How Many Miles to Babylon?

Further Clarification - Another Game

Perhaps there is no geographical location for the verse or any significance in the distance to travel. It seems to be a corruption of an old English game.

Marlow,marlow,marlow bright
How many miles to Babylon?-sung by players
"threescore and ten"- sung by central person
can I get there by candle light?"-sung by players
"Yes if your legs are long and light,
But take care of the old grey
witch by the road-side.--sung by central

This is a game where one player stands in the middle of a field or lawn and the others players are lined up on the edge of the field. The players then run from one end of the field to the other as the central player tries to capture them.

For some further explanations of early American games see --GAMES and SONGS of the AMERICAN CHILDREN Collected by William Wells Newell Dover Pub.1963.