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 33 Pinocchio Is Sold from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi The Ungrateful Guest from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Peter Gets a Lame Neck from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess The Sea-Maiden Who Became a Sea-Swan (Part 2 of 2) from The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum Prince Henry, the Sailor from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge How Balser Got a Gun (Part 1 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major How David Spared Saul's Life from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
A Touch of Homesickness from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Master Hunt's Preaching from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Neglecting To Provide for the Future from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis 		A Spider's Tower from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Ass Carrying the Image from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Am Again Alarmed from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Straw Ox from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner The Runaway Cabbage from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess Safe from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
A Sand Castle, Anonymous The Wonderful World by William Brighty Rands   The Fairy Shoemaker by William Allingham The Bees' Song by Walter de la Mare Summer Woods by Mary Howitt A Sea Song from the Shore by James Whitcomb Riley
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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.


[Illustration]

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.