This ironic touch, so characteristically Spanish, reappears in many of the games, as in _A La Limón_, known throughout the Peninsula and the Antilles. I should expect to find it, too, in corners of Mexico, South America, the Philippines, wherever the Spanish oppressor has trod and the oppressor's children have sported in the sun. The little players, ranged in two rows, each row hand in hand, dance the one toward the other and retreat, singing responsively. With their last couplet, the children of the first line raise their arms, forming arches, and the children of the second line, letting go hands, dance under these arches as they respond.
1. "_A la limón, á la limón!_ All broken is our bright fountain.
2. "_A la limón, á la limón!_ Give orders to have it mended.
1. "_A la limón, á la limón!_ We haven't a bit of money.
2. "_A la limón, á la limón!_ But we have money in plenty.
1. "_A la limón, á la limón!_ What kind of money may yours be?
2. "_A la limón, á la limón!_ Oh, ours is money of eggshells.
1. "_A la limón, á la limón!_ An arch for the lords and ladies.
2. "_A la limón, á la limón!_ Right merrily we pass under."
Another lyric dialogue, whose fun is spent on the lean purses of students and the happy-go-lucky life of Andalusia, must have originated since the overthrow, in 1892, of the leaning tower of Saragossa. The stanzas are sung alternately by two rows of children, advancing toward each other and retreating with a dancing step.
1. "In Saragossa --Oh, what a pity!-- Has fallen the tower, Pride of the city.
2. "Fell it by tempest, Fairies or witches, The students will raise it, For students have riches.
1. "Call on the students, Call louder and louder! They've only two coppers To buy them a chowder.
2. "Chowder of students Is sweeter than honey, But the gay Andalusians Have plenty of money.
1. "The gay Andalusians Have fiddle and ballad, But only two coppers To buy them a salad.
2. "In Saragossa --Oh, what a pity!-- Has fallen the tower, Pride of the city."
Unchildlike innuendoes pervade that curious game of many variants in which the priest and abbess play a leading part. Two children are chosen for these dignitaries, while the others call out the names of such flowers, fruits, or vegetables as each may decide to personate. "I'm a cabbage." "I'm a jasmine." "I'm a cherry." Then the little sinners kneel in a circle, crying:--