Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December


Five Eyes

In Hans' old Mill his three black cats

Watch the bins for the thieving rats.

Whisker and claw, they crouch in the night,

Their five eyes smouldering green and bright:

Squeaks from the flour sacks, squeaks from where

The cold wind stirs on the empty stair,

Squeaking and scampering, everywhere.

Then down they pounce, now in, now out,

At whisking tail, and sniffing snout;

While lean old Hans he snores away

Till peep of light at break of day;

Then up he climbs to his creaking mill,

Out come his cats all grey with meal—

Jekkel, and Jessup, and one-eyed Jill.

  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 37 The Christening from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock Socrates and His House from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Jenny Wren's Cousins from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess WATER: THE SECOND STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
King Fergus and the Water-Horse from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum 		Vasco da Gama's Great Voyage from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge The One-Eared Bear (Part 1 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major The Cripple at the King's Table from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
A Crude Kind of Chimney from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Cooking a Turkey from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Candles or Rushlights from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis 		Berries for Bluebirds from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Lion and the Gnat from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Discover a Wreck from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Forest Bailiff from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner Old Mrs. Possum Grows Worried from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Seaweed Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
Where Go the Boats? by Robert Louis Stevenson The Sun Travels by Robert Louis Stevenson   John Grumblie, Anonymous The Song of Shadows by Walter de la Mare The Babie by Hugh Miller Lady Moon by Richard Monckton Milnes
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf

A Shepherd Boy tended his master's Sheep near a dark forest not far from the village. Soon he found life in the pasture very dull. All he could do to amuse himself was to talk to his dog or play on his shepherd's pipe.

One day as he sat watching the Sheep and the quiet forest, and thinking what he would do should he see a Wolf, he thought of a plan to amuse himself.

His Master had told him to call for help should a Wolf attack the flock, and the Villagers would drive it away. So now, though he had not seen anything that even looked like a Wolf, he ran toward the village shouting at the top of his voice, "Wolf! Wolf!"

As he expected, the Villagers who heard the cry dropped their work and ran in great excitement to the pasture. But when they got there they found the Boy doubled up with laughter at the trick he had played on them.

A few days later the Shepherd Boy again shouted, "Wolf! Wolf!" Again the Villagers ran to help him, only to be laughed at again. Then one evening as the sun was setting behind the forest and the shadows were creeping out over the pasture, a Wolf really did spring from the underbrush and fall upon the Sheep.


[Illustration]

In terror the Boy ran toward the village shouting "Wolf! Wolf!" But though the Villagers heard the cry, they did not run to help him as they had before. "He cannot fool us again," they said.

The Wolf killed a great many of the Boy's sheep and then slipped away into the forest.

Liars are not believed even when they speak the truth.