Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for February

The Old Woman Tossed Up in a Blanket



The Carrion Crow



Sur le Pont d'Avignon



Charley over the Water

The Sugar-Plum Tree

Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?

'Tis a marvel of great renown!

It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea

In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;

The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet

(As those who have tasted it say)

That good little children have only to eat

Of that fruit to be happy next day.


When you've got to the tree, you would have a hard time

To capture the fruit which I sing;

The tree is so tall that no person could climb

To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!

But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,

And a gingerbread dog prowls below—

And this is the way you contrive to get at

Those sugar-plums tempting you so:


You say but the word to that gingerbread dog

And he barks with such terrible zest

That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,

As her swelling proportions attest.

And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around

From this leafy limb unto that,

And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground—

Hurrah for that chocolate cat!


There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,

With stripings of scarlet or gold,

And you carry away of the treasure that rains

As much as your apron can hold!

So come, little child, cuddle closer to me

In your dainty white nightcap and gown,

And I'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree

In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.

  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 32 Pinocchio Becomes a Donkey from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi A Laconic Answer from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Three Cousins Quite Unlike from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess The Sea-Maiden Who Became a Sea-Swan (Part 1 of 2) from The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum The Sea of Darkness from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge The Big Bear (Part 2 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major Where David Found the Giant's Sword from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Roasting Oysters from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Learning To Cook Other Things from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
The Sweet Potato Root from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis 		Johnny Darter from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Ants and the Grasshopper from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I See Something in the Sand from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin Buchettino from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner Mr. Toad and Prickly Porky Put Their Heads Togethe from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess A United Family from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Fairy Thrall, Anonymous Thank You, Pretty Cow by Jane Taylor   The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear Berries by Walter de la Mare Dandelions by Helen Gray Cone My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson
First row Previous row          Next row Last row
The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Frogs Who Wished for a King

The Frogs were tired of governing themselves. They had so much freedom that it had spoiled them, and they did nothing but sit around croaking in a bored manner and wishing for a government that could entertain them with the pomp and display of royalty, and rule them in a way to make them know they were being ruled. No milk and water government for them, they declared. So they sent a petition to Jupiter asking for a king.

Jupiter saw what simple and foolish creatures they were, but to keep them quiet and make them think they had a king he threw down a huge log, which fell into the water with a great splash. The Frogs hid themselves among the reeds and grasses, thinking the new king to be some fearful giant. But they soon discovered how tame and peaceable King Log was. In a short time the younger Frogs were using him for a diving platform, while the older Frogs made him a meeting place, where they complained loudly to Jupiter about the government.

To teach the Frogs a lesson the ruler of the gods now sent a Crane to be king of Frogland. The Crane proved to be a very different sort of king from old King Log. He gobbled up the poor Frogs right and left and they soon saw what fools they had been. In mournful croaks they begged Jupiter to take away the cruel tyrant before they should all be destroyed.


[Illustration]

"How now!" cried Jupiter "Are you not yet content? You have what you asked for and so you have only yourselves to blame for your misfortunes."

Be sure you can better your condition before you seek to change.