Who is going round my sheepfold?

Two of the strongest children are selected, 'a' and 'b'; 'a' stands within a ring of the children, 'b' being outside. The child struck leaves the ring, and takes hold of 'b' behind; 'b' in the same manner takes the other children, one by one, gradually increasing his tail on each repetition of the verses, until he has got the whole; 'a' then tries to get them back; 'b' runs away with them; they try to shelter themselves behind 'b'; 'a' drags them off, one by one, setting them against a wall, until he has recovered all. A regular tearing game, as children say.