Verse and Prose for Beginners in Reading | Page 6

your threads off?"
"Oh, no, kind
sir, you would snap our heads off."

If all the world were apple-pie?
And all the sea were ink.
And all
the trees were bread and cheese,
What should we have for drink?

If wishes were horses,
Beggars might ride;
If turnips were watches,

I would wear one by my side.

I have a little sister, they call her peep, peep;
She wades the waters
deep, deep, deep;
She climbs the mountains high, high, high;
Poor
little creature, she has but one eye.
WHO STOLE THE BIRD'S NEST?
"To-whit! to-whit! to-whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four
eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?"
"Not I," said the cow, "Moo-oo!
Such a thing I'd never do.
I gave
you a wisp of hay,
But didn't take your nest away.
Not I," said the
cow, "Moo-oo!
Such a thing I'd never do."
"To-whit! to-whit! to-whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four
eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?"
"Bob-o'-link! Bob-o'-link!
Now what do you think?
Who stole a
nest away
From the plum-tree, to-day?"
"Not I," said the dog, "Bow-wow!
I wouldn't be so mean, any how!

I gave the hairs the nest to make,
But the nest I did not take.
Not I,"
said the dog, "Bow-wow!
I'm not so mean, anyhow."
"To-whit! to-whit! to-whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four
eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?"
"Bob-o'-link! Bob-o'-link!

Now what do you think?
Who stole a nest away
From the plum-tree?
to-day?"
"Coo-coo! Coo-coo! Coo-coo!
Let me speak a word, too!
Who stole
that pretty nest
From little yellow-breast?"
"Not I," said the sheep; "oh, no!
I wouldn't treat a poor bird so.
I
gave wool the nest to line,
But the nest was none of mine.
Baa!
Baa!" said the sheep; "oh, no,
I wouldn't treat a poor bird so."

"To-whit! to-whit! to-whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four
eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?"
"Bob-o'-link! Bob-o'-link!
Now what do you think?
Who stole a
nest away
From the plum-tree, to-day?"
"Coo-coo! Coo-coo! Coo-coo!
Let me speak a word, too!
Who stole
that pretty nest
From little yellow-breast?"
"Caw! Caw!" cried the crow;
"I should like to know
What thief
took away
A bird's nest to-day?"
"Cluck! Cluck!" said the hen;
"Don't ask me again,
Why, I haven't a
chick
Would do such a trick.
We all gave her a feather,
And she
wove them together.
I'd scorn to intrude
On her and her brood.

Cluck! Cluck!" said the hen,
"Don't ask me again."
"Chirr-a-whirr! Chirr-a-whirr!
All the birds make a stir!
Let us find
out his name,
And all cry 'for shame!'"
"I would not rob a bird,"
Said little Mary Green;
"I think I never
heard
Of anything so mean."
"It is very cruel, too,"
Said little
Alice Neal;
"I wonder if he knew
How sad the bird would feel?"
A little boy hung down his head,
And went and hid behind the bed,

For he stole that pretty nest
From poor little yellow-breast;
And he
felt so full of shame,
He didn't like to tell his name.

I saw a ship a-sailing,
A-sailing on the sea;
And oh, it was all laden

With pretty things for thee!
There were comfits in the cabin,
And apples in the hold;

The sails
were made of silk,
And the masts were made of gold!

The four and twenty sailors,
That stood between the decks,
Were
four and twenty white mice,
With chains about their necks.
The captain was a duck,
With a packet on his back;
And when the
ship began to move.
The captain said, "Quack! Quack!"

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell
down, and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;

Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
And bring their tails
behind them.
Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamed she heard them bleating;

But when she awoke, she found it a joke,
For they were still
a-fleeting.
Then up she took her little crook,
Determined for to find them;
She
found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left all
their tails behind 'em.

Little boy blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow, the
cow's in the corn;
Where's the little boy that tends the sheep?
He's
under the haycock, fast asleep.
Go wake him, go wake him. Oh, no,
not I;
For if I awake him, he'll certainly cry.

Little girl, little girl, where have you been?
Gathering roses to give to
the queen.
Little girl, little girl, what gave she you?
She gave me a
diamond as big as my shoe.

Little Jack Horner sat in the corner,
Eating a Christmas pie;
He put
in his thumb, and he took out a plum,
And said, "What a good boy am
I!"

Little Johnny Pringle had a little pig;
It was very little, so was not
very big.
As it was playing beneath the shed,
In half a minute poor
Piggie was dead.
So Johnny Pringle he sat down and cried,
And
Betty Pringle she lay down and died.
There is the history of one, two,
and three,
Johnny Pringle, Betty Pringle, and Piggie Wiggie.

Little Miss Muffet
She sat on a tuffet,
Eating of curds and