Was browsing a clipart collection this evening, searching by keyword
ferret, when I found an image of a page from a book titled "Nursery Friends
from France" which is part of a series called "My Travelship Series".  It
says it was translated by Olive Beaupre Miller and published by The Book
House for Children in Chicago.  This page was describing a nursery school
game called "The Ferret, The Ferret, He Runs." The game described uses a
large closed loop of rope and a sliding ring.  The children stand in a
circle, holding the rope with both hands except that one child stands in
the middle.  The outer ring of children furtively slide the ring "ferret"
along the rope, hiding it with their hands.  The center child tries to
guess who has the ring.  When he guesses correctly, the child caught with
the ring becomes "it".
 
Debra in Fort Worth
[Posted in FML issue 3381]