Boy Blue and His Friends | Page 8

story:
Once upon a time there was a mother pig and she had five little pigs.

They were the very prettiest little pigs you ever saw.
They were every one white, with pretty pink noses and very curly tails.
Perhaps the mother pig tied each little tail up at night to make it curl
more tightly.
Curly and Whitey, Pearly and Twisty, and Baby, were the names of the
five little pigs.
One day the mother pig said to Curly: "You must go to market to-day,
my son. I want a nice big cabbage for my soup."
So this little pig went to market.
The market was not very far away,--just down the road and across the
field to Grandpa Hall's cabbage patch.
"Be sure and get a good large one," said the mother pig, as Curly
trotted away.
"Oh, Mother," said Whitey, "may I go to market with Curly?"
"No, Whitey," said his mother, "I want you to stay at home and take
care of Baby.
"I shall be very busy all the morning.
"You may take Baby out into the yard and play with her."
So this little pig stayed at home.
Whitey took Baby and went out into the yard.
Pearly and Twisty were out there, but they were not playing.
I am sorry to have to say that they were quarrelling, for one little pig
had some bread and butter and the other little pig had none.

After a while the two little pigs stopped quarrelling, and then they all
began to play together.
First they played tag, then they played hide and seek.
"Oh, there is Curly!" said Whitey.
"See what a big cabbage he has!"
Sure enough, Curly was coming down the road with a cabbage as big as
his own head.
Mother Pig took the cabbage and put it into her soup.
Oh, how good the dinner did smell to the hungry little pigs!
"Come to dinner, children," called their mother at last; and then what a
scampering there was!
One, two, three, four little pigs.
They almost fell over each other, they were in such a hurry.
"Where is Baby?" cried Mother Pig.
Then all the pigs were so frightened that their noses turned white.
Where was she, indeed?
They had forgotten to watch her while they were playing hide and seek.
Where could she be?
They all ran out of the house faster than they ran in.
"Perhaps she ran after me and got lost," thought Curly, and he ran down
the big road.
Pearly thought she would go to the woods behind the barn.

Twisty ran across the big meadow.
Mother Pig walked slowly up the road, looking behind all the trees and
under all the bushes.
"Baby, Baby, Baby!" you could hear them all calling.
As Twisty ran along beside the brook, she thought she heard a noise.
"Baby, Baby!" she called.
"Wee, wee, wee!" cried Baby Pig, "I can't find my way home."
When Twisty heard this she ran so fast she nearly fell into the brook.
There sat Baby Pig on a stone, wiping the tears out of her eyes with an
oak leaf.
"Oh, Baby!" said Twisty, giving her sister a good hug, "what made you
run away?"
"I didn't run away, I got lost," said Baby, "and I want to see my
mother."
So Twisty and Baby ran home as fast as they could.
There were all the little pigs looking very sad because they had not
found Baby.
When they saw her coming they ran to meet her, and Curly carried her
into the house "pig-a-back."
Then they ate their cabbage soup, an it tasted all the better for waiting.
Jack and Jill
Went up the hill,
To get a pail of water.
Jack fell
down
And broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
JACK AND JILL

Tommy Tucker and Mary had many good times together that summer.
They fished in the brook at the end of the meadow.
They went berrying and took their dinner with them.
They rode to market in the big wagon with Grandpa Hall.
In fact, they did everything that boys and girls who live on a farm like
to do.
But they did not always play alone.
In the very next house lived another little boy and girl.
This little boy and girl were twins, and they looked as much alike as
two green peas.
Mary called them Jack and Jill, but I don't know what their mother
called them.
Jack and Jill lived in a little house at the top of the hill.
In the winter, when the snow was on the ground, it was fine coasting
down that long hill.
The twins had new red sleds that Santa Claus had left them on
Christmas morning.
Jack's sled was named "Racer," and Jill called hers