M: Moertjie

This is a rehash of one of my old blogs about a game that my mother, who passed away in her 96th year, used to play as a little girl. She taught it to me and years later to my daughter, and she still played Moertjie with both of us till shortly before her demise.

This one-handed game is played with five pebbles, one player at a time and is not as easy as it looks. The purpose is to keep control of the pebbles at all times and as soon as one or more slip through the fingers, that player’s turn is over. The first person to successfully complete the last stage is the winner. As we were all veteran players, the game ended in a draw more than once, but my mother won her fair share of the “tournaments” even at her advanced age. In my mind’s eye, I still see the five pebbles in her agile little hands.

My daughter demonstrates the game in this video.

Ons het voortdurend gesoek na die regte klippies om mee te speel. Rivierklippies was die beste, maar nie so volop in die binneland nie. Toe ons verlede jaar na die kus toe verhuis het, het my moeder in die ouetehuis agtergebly. Ek het haar belowe dat ek vir ons mooi klippies op die strand sou optel om mee te speel wanneer ons vir haar gaan kuier. Dit het ek ook gedoen, maar haar gesondheid het skielik verswak en sy is oorlede enkele ure nadat ons vliegtuig in Johannesburg geland het.

Sy het nooit geweet dat ek wel die perfekte klippies vir haar gebring het nie. Hulle is nog steeds in ‘n bakkie hier op my lessenaar, maar ek en my dogter het nooit weer gespeel nie. Die hart van die speletjie is nie meer hier nie.