Children's Games

I This is a schoolyard crowded with children of all ages near a village on a small stream meandering by where some boys are swimming bare-ass or climbing a tree in leaf everything is motion elder women are looking after the small fry a play wedding a christening nearby one leans hollering into an empty hogshead II Little girls whirling their skirts about until they stand out flat tops pinwheels to run in the wind with or a toy in 3 tiers to spin with a piece of twine to make it go blindman's-buff follow the leader stilts high and low tipcat jacks bowls hanging by the knees standing on your head run the gauntlet a dozen on their backs feet together kicking through which a boy must pass roll the hoop or a construction made of bricks some mason has abandoned III The desperate toys of children their imagination equilibrium and rocks which are to be found everywhere and games to drag the other down blindfold to make use of a swinging weight with which at random to bash in the heads about them Brueghel saw it all and with his grim humor faithfully recorded it.