BY WILLIAM ALLINGHAM Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren't go a-hunting For fear of little men; Wee folk, good folk, Trooping all together: Green jacket, red cap, A...
The Frogs were living as happy as could be in a marshy swamp that just suited them; they went splashing about caring for nobody and nobody troubling with them. But some of them tho...
A DOE hard pressed by hunters sought refuge in a cave belonging to a Lion. The Lion concealed himself on seeing her approach, but when she was safe within the cave, sprang upon her...
A HEAVY WAGON was being dragged along a country lane by a team of Oxen. The Axle-trees groaned and creaked terribly; whereupon the Oxen, turning round, thus addressed the wheels: "...
AN ASS climbed up to the roof of a building, and frisking about there, broke in the tiling. The owner went up after him and quickly drove him down, beating him severely with a thic...
BY ETHEL M. KELLEY Whose hair is all curly, an' eyes "baby-blue"? Who wakes up too early 'fore night-time is fru? Who dresses her pillow all up in the clo'es, An' counts all her pi...
Nimble's mother's plans went all awry. She had expected to give her son a treat by taking him quietly to Farmer Green's carrot patch, so that he might have his first taste of carro...
Jack, be nimble, Jack, be quick; (Jack is one hand walking along on its fore- and middle-fingers.) Jack, jump over The candlestick. (Fist closed; uplifted thumb for candle. Jack ju...
What a bonny little fellow is this fat boy of mine! He makes people die of joy! What a fine little fellow is this fat boy of mine! Now whose is this loving little boy? Do you want...
A Flea, a Grasshopper, and a Toy-goose once wanted to see which of them could jump highest, and so they invited the whole world and everybody else who would like to come, to see th...
Two Frogs were neighbors. The one inhabited a deep pond, far removed from public view; the other lived in a gully containing little water, and traversed by a country road. He that...
There was once a rich man who had two sons. The older son was overbearing, greedy, and covetous. He was dishonest, too, and thought nothing of taking things that belonged to others...
THERE was once upon a time a King who had become a widower. His Queen had left one daughter behind her, and she was so wise and so pretty that it was impossible for any one to be w...
A Japanese Fairy Tale RETOLD BY B. M. BURRELL Alice lived in New York, but she still had the nurse who had taken care of her when she was a tiny baby in far-away Japan. Nurse wore...
A Labourer lay listening to a Nightingale's song throughout the summer night. So pleased was he with it that the next night he set a trap for it and captured it. "Now that I have c...
Rosy-red was a sweet little girl, with beautiful blue eyes, soft pink cheeks and glorious ruddy-gold hair of the tinge that artists love to paint. Her mother died the day she was b...
REQUIREMENTS FOR MARRIAGE.--A man who has not completed his eighteenth year and a woman who has not completed her fifteenth year cannot contract marriage. Nevertheless, it is withi...
BY Z. A. MUDGE (ADAPTED) A visitor in Washington once had an appointment to see Mr. Lincoln at five o'clock in the morning. The gentleman made a hasty toilet and presented himself...
There once lived in Rambin, a town near the Baltic Sea, an honest, industrious man named James Dietrich. He had several children, all of a good disposition, especially the youngest...
A SCOTCH STORY, ATTRIBUTED TO ROBERT BURNS ADAPTED BY JENNIE ELLIS BURDICK There was an old gray Pussy Cat, and she went away down by a brookside. There she saw a wee Robin Redbrea...
Once, in former times, there lived in a certain city in India a poor oil-seller, called Dena, who never could keep any money in his pockets; and when this story begins he had borro...
From the Icelandic. Once upon a time there were a King and a Queen who had an only daughter, called Hadvor, who was fair and beautiful, and being an only child, was heir to the kin...
BY THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY Oh, where do fairies hide their heads When snow lies on the hills, When frost has spoiled their mossy beds, And crystallized their rills? Beneath the moon th...
One summer's day a little tailor sat on his table by the window in the best of spirits, and sewed for dear life. As he was sitting thus a peasant woman came down the street, callin...
Having had Mr. Crow's permission, the Muley Cow went on stretching her legs as much as she pleased. She jumped the pasture fence; and she jumped it back again. And when she seemed...
There was once a king and a queen and they had a bonny boy whom they loved beyond anything. Now when he was grown up into a fine young prince, the King, his father, went a-hunting...
A Sparrow once built a nice little house for herself, and lined it well with wool and protected it with sticks, so that it resisted equally the summer sun and the winter rains. A C...
One day Jesus came with His disciples in a boat to the country of the Gadarenes, near Galilee. They landed near the tombs, that is, caverns cut into the rock, where the dead were b...
There was a man who had fine houses, both in town and country, a deal of silver and gold plate, embroidered furniture, and coaches gilded all over with gold. But this man was so un...
Far up on the dark mountainside, in the driving snow, Nimble waited in front of the cave where Cuffy Bear had vanished. And all the time Nimble was growing more uneasy. He feared t...