Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for September




Time To Rise

A birdie with a yellow bill

Hopped upon my window sill,

Cocked his shining eye and said:

"Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!"


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Week 43 Stirrings of Ambition from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock The Blind Men and the Elephant from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin A Stranger and a Dandy from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess EARTH: THE SECOND STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
King Solomon and the Servitor of the Lord of Earth from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum
Discovery of the New World from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge The Fire Bear from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major Absalom in the Wood; David on the Throne (Part 1 of 2) from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Gazing at the Women from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Master Hunt Brings Great News from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Captain Newport's Instructions from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis
Flyaway Seeds from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch The Birds, the Beasts and the Bat from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Make a New Boat from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin The Clever Turtle from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner Unc' Billy Possum Wishes He Had Snowshoes from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess The Teak-Wood Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
How the Leaves Came Down by Susan Coolidge Lady Moon by Richard Monckton Milnes   The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost The Song of the Secret by Walter de la Mare The Challenge of Thor by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Little Orphant Annie 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.