Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for April

Little Jack Horner



The Little Disaster



My Pretty Maid



The Ploughboy in Luck




The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea-green boat:

They took some honey, and plenty of money

Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,

"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are,

You are,

You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!"


Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,

How charmingly sweet you sing!

Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried:

But what shall we do for a ring?"

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the bong-tree grows;

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,

With a ring at the end of his nose,

His nose,

His nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.


"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."

So they took it away, and were married next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon,

The moon,

The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.



  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 39 A Distant Tower from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock Doctor Goldsmith from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Peter Saves a Friend and Learns Something from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess FIRE: THE FIRST STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
Phaethon from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
The New Trade-Route from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge The Wolf Hunt (Part 1 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major Saint Faith from In God's Garden by Amy Steedman
Captain Smith's Expedition and Return from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
An Exciting Adventure from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Taken before Powhatan from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Goldenrod Honey from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Cock and the Jewel from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Have a Queer Dream from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Three Wishes from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner Why Unc' Billy Possum Didn't Go Home from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Log-Book Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
Golden-Rod by Frank Dempster Sherman The Ride to Bumpville by Eugene Field   The Quest by Eudora Bumstead I Can't Abear by Walter de la Mare Today by Thomas Carlyle How the Leaves Came Down by Susan Coolidge
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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.