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 STORIES OF 
 
 MOTHER GOOSE 
 VILLAGE 

 
 of 
 
 VILLAGE/
 
 TZ7 
 
 TO 
 
 WILLETTE ALLEN 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE LOVE OF THE AUTHOR
 
 T'hre Prefa c e 
 
 ONCE upon a time there was a little girl with sunny hair 
 and merry eyes, and she lived in a house with a great big 
 man, who was her father. 
 
 Now, the great big man had merry eyes, too, just like the little 
 girl's, but he was always very busy and would sit for days and 
 days at his study-table reading and writing. But the little girl 
 went in to see him every day and the great big man was never too 
 busy to tell her a story. And sometimes he would romp with her 
 until the little girl laughed and laughed and laughed, and then he 
 would say, " Run away, my dear, and play." 
 
 Of course th'e stories were very short ones, because the great 
 big man did not have time to tell long ones, you know. One the 
 little girl liked was : 
 
 " See-saw, Margery Daw, 
 Jenny shall have a new master ; 
 
 She shall have but a penny a day 
 Because she can't work any faster." 
 
 She liked that one because the great big man always rode her 
 on his knee when he told it. But there were others that she liked 
 just as well all about little Bo-Peep and little Miss Muffet and 
 Jack Sprat and Humpty Dumpty and Peter Piper and Jack and 
 Jill and little Boy Blue and Polly Flinders and Tommy Tucker 
 and the Crooked Man and oh, many others that you have heard 
 
 6
 
 7 
 
 about in the Mother Goose book. But the last one that the great 
 big man always told was this because the little girl always said 
 " Tell one more," you know : 
 
 " I'll tell you a story 
 About Jack-a-Manory, 
 
 And now my story's begun, 
 I'll tell you another 
 About Jack and his brother, 
 
 And now my story is done." 
 
 Then he would chuck the little girl under her chin and she 
 would smile and run away and play, and tell the very same stories 
 over and over to her dolls about Jack-a-Manory and all the rest. 
 But one day something happened, for, when the great big man 
 came home from town, why, he brought a present to the little girl, 
 all tied up with a blue cord, and when she opened it why, it was 
 a story book, quite full of all those stories the little girl loved so 
 well, and there were most beautiful colored pictures, too one for 
 every story Bo- Peep and Tommy Grace and Boy Blue and all 
 the rest ! And do you know, the little girl could read those stories 
 almost as well as the great big man could. He would only show 
 her the pictures and she would do the rest whether he held the 
 book upside down or not ! Now wasn't that queer? 
 
 So for many days the little girl read her Mother Goose book 
 read and read and read until she almost wore it out, she read it so 
 much, and then she was sorry because there wasn't any more of it 
 to read. She asked the great big man, when he went to town, to 
 see if Mother Goose had not written another book, but when the 
 great big man came back, he shook his head and said, " No, my 
 dear ; the old lady wrote only the one." And then when the little 
 girl looked sad, he said, " But never mind, when you grow into a 
 great big girl, my dear, you may write another one and tell some 
 more about Humpty Dumpty and Jack-be-Nimble and little Miss 
 Muffet and all the rest." And so the little girl did, and these are 
 the stories she wrote. Wouldn't you like to read them? 
 
 MADGE BIGHAM.
 
 Contents 
 
 Dedication 5 
 
 The Preface 6 
 
 MOTHER GOOSE VILLAGE 1 1 
 
 POLLY FLINDERS' APRON 17 
 
 THE CROOKED MAN'S STORY 23 
 
 TOMMY GRACE'S PARTY 29 
 
 THE SCHOOLMASTER'S PIE 34 
 
 DAN 41 
 
 TOMMY TUCKER'S BUN ... 49 
 
 THE APPLE PARTY 55 
 
 CURLY LOCKS' PEAS 61 
 
 JACK AND JILL'S BIRTHDAY DOLLS 69 
 
 LITTLE WEE PUMPKIN'S THANKSGIVING 75 
 
 SIMPLE SIMON'S SILKEN COAT 82 
 
 MAIDEN MAPLE LEAF 90 
 
 NANCY ETTICOTE'S RING ... 97
 
 9 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE OLD WOMAN'S CHRISTMAS TREE 105 
 
 MARY CONTRARY'S DOLL BED 112 
 
 PEG'S TRIP TO THE SKY 119 
 
 JACK'S ICE-CREAM PICNIC 126 
 
 THE SLEEPING PRINCESS ' 133 
 
 THE OLD WOMAN'S NEW YEAR'S BASKET . . . . .139 
 
 LITTLE Miss MUFFET'S VALENTINE 146 
 
 MOTHER HUBBARD'S EASTER LILY 153 
 
 TOMMY TINKER'S CHARM STRING 159 
 
 THE WONDERFUL SECRET 164 
 
 THE LITTLE BROWN VALENTINE 169 
 
 CINDERELLA'S EGG HUNT 1 75 
 
 Mother Goose Rhymes 183
 
 Why, I had the gayest ride, over hills and fields and bridges"
 
 Mother Goose Village 
 
 IF ever you go to London Town, be sure to 
 knock at the door of jolly Old King Cole 
 and ask the way to Mother Goose Village. 
 
 He will tell you to follow the big road, to 
 cross London bridge, follow a winding path, 
 go over the old stile --where the Crooked 
 Man found the sixpence, to cross the field 
 and climb Primrose Hill, and then you will 
 see Mother Goose Village before you. 
 
 I found the way without any trouble, and 
 it was the dearest, quaintest little village in 
 all the world ! Lovely flowers and soft, green
 
 12 
 
 grass, with birds and bees and butterflies 
 scattered everywhere! And then, there was 
 the beautiful sea with its dancing waves; and 
 the blue, blue sky with no signs of cobwebs 
 anywhere ! 
 
