Rule of Contrary
This is a simple game for little children. It is played either with a pocket-handkerchief, or, if more than four want to play, with a table cloth or small sheet.
Each person takes hold of the cloth; the leader of the game holds it with the left hand, while with the right he makes pretence of writing on the cloth, while he says: “Here we go round by the rule of contrary. When I say, ‘Hold fast,’ let go; and when I say ‘Let go,’ hold fast.”
The leader then calls out one or other of the commands, and the rest must do the opposite of what he says. Anyone who fails must pay a forfeit.