ORIGIN OF BLIND MAN’S BUFF.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue XX, 19 May 1900, Page 959

ORIGIN OF BLIND MAN’S BUFF.

Blind man’s buff is of French origin and of very great antiquity, having been introduced into England in the train of the Norman conquerors. Its French name, “Colin Maillard,” was that of a bra.ve warrior, the memory of whose exploits still lives in the chronicles of the middle ages. Tn the year 999 Liege reckoned among its valiant, chiefs one Jean Colin. He acquired the name Maillard from his chosen weapon being a mallet, wherewith in battle he used literally to crush his opponents. In one of the feuds which were of perpetual recurrence in those times he encountered the Count de Ton rain in a pitched battle, and. so runs the story, in the first onset Colin Maillard lost both his eyes.

He ordered his esquire to take him in the thickest of the fight, and, furiously brandishing his mallet, did such fearful execution that victory soon declared itself for him. When Robert of France heard ot these feats of arms he lavished favour and honours upon Colin, and so great was the fame of the exploit tha t it was commemorated in the pantomimic representation that formed part of the rude dramatic performances of the age. By degrees the children learned to act it for themselves, and it took the form of a familiar sport. The blindfold pursuer, as, with bandaged eyes and extended hands, he gropes for a victim to pounce upon, in some degree repeats the action of Colin Maillard, the tradition of which is also traceable in the name blind man’s buff.