Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December


The Land of Counterpane

When I was sick and lay a-bed,

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay,

To keep me happy all the day.


And sometimes for an hour or so

I watched my leaden soldiers go,

With different uniforms and drills,

Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;


And sometimes sent my ships in fleets

All up and down among the sheets;

Or brought my trees and houses out,

And planted cities all about.


I was the giant great and still

That sits upon the pillow-hill,

And sees before him, dale and plain,

The pleasant land of counterpane.

  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 9 Pinocchio Sells His Spelling-Book from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi The Black Douglas from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin The Old Orchard Bully from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess Water for the King's Son from The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes by Padraic Colum Voyage and Shipwreck from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge Betsy Goes to School (Part 1 of 2) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher The Present That Ehud Brought to King Eglon from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
The Sea Fight from Viking Tales by Jennie Hall A Frog Chorus (Part 2 of 3) from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch Hercules and the Wagoner from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter I Make Me a Raft from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin Daedalus and Icarus from A Child's Book of Myths and Enchantment Tales by Margaret Evans Price Jimmy Skunk and Unc' Billy Possum Tell Stories from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess The Fitting Story from The Sandman: His Ship Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
The Fairies by William Allingham The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear Eletelephony by Laura E. Richards Nonsense Verse by Edward Lear Nobody Knows by Walter de la Mare The Four Winds by Frank Dempster Sherman The First Bluebird by James Whitcomb Riley
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Hare and the Tortoise

A Hare was making fun of the Tortoise one day for being so slow.

"Do you ever get anywhere?" he asked with a mocking laugh.

"Yes," replied the Tortoise, "and I get there sooner than you think. I'll run you a race and prove it."

The Hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the Tortoise, but for the fun of the thing he agreed. So the Fox, who had consented to act as judge, marked the distance and started the runners off.

The Hare was soon far out of sight, and to make the Tortoise feel very deeply how ridiculous it was for him to try a race with a Hare, he lay down beside the course to take a nap until the Tortoise should catch up.

The Tortoise meanwhile kept going slowly but steadily, and, after a time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping. But the Hare slept on very peacefully; and when at last he did wake up, the Tortoise was near the goal. The Hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the Tortoise in time.

The race is not always to the swift.


[Illustration]

The Hare and the Tortoise