Page images
PDF
EPUB

66

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 mone
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the moon above,

And sang to a small guitar,

"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love! What a beautiful pussy you are,-You are,

What a beautiful pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How wonderful sweet you sing!

O 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 the wood, a piggy-wig stood With a ring in the end of his nose,His nose,

With a ring in the end of his nose.

แ 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 upon 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,

They danced by the light of the moon.

EDWARD LEAR.

66

66

THE WIND AND THE LEAVES.

Come, little leaves," said the wind one day,
Come o'er the meadows with me, and play;
Put on your dresses of red and gold,--

Summer is gone, and the days grow cold."

Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all;
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the soft little songs they knew.

Dancing and flying the little leaves went ;
Winter had called them, and they were content.
Soon fast asleep in their earthy beds,

The snow laid a coverlet over their heads.

GEORGE COOPER.

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.

Nearly one hundred years ago, in the little vil

moon, and the stars.

lage of Odense, in Denmark, Hans Christian Andersen was born. His parents were very poor. His father was a shoemaker, but he was not well enough to do much work.

[graphic]

Hans was a strange little boy, and his mind was always filled with strange thoughts. He loved the flowers and the birds, the trees and the streams, the sky, the He loved the stories of robbers, giants, and witches, which his father told him, and which he heard again and again from the old ladies in the poorhouse at Odense, where he spent many long hours. A strange place for a little boy to spend his time, was it not? But this odd little boy also went often to the madhouse, where he played for hours in the long hallways, and where one day he was terribly frightened by a beautiful lunatic.

When only five years of age, Hans went with his father and mother to take dinner with the jailer at the prison in Odense. Two prisoners waited at the table, but little Hans could eat nothing; his mind was full of stories of robbers and dungeons and enchanted castles, and he had to be put to bed. He tells us that when he was left alone, he was no longer frightened, and that he turned it all into a wonderful fairy tale. Do you wonder that clever little Hans was a strange wild boy and that people said, "He is cracked, like his grandfather?"

His father died when Hans was eleven years old. His mother wished him to become a tailor, but Hans wanted to write stories; and although he had no money, he set out for Copenhagen to study. After many months of hardship and suffering in the great city, he became acquainted with a kind and wealthy man, who liked his stories and helped him.

Hans Christian Andersen has written many stories, both for grown-up people and for children; but he will always be remembered and loved for his children's stories. Children in nearly every part of the world have read them, and have learned to love the man who wrote them. You have read The Princess and the Pea, and one of

the stories from What the Moon Saw. You will read The Daisy, which will tell you how Hans Christian Andersen loved the flowers and the birds, and show you what a tender, loving heart he had. You will also read The Ugly Duckling, which is perhaps the most famous of his stories; it is the story of his own life-the poor, ugly duckling that became a swan and was loved and honored; for Hans Christian Andersen, the poor shoemaker's son, who ran wild and ignorant about Odense, in the poor-house, the madhouse, and the jail, and who was thought to be "cracked like his grandfather," has come to be greatly loved and greatly honored.

[graphic][subsumed]
« PreviousContinue »