Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for November


Five Eyes

In Hans' old Mill his three black cats

Watch the bins for the thieving rats.

Whisker and claw, they crouch in the night,

Their five eyes smouldering green and bright:

Squeaks from the flour sacks, squeaks from where

The cold wind stirs on the empty stair,

Squeaking and scampering, everywhere.

Then down they pounce, now in, now out,

At whisking tail, and sniffing snout;

While lean old Hans he snores away

Till peep of light at break of day;

Then up he climbs to his creaking mill,

Out come his cats all grey with meal—

Jekkel, and Jessup, and one-eyed Jill.

  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 15 The Assassins Pursue Pinocchio from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi Sir Humphrey Gilbert from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Old Clothes and Old Houses from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess The Matchless Maiden Loses Her Golden Slipper (Part 1 of 2) from The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes by Padraic Colum Christians to the Lions from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge If You Don't Like Conversation, Skip This Chapter (Part 3 of 3) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher Jephthah's Rash Promise and What Came from It from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Eric the Red from Viking Tales by Jennie Hall Don's Yellow Spring Flower from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Ass and His Driver from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Go A-Hunting from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin Romulus and Remus from A Child's Book of Myths and Enchantment Tales by Margaret Evans Price Old Granny Fox Investigates from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess The Little Sol Story from The Sandman: His Ship Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
April Rain by Robert Loveman All Things Bright and Beautiful by Cecil Frances Alexander   Hark! Hark! The Lark! by William Shakespeare The Universe by Walter de la Mare Answer to a Child's Question by Samuel Taylor Coleridge A Sudden Shower by James Whitcomb Riley
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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]