Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for September


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 41 Through the Skylight from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock The Barmecide Feast from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Mourner the Dove and Cuckoo from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess WATER: THE FIRST STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
The Story of Ys from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum 		Christopher Columbus from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge Borrowed Fire (Part 1 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major David's Handsome Son and How He Stole the Kingdom (Part 1 of 2) from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Captain Newport's Return from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Gold-Seekers from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
A Worthless Cargo from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis 		The Yellow Spider from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Wild Boar and the Fox from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Am Pleased with My Man Friday from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Story That Had No End from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner Unc' Billy Possum Is a Prisoner from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Christmas Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
The Twilight by Madison Cawein
One, Two, Three by Henry C. Bunner 		  Pigwiggen Arms Himself by Michael Drayton Silver by Walter de la Mare Cradle Song by Richard Watson Gilder When the Frost Is on the Punkin by James Whitcomb Riley
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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.