Another game played by both boys and girls is known as maysansani, and is much like hide-and-go-seek.  One boy holds out an open hand, and the others lay their fingers in his palm, while the leader counts, maysansani, duan-nani, mataltali, [76] ocop.  As ocop ("four” or “ready”) is pronounced, the boy quickly closes his hand in order to catch a finger.  If he succeeds, the prisoner puts his hands over his eyes, and the leader holds him, while the others run and hide.  When all are ready, he is released, and then must find all the players; or he is beaten on the forearm with the first and second fingers of all the participants, or they may pick him up by his head and feet, and whirl him about.

Like European children, they have a set of small sayings or acts for use on appropriate occasions.  A youngster may come up to another who is eating a luscious mango; when requested for a bite, he is apt to draw down the lower lid of his eye and coolly answer, “I will make a sound like swallowing for you,” and then go on with the feast.  He may even hold out the tempting fruit, as if to comply with the request, then suddenly jerk it back and shout “kilat.” [77] This is often the signal for a scuffle.

As the children grow older, they begin more and more to take their place in the village life.  The little girl becomes the chief guardian of a new arrival in the family; and with the little one strapped on her back, she romps and plays, while the baby enjoys it all or sleeps serenely (Plate XII).  The boy also assists his father and mother in the fields, but still he finds some time for games of a more definite character than those just described.  Probably the most popular of these is known as agbita or lipi.

This is played with the large disk-shaped seeds of the lipi plant (Ilocano lipai).  Each player puts two disks in line, then all go to a distance and shoot toward them.  The shooter is held between the thumb and first finger of the left hand, and is propelled forward by the index finger of the right.  The one whose seed goes the farthest gets first shot, and the others follow in order.  All seeds knocked down belong to the player, and if any are still in line after each has had his turn, the leader shoots again.  When each boy has had two shots, or when all the disks are down, a new line is made; and he whose seed lies at the greatest distance shoots first.

Another common game is patpatinglad, which has certain resemblances to cricket.  A small cylinder-shaped missel, called papa-anak ("little duck"), about four inches long, is set in a shallow groove, so that one end stands free; it is then struck and batted with a bamboo stock—­papa-ina ("mother duck").  The lad who has driven his missel the farthest is the winner, and hence has the privilege of batting away the papa-anak of the other players, so that they will have to chase them.  If he likes, he may take hold of the feet of a looser and compel him to walk on his hands to secure this missel.  A loser is sometimes taken by the head and feet, and is swung in a circle,