By Dan Beard
Fig. 261.
Bull in the Ring.
"It" in this game is the most sought-for position, for "It" is the bull. After it has been decided who shall be the bull, the other boys all join hands in a circle around him. The bull then examines the different hands where they are clasped together, asking "What is this lock made of?"
"Brass!" answer the boys.
"Well, brass is strong. What is this lock made of?" he again asks of the owner's of two other clasped hands.
"Iron!" they answer.
"And this?"
"Steel!"
I think I can break steel;" and making believe to try, the bull suddenly turns and breaks his way through the circle where it is unguarded and runs with all speed up the street with all the players running pell-mell at his heels. The boy who catches the bull is bull for next game.
It must not be supposed that the bull always succeeds in breaking through the ring the first time. Sometimes the locks of brass, iron, gold, or even lead are too strong for him, and he makes believe examine some other locks, while the circle of boys jeer him, and tell him that he cannot escape. But sooner or later he breaks through some weak point in the ring and scampers away. If the bull is a fast runner he often leads the boys a long chase, over the fences and through back-lots of the city; or, if the ring is in the country, through pasture-lots, where real bulls gaze in wide-eyed wonder at the scampering boys, through the woods, with the rabbits and gray squirrels flying ahead, and over the brooks, where the speckled trout hide under the banks. Over fences and ditches, with never a stop, the bull rushes on until he is at last headed off and caught.
Then all go back to the playground, and a new ring is formed with the victor for a new bull, and new locks of brass and iron are forged to keep him in the ring.