No. 159 The Enchanted Princess
This interesting European game, though never naturalized in this country, has been occasionally played as a literal translation from the printed French. A little girl raises above her head her frock, which is sustained by her companions, who thus represent the tower in which she is supposed to be confined. The “enemy” comes up, and asks, “Where is pretty Margaret?” The answer is, “She is shut up in her tower.” The “enemy” carries off one by one the stones of the tower (leads away, that is, the girls who personate stones), until one only is left, who drops the frock, and flies, pursued by Margaret, who must catch some one to replace her.
The celebrated French song begins, “Where is fair Margaret, Ogier, noble knight?”145 “Ogier” is none other than Olger the Dane, hero of mediæval romance. The childish drama is one form of the world-old history of a maiden who is delivered by a champion from the enchanted castle. In the territory of Cambrai, she who is shut up in the tower is said to be “the fair one with the golden locks.” We consider the following number to be a variation of the same theme.