mother/Father, may I take five steps forward?" The mother/father either replies "Yes, you may" or "No, you may not do that, but you may _____ instead" and inserts his/her own suggestion. The players usually move closer to the mother/father but are sometimes led farther away. Even if the mother/father makes an unfavorable suggestion, the child must still perform it. The first of the children to reach the location of the mother/father wins the game. That child then becomes the mother/father himself, the original mother/father becomes a child, and a new round begins.

Some suggestions that fill in the "Mother/Father/Captain, may I ____?" blank include:
Take (#) steps forward

Take (#) giant steps forward (usually a small number, due to large step size)

Take (#) baby steps forward (usually a large number, due to tiny step size)

Take (#) umbrella steps forward

Hop forward like a frog, (#) times

Run forward for (#) seconds

Crabwalk forward for (#) seconds

Take (#) Cinderella steps - Twirl forward with index finger touching the top of the head

Open-and-shut the book (#) times - jump forwards with feet apart then again bringing the feet together

Lamppost - lie face down and stretch arms forwards, bring your feet to the point reached by the fingertips

If the "children" are reaching the "mother" or "father" too quickly, the "mother"/"father" may reject the child's suggestion by replacing it with "No, you may not do that, but you may ____ instead." They may reduce the child's original suggestion (for example, reducing five giant steps to three giant steps), or make a different suggestion, such as:
Take (#) steps backward

Run backward for (#) seconds

Walk backward until I (mother/father) say "stop"

Return to the starting line (in rare cases)

A common alternative gameplay is for "mother" or "father" (who can be facing the children) to begin each child's turn by issuing the instruction to be carried out. The child must reply, "Mother/Father, may I?" before carrying out the order, to which Mother/Father always consents. However, if the child omits to ask permission he or she is required to go back to the start. Children who have advanced a long way towards the goal are thus brought to ruin; instructions to go backwards must also be asked for lest a worse fate awaits. The art to being a good mother or father is to bring everyone as equally as possible.

Other variations of this kind of crossing-over game are "What's the Time, Mr Wolf?" (sometimes called "Old Mrs. Fox, What Time is It?", although this version is slightly different), "Grandmother's Footsteps" and "Bulldog", played in Britain. In the first of these, gameplay is similar: Mr Wolf faces away from the children (or Mrs. Fox faces the children), the children together chant in a well-known fashion "What's the time, Mr Wolf?" (or "Old Mrs. Fox, what time is it?"), and if he or she replies with 9 o'clock, the children move 9 steps forward. Should anyone reach Mr Wolf, he or she becomes the new Mr Wolf.

Alternatively, however, should Mr Wolf reply to the question by saying "Dinner Time!" (or in the Mrs. Fox version, "Midnight!") he turns and chases the children back towards the start. If he catches one before he or she reaches safety, that child is the new Mr Wolf.”…
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/connections-between-british-caribbean.html for a pancocojams post on "What Time Is It Mr. Wolf" and some other similarly played children's games.

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Excerpt #2
From lhttp://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/mental_games/mother_may_i.html Mother May I A.K.A. Captain May I
"One game I remember is Mother May I. One person (it could be Mom) stands facing away from a line of kids. She then chooses a child (at random, or in order), and announces a direction. These follow a pattern, such as, "Brian, you may take' x' giant/regular/baby steps forward/backward." The child responds with "Mother may I?" Mom then states "Yes" or "No", depending on her whim, and the child complies. If the child forgets to ask "Mother may I?" he/she goes back to the starting line. First one to touch Mother wins.
-Contributed by: Gary Swanson

OR

In one variation I learned, each child takes turns asking, "Mother may I take . . . steps?" And the child who is mother replies yes or no. In addition to baby, regular, and giant steps, we had ballet steps which were kind of like fake ballet turns.
Another way we played the mother would say, "Take __ ____________ steps [always] forward." And each child in turn would reply, "Mother, may I?" Then, Mother tell each child whether they could or couldn't.

Contributed by Erika Salomon

Other steps:

Scissors step- jump while crossing your feet, then jump while uncrossing them was one step

Banana step-laying down with feet at current spot, marking where the top of your head was, and getting up there for new spot.

Bunny step - a hop
-Contributed by: Dea"
-snip-
I remember playing "Mother May I?" in the 1950s in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In my neighborhood, we (girls and boys ages around 5-12 years) only played "take steps", "take giant steps", and "take baby steps". I also remember that I didn't like playing "Mother May I?" because I didn't think those games were fair because the caller could so easily make the winner be whoever he or she wanted it to be. I preferred the similar game "Red Light Green Light" because there was much less chance in that game for the caller to predetermine who would win.

Here's a description of the game "Red Light Green Light" from http://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/sensing_games/rl_gl.htm
"In this game, one person plays the "stop light" and the rest try to touch him/her.

At the start, all the children form a line about 15 feet away from the stop light.

The stop light faces away from the line of kids and says "green light". At this point the kids are allowed to move towards the stoplight.

At any point, the stop light may say "red light!" and turn around. If any of the kids are caught moving after this has occurred, they are out.

Play resumes when the stop light turns back around and says "green light".

The stop light wins if all the kids are out before anyone is able to touch him/her.

Otherwise, the first player to touch the stop light wins the game and earns the right to be "stop light" for the next game.

OR

[This is one basically the same except that IT is always facing the players]


We had another way of playing "red light/ green light".

Find a large field, or yard, about the size of a tennis court to a football field.

All the kids line up on one side. the person who is "it" stays in the middle of the field. When "it" says green light, all the kids run as fast as they can. When "it" says red light, everyone stops. whoever doesn't stop is out. "it" keeps saying red light or green light until all the kids are out or has gone from one end of the field back to where they started from.

Remember, don't run too fast or when "it" says red light, you won't be able to stop.
The rule we used is you have two seconds to come to a complete stop or hit the ground.
Another hint is to always wear pants. you can kneel or flop down on red light to stop yourself. Just be careful.
The last person to make it back to the starting line is "it".
Contributed by Nicole - Thank you!

Related to: What's the Time Mr. Wolf"

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Let’s Play ‘Mother, May I?’



The Real Daytime Published on May 8, 2015

Since it’s a Mother’s Day celebration, the hosts and special guest Patti LaBelle play a REAL version of “Mother, May I?”
-snip-
Instead of taking "giant steps", "baby steps" or other movements, the talk show hosts and guest star R&B * Gospel singer Patti LaBelle compete in a version of "Mother May I?" that features performing "old school" dances such as "The Funky Chicken", "The Mashed Potato", and "The Twist" along with the contemporary dance "The Nay Nay" and skipping.
-snip-
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_(TV_series) for information about "The Real" syndicated American talk show.

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