Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for May


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 18 Pinocchio Meets the Fox and the Cat Again from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi George Washington and His Hatchet from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Drummers and Carpenters from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess The Clock Strikes and Maid-alone Stays from The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes by Padraic Colum The Dark Ages from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge Elizabeth Ann Fails in an Examination (Part 3 of 3) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher The Idol Temple at Dan and Its Priest from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Wineland the Good (Part 2 of 2) from Viking Tales by Jennie Hall Mr. and Mrs. Crab from Seaside and Wayside, Book One by Julia McNair Wright The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Explore My Island from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin Little White Rabbit from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess The Second Night from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
A Bird's Experience, Anonymous Ariel's Song from The Tempest by William Shakespeare   The Fairies Have Never a Penny to Spend by Rose Fyleman Off the Ground by Walter de la Mare Over Hill, Over Dale by William Shakespeare There Was a Cherry-Tree by James Whitcomb Riley
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Ass and the Load of Salt

A Merchant, driving his Ass homeward from the seashore with a heavy load of salt, came to a river crossed by a shallow ford. They had crossed this river many times before without accident, but this time the Ass slipped and fell when halfway over. And when the Merchant at last got him to his feet, much of the salt had melted away. Delighted to find how much lighter his burden had become, the Ass finished the journey very gayly.

Next day the Merchant went for another load of salt. On the way home the Ass, remembering what had happened at the ford, purposely let himself fall into the water, and again got rid of most of his burden.

The angry Merchant immediately turned about and drove the Ass back to the seashore, where he loaded him with two great baskets of sponges. At the ford the Ass again tumbled over; but when he had scrambled to his feet, it was a very disconsolate Ass that dragged himself homeward under a load ten times heavier than before.

The same measures will not suit all circumstances.


[Illustration]

The Ass and the Load of Salt