THERE were once two cocks; one of them stood on a dunghill, the other on the roof. Both were conceited, but the question is, Which of the two was the more useful? A wooden partitio...
When one is very hungry, It's hard to wait, I know, For minutes seem like hours And the clock is always slow. There isn't time to play a game, You just sit down and wait, While Mot...
I'm a rich man, If ever there was one: I've a horse and an apple, And both are my own. But some others might wish Such fine presents to keep; So I'll take them to bed, To hold whil...
From the Hungarian. Kletke. There was once upon a time a King and Queen who had everything they could possibly wish for in this world except a child. At last, after twelve years, t...
BY LUCY FITCH PERKINS Oh, to be a sailor And sail to foreign lands-- To Greenland's icy mountains And India's coral strands! To sail upon the Ganges And see the crocodile, Where ev...
The custom of making fools on the 1st of April is one of the few old English merriments still in general vogue. We used to say on the occasion of having entrapped any one-- Fool, f...
By Isabel Lyndall When grandma comes to visit, She very often brings Her satchel full of cookies, And ginger cakes and things. Grandpa carries in his grip For Dorothy and me, One o...
FAR out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could sound it, and many...
Blondine slept profoundly, and on awaking she found herself entirely changed. Indeed, it seemed to her she could not be the same person. She was much taller, her intellect was deve...
Self-heal or Blue-curls in the Grass You should know the history of the lowly little flower called Blue-curls; and you must remember that flowers have their troubles just as you ha...
"Sing a song o' sixpence Pocket full of rye; Four-and-twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie. When the pie was opened The birds began to sing Was not this a dainty dish To set before the...
There was once a young Hunter who went boldly into the forest. He had a merry and light heart, and as he went whistling along there came an ugly old woman, who said to him, 'Good-d...
BY DEWITT CLINTON FALLS Tommy took his sister out in their new pony-cart for a ride. They met a little friend very soon, and asked her to ride, too. Then Billie came along and of c...
Raggedy Ann lay just as Marcella had dropped her--all sprawled out with her rag arms and legs twisted in ungraceful attitudes. Her yarn hair was twisted and lay partly over her fac...
Once upon a time, when folk were not so wise as they are nowadays, there lived a farmer and his wife who had one daughter. And she, being a pretty lass, was courted by the young sq...
WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY M. I. WOOD Once upon a time there was a woman called Mrs. Stockchen and she had a son named Hans. They lived together in a little cottage and they had a...
The Act of Union between England and Scotland, A. D. 1707 (6 Anne, c. 2), which made one legislature, the present British Parliament, for the two countries, expressly provided that...
THERE was once upon a time a couple of folks who had a son called Halvor. Ever since he had been a little boy he had been unwilling to do any work, and had just sat raking about am...
Once upon a time there was a King who had twelve daughters, each more beautiful than the other. The twelve princesses slept in a large hall, each in a little bed of her own. After...
One moonlight night a Fox was prowling about a farmer's hen-coop, and saw a Cock roosting high up beyond his reach. "Good news, good news!" he cried. "Why, what is that?" said the...
The subject of rural charms, many of which are lineal descendants from those used by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, is one of great interest and curiosity; and it were much to be wishe...
Once upon a time there lived in the city of Famagosta, in the island of Cyprus, a rich man called Theodorus. He ought to have been the happiest person in the whole world, as he had...
There was once a merchant that had three daughters, and he loved them better than himself. Now it happened that he had to go a long journey to buy some goods, and when he was just...
The "Druidical" stones at Rollright, Oxfordshire, are said to have been originally a general and his army who were transformed into stones by a magician. The tradition runs that th...
In a very cold country, far across the seas, where ice and snow cover the ground for many months in the year, there lived a little hare, who, as his father and mother were both dea...
BY ANNIE W. McCULLOUGH I wonder what you're thinking of, my darling little cat. It may be meat, it may be cream, that makes you nice and fat; It may be all the fun you have in barn...
TWO SOLDIERS traveling together were set upon by a Robber. The one fled away; the other stood his ground and defended himself with his stout right hand. The Robber being slain, the...
It was the custom in old times that as soon as a Japanese boy reached manhood he should leave his home and roam through the land in search of adventures. Sometimes he would meet wi...
Ide the samurai was wedded to a fair wife and had an only child, a boy called Fugiwaka. Ide was a mighty man of war, and as often as not he was away from home upon the business of...
A YOUNG MAN, a great spendthrift, had run through all his patrimony and had but one good cloak left. One day he happened to see a Swallow, which had appeared before its season, ski...