They would sit in circles on the hall of the king 's council chamber , and scratch for fleas and pretend to be men ; or they would run in and out of the roofless houses and collect pieces of plaster and old bricks in a corner , and forget where they had hidden them , and fight and cry in scuffling crowds , and then break off to play up and down the terraces of the king 's garden , where they would shake the rose trees and the oranges in sport to see the fruit and flowers fall .