Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for September


Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night

Sailed off in a wooden shoe—

Sailed on a river of crystal light,

Into a sea of dew.

"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"

The old moon asked the three.

"We have come to fish for the herring-fish

That live in this beautiful sea;

Nets of silver and gold have we!"

Said Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.


The old moon laughed and sang a song,

As they rocked in the wooden shoe,

And the wind that sped them all night long

Ruffled the waves of dew.

The little stars were the herring-fish

That lived in the beautiful sea—

"Now cast your nets wherever you wish,—

Never afeard are we!"

So cried the stars to the fishermen three:

Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.


All night long their nets they threw

To the stars in the twinkling foam,—

Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,

Bringing the fishermen home;

'Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemed

As if it could not be,

And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed

Of sailing that beautiful sea—

But I shall name you the fishermen three:

Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.


Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,

And Nod is a little head,

And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies

Is a wee one's trundle-bed.

So shut your eyes while Mother sings

Of wonderful sights that be,

And you shall see the beautiful things

As you rock in the misty sea,

Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three—

Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.



  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 13 The Inn of the Red Craw-Fish from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi Sir Philip Sidney from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin An Old Friend in a New Home from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes from The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes by Padraic Colum Marcus Aurelius from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge If You Don't Like Conversation, Skip This Chapter (Part 1 of 3) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher Gideon and His Brave Three Hundred (Part 1 of 2) from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Homes in Iceland (Part 2 of 3) from Viking Tales by Jennie Hall Holly Trees and Holly Bushes (Part 2 of 2) from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Bundle of Sticks from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Find a Great Store of Things from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin Perseus and Andromeda from A Child's Book of Myths and Enchantment Tales by Margaret Evans Price Reddy Fox Is Very Miserable from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess The Castaway Story from The Sandman: His Ship Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
Pippa's Song by Robert Browning
Windy Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson
  Margery Brown by Kate Greenaway Jim Jay by Walter de la Mare Violets by John Moultrie Little Blue Pigeon by Eugene Field
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

Belling the Cat

The mice once called a meeting to decide on a plan to free themselves of their enemy, the Cat. At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away. Indeed, something had to be done, for they lived in such constant fear of her claws that they hardly dared stir from their dens by night or day.

Many plans were discussed, but none of them was thought good enough. At last a very young Mouse got up and said:

"I have a plan that seems very simple, but I know it will be successful. All we have to do is to hang a bell about the Cat's neck. When we hear the bell ringing we will know immediately that our enemy is coming."

All the Mice were much surprised that they had not thought of such a plan before. But in the midst of the rejoicing over their good fortune, an old Mouse arose and said:

"I will say that the plan of the young Mouse is very good. But let me ask one question Who will bell the Cat?"

It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.


[Illustration]