The cat and the rat

The cat and the rat is a game that develops as follows.

The participants form their hands in a circle: a girl in the middle of the wheel is the rat and a boy is the cat. It rotates quickly raising the arms so that the cat can pass underneath and penetrate in the center, at the same time that the rat manages to escape by the opposite part. The cat jumps around giving meows and trying to find an entrance. When he approaches a side, the arms are quickly narrowed, and he will spend time trying to open them, but he will pass to the less defended place. If it is skillful, it enters the wheel but at the same time it is provided exit to the rat and then it is tried to lock the cat narrowing the chain.

However, since the law of the game is to jump and turn, the cat always alert soon discovers a void where to escape and to go to the rat, who takes refuge running in the wheel, rarely occurring that are not together. It is even weirder that he can not get into the wheel when the rat is in it and that he does not catch her by forcing her to give a garment. In this case the cat and the rat rest by making part in the wheel, putting them other successors.

The game continues until all the men are exhausted and the women become rats. This game is great fun and provides lots of exercise.

This article contains material from the complete Manual of society games or social gatherings and clothing by Mariano de Rementería y Fica and Elisabeth Celnart, 1839, which is in the public domain.

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