Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December

Who Has Seen the Wind?

Who has seen the wind? 
Neither I nor you;
But when the leaves hang trembling
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads 
The wind is passing by.

	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

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.