The Briggs bio of E. Nesbit calls it a "screamy, scary version of hide-and-seek."
I've read it described as a version of blind man's buff played entirely in a darkened room, so that no one can see anyone. You cry "Devil" when someone catches you. Or vice versa. I do not believe I ever played it, but I have a very clear memory of finding it in one of those catalogues of children's folk songs and games. [edit] The Story of the Amulet is the "Five Children" book I have re-read the least, because everything I can remember about the chapter with the random horrific anti-Semitism is so bad, I've never subjected myself to it again. I know C.S. Lewis used it as a model for Jadis in London in The Magician's Nephew, but I'm pretty sure his version is better.
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I've read it described as a version of blind man's buff played entirely in a darkened room, so that no one can see anyone. You cry "Devil" when someone catches you. Or vice versa. I do not believe I ever played it, but I have a very clear memory of finding it in one of those catalogues of children's folk songs and games. [edit] The Story of the Amulet is the "Five Children" book I have re-read the least, because everything I can remember about the chapter with the random horrific anti-Semitism is so bad, I've never subjected myself to it again. I know C.S. Lewis used it as a model for Jadis in London in The Magician's Nephew, but I'm pretty sure his version is better.