Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December

The Duel

The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
'Twas half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)
Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!
The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat.
(I wasn't there; I simply state

What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

The gingham dog went "bow-wow-wow!"
And the calico cat replied "mee-ow!"
The air was littered, an hour or so,
With bits of gingham and calico,
While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place
Up with its hands before its face,
For it always dreaded a family row!
(Now mind: I'm only telling you

What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)

The Chinese plate looked very blue,
And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do!"
But the gingham dog and the calico cat
Wallowed this way and tumbled that,
Employing every tooth and claw
In the awfullest way you ever saw—
And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!
(Don't fancy I exaggerate—

I got my news from the Chinese plate!)

Next morning where the two had sat
They found no trace of the dog or cat;
And some folks think unto this day
That burglars stole the pair away!
But the truth about the cat and the pup
Is this: They ate each other up!
Now what do you really think of that!
(The old Dutch clock it told me so,

And that is how I came to know.)

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 2	Master Cherry Gives a Present to Geppetto from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi	King Alfred and the Beggar from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	The Snowball from The Seasons: Winter by Jane Marcet	Fruit for the King's Son from The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes by Padraic Colum	Julius Caesar from On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Synge	Aunt Harriet Has a Cough (Part 2 of 3) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher	How the River Jordan Became Dry from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
	The Tooth Thrall from Viking Tales by Jennie Hall	Suet Pudding for Woodpeckers (Part 2 of 3) from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch	The Tortoise and the Ducks from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Make My First Voyage from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	Cupid and Apollo from A Child's Book of Myths and Enchantment Tales by Margaret Evans Price	The Stranger from the North from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess	The Blacksmith Story from The Sandman: His Ship Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
	The Mountain and the Squirrel by Ralph Waldo Emerson	Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field	How Doth the Little Crocodile by Lewis Carroll	The Plaint of the Camel by Charles Edward Carryl	Tired Tim by Walter de la Mare	Norse Lullaby by Eugene Field	Granny by James Whitcomb Riley

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

The Tortoise and the Ducks

The Tortoise, you know, carries his house on his back. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot leave home. They say that Jupiter punished him so, because he was such a lazy stay-at-home that he would not go to Jupiter's wedding, even when especially invited.

After many years, Tortoise began to wish he had gone to that wedding. When he saw how gaily the birds flew about and how the Hare and the Chipmunk and all the other animals ran nimbly by, always eager to see everything there was to be seen, the Tortoise felt very sad and discontented. He wanted to see the world too, and there he was with a house on his back and little short legs that could hardly drag him along.

One day he met a pair of Ducks and told them all his trouble.

"We can help you to see the world," said the Ducks. "Take hold of this stick with your teeth and we will carry you far up in the air where you can see the whole countryside. But keep quiet or you will be sorry."

The Tortoise was very glad indeed. He seized the stick firmly with his teeth, the two Ducks took hold of it one at each end, and away they sailed up toward the clouds.

Just then a Crow flew by. He was very much astonished at the strange sight and cried:

"This must surely be the King of Tortoises!"

"Why certainly—" began the Tortoise.

But as he opened his mouth to say these foolish words he lost his hold on the stick, and down he fell to the ground, where he was dashed to pieces on a rock.

Foolish curiosity and vanity often lead to misfortune.