822 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



rules for using a siinliar diagram, with tlie title, "Directions for finding 

 out the due answers:" 



1. "Begin to count the terrestrial fortress from the celestial king." 

 (Manjusri). 



3. "Count the water from the tiger." 



4. "Count the earth from the tiger," etc. 

 Here we have the rules. The die according to which 



the count was made was doubtless the one (fig. 139) 

 of which the faces are represented upon the same roll. 

 The i)ictured squares contain devices of birds, animals, 

 etc., labeled good, middling, or bad. The words be- 

 neath may indicate possibly the place of the next move, 

 as in the Korean game. 



_ 140. 

 TEETOTUM (iv iirfel) 



USED BY JEWISH 

 CHILDREN AT PURIM. 



Heiglit, 2 inches. 

 Original in possession 

 of Dr. Herbert 

 Friedenwald. 



8. Ch'e Me. Teetotum. 1 China. 



Prismatic die with six faces, marked so that the sum 

 of each of the opposite faces equals seven, the spots 

 being marked like Chinese dice, ISTo. 19. Spun by 

 means of a bamboo pin passing througli the middle. 



This implement has its counterpart in the East In- 

 dian chuh'ee, which is used in a similar game played 

 on a diagram marked like six faces of a die. The 

 cJmJxTee is said to be used only at the Divali Festival, 

 which occurs in ^November, when gambling is per- 

 mitted. A parallel is seen in the four-sided teetotum, 

 which Jewish children in Germanj^ and Russia play 

 with during the eight days at Purim, or the Feast of Lots. This 

 die (fig. 140) bears upon its sides the Hebrew letters: shin, nun, he, 

 gimel. They are playfully regarded as standing for the German words 

 stell, "i)ut;" nichts, "nothing;" halb, "half;" f/anz^ "all." Prof. Leo 

 Weiner informs me that the letters are in- 

 tended for the phrase : sham nes hdyd gddol, 

 " there wonder great has happened." Prof. 

 Weiner writes: 



The name of the wiirfel is dredl (draidle), which is 

 a dimiuutive of dreher, turner, twister. This latter 

 word is used exclusively for the turning rattle of 

 wood or metal used on the same holiday, as the chil- 

 dren say, "to turn Haman," i. e., to drown him, or 

 disgrace him in the noise. The manner of making 

 is as follows: A block of wood, geuerally a round 

 stick or jiart of a twig, is cut lengthwise into four 

 parts ; the inner edges are shaved off to admit the 

 molti n lead which thus forms the stem of the drcdl. 



The form of the dredl, with its letters on each face, is cut on the flat sides of each 

 part ; then the four parts are put together, after being tied with a cord and are 

 placed in sand or into the ground, and the metal is poured into the mould, 



iCat. No. 169324, U.S.N.M. Gift of Stewart Culin. Chinese Games with Dice 

 and Dominoes, fig. 3, Report U. S. Nat. Mus., 1893, p. 496. 



Fig. 141. 



LONG LAWRENCE. 



Length, 3 inches. 



Almonilbury, England. 



Keproduction from description by 



Mrs. Gomme. 



Krom Korean frames. 



