Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December


The Little Plant

In the heart of a seed,

Buried deep, so deep!

A dear little plant

Lay fast asleep!


"Wake!" said the sunshine,

"And creep to the light!"

"Wake!" said the voice

Of the raindrops bright.


The little plant heard

And it rose to see

What the wonderful

Outside world might be!

  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 10 The Puppets Recognize Their Brother Pinocchio from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi Three Men of Gotham from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Jenny Has a Good Word for Some Sparrows from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess What the Geese Talked Of from The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes by Padraic Colum The Tragedy of Nero from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge Betsy Goes to School (Part 2 of 2) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher Saint Patrick (Part 1 of 2) from Our Island Saints by Amy Steedman
King Harald's Wedding from Viking Tales by Jennie Hall A Bluebird's Song (Part 3 of 3) from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Kid and the Wolf from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Carry Some Things Ashore from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin Atalanta and Hippomenes from A Child's Book of Myths and Enchantment Tales by Margaret Evans Price Unc' Billy Possum Tells Jimmy Skunk a Secret from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess The Pirate Story from The Sandman: His Ship Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
The Sea Princess, Anonymous Violets by Dinah Maria Mulock   Little Billee by William Makepeace Thackeray Up and Down by Walter de la Mare March by Celia Thaxter The Lamb by William Blake
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf

A Shepherd Boy tended his master's Sheep near a dark forest not far from the village. Soon he found life in the pasture very dull. All he could do to amuse himself was to talk to his dog or play on his shepherd's pipe.

One day as he sat watching the Sheep and the quiet forest, and thinking what he would do should he see a Wolf, he thought of a plan to amuse himself.

His Master had told him to call for help should a Wolf attack the flock, and the Villagers would drive it away. So now, though he had not seen anything that even looked like a Wolf, he ran toward the village shouting at the top of his voice, "Wolf! Wolf!"

As he expected, the Villagers who heard the cry dropped their work and ran in great excitement to the pasture. But when they got there they found the Boy doubled up with laughter at the trick he had played on them.

A few days later the Shepherd Boy again shouted, "Wolf! Wolf!" Again the Villagers ran to help him, only to be laughed at again. Then one evening as the sun was setting behind the forest and the shadows were creeping out over the pasture, a Wolf really did spring from the underbrush and fall upon the Sheep.


[Illustration]

In terror the Boy ran toward the village shouting "Wolf! Wolf!" But though the Villagers heard the cry, they did not run to help him as they had before. "He cannot fool us again," they said.

The Wolf killed a great many of the Boy's sheep and then slipped away into the forest.

Liars are not believed even when they speak the truth.