 No wonder the queer little people I met 
 loved to live there. Mother Goose herself 
 carried me over the village, and I shook hands 
 with many of the people, I saw Little Boy 
 Blue and Bo-Peep watching their sheep. I 
 saw the Miller of Dee and his little daughter 
 Peg. I saw the Three Wise Men of Gotham 
 on the seashore just ready to take a sail in 
 their wonderful bowl. I saw John Smith the 
 blacksmith and Robert Rowly the baker, and 
 well, I saw them all. 
 
 For, after Mother Goose had shown me 
 all the little red houses tucked around Prim- 
 rose Hill, she took me to the schoolhouse, 
 and I enjoyed that most of all. We got there 
 just in time to hear the Schoolmaster call
 
 13 
 
 the roll. Everybody in the village answered 
 to the roll call, even Mother Goose herself. 
 That was the only way she could keep up 
 with her people. She kissed her hand to 
 
 One of the little red houses on Primrose Hill 
 
 them as we entered the doorway, and then 
 the Schoolmaster opened his big book. 
 Never before had I seen so many queer little 
 people, old and young, high and low, answer 
 to a roll call. I could not help but smile at
 
 14 
 
 the funny names I heard, as you will, when 
 you read them. Listen : 
 
 Mother Goose. 
 
 Mother Twitchett. 
 
 Mother Hubbard. 
 
 Old Woman in the Shoe. 
 
 Cobweb Woman. 
 
 Old Woman under the Hill. 
 
 Father Graybeard. 
 
 Man in the Moon, 
 
 Little Tee Wee. 
 
 Peter Pumpkineater. 
 
 Wise Men of Gotham. 
 
 Humpty Dtimpty. 
 
 Solomon Grundy. 
 
 Tommy Green. 
 
 Tommy Trout. 
 
 King of Hearts. 
 
 Queen of Hearts. 
 
 Little King Boggen. 
 
 Old King Cole. 
 
 Cinderella. 
 
 Doctor Foster. 
 
 Charlie Wag. 
 
 John Smith. 
 
 Polly Flinders. 
 
 Curly Locks. 
 
 Nancy Etticote. 
 
 Mary Contrary. 
 
 Jack-be-Nimble. 
 
 Jack Horner. 
 Jack Goose. 
 Little Jack Jingle. 
 Johnny Pringle. 
 Betty Pringle. 
 Betsy. 
 Bess. 
 
 Tommy Snooks. 
 Bessie Brooks. 
 Rowley Powley. 
 Little Boy Blue. 
 Tommy Grace. 
 John-a-Nory. 
 Tweedle-dum. 
 Tweedle-dee. 
 Peter Henderson. 
 Nothing-at-all. 
 Tommy Tucker. 
 Taffy Welchman. 
 Jack-a-Dandy. 
 Little Peg. 
 Jack-a-Daw. 
 Robert Rowly. 
 Margery Daw. 
 Jenny Daw. 
 Jumping Joan. 
 Daffy-down-dilly. 
 Little Miss Muffet.
 
 15 
 
 Tommy Tittlemouse. Peter Piper. 
 
 Lazy Tom. Bonny Wooley Foster 
 
 Peter White. Johnny Armstrong. 
 
 Bobby Shaftoe. Pretty John Watts. 
 
 Miller of Dee. Willy Boy. 
 
 Elizabeth. Tony Lumpkin. 
 
 Elspeth. Simple Simon. 
 
 Robinson Crusoe. Jack. 
 
 Tom Piper. Jill. 
 
 Jack Bean Stalk. Dicky Long. 
 
 Patchy Dolly. Bo-Peep. 
 
 Crooked Man. Ten Little Indians. 
 
 Jack Sprat. Tom Thumb. 
 
 That is all I can remember now. I was 
 sorry when the time came to say good-by, 
 and I wanted to live in Mother Goose Vil- 
 lage all the time. But of course I couldn't. 
 
 Mother Goose called for Johnny Arm- 
 strong to carry me home in his little wheel- 
 barrow; the very same one in which he had 
 brought his wife home, so he told me. I felt 
 a wee bit afraid that it might break down 
 and give me a fall, but it didn't. 
 
 Why, I had the gayest ride; over hills and 
 fields and bridges, along narrow paths and
 
 16 
 
 winding roads we sped, until we came to 
 London Town. It was a very fine ride. 
 
 Of course I mean to tell you more, 
 Stories, I guess, some hundred score, 
 Of the queer little people I met that day 
 In Mother Goose Village so far away.
 
 Polly Flinders !Apron 
 
 POLLY FLINDERS wanted a new 
 white apron with ruffles on it. 
 
 She thought it would be very beautiful, 
 and while she was sitting in the doorway 
 thinking, guess what? She fell asleep. 
 
 And while she was asleep, guess what? 
 A very old cottonstalk, with long, soft white 
 hair, walked up to the steps and spoke to her! 
 
 "Good-morning, Polly Flinders," said Mr. 
 Cottonstalk, bowing low. "It is very warm; 
 let me fan you with one of my leaf fans. And 
 so you want a new white apron, do you?"
 
 18 
 
 " Yes," said Polly, stretching her eyes very 
 wide; "how did you know?" 
 
 "Never mind about that," said Mr. Cot- 
 tonstalk; "get a bag and follow me. I will 
 show you a place where white aprons grow." 
 
 So Polly got the bag and away they went, 
 down the pathway, across the meadows, to a 
 field where ever so much cotton was growing. 
 
 "Now," said Mr. Cottonstalk, "get to 
 work. This is my field and you may fill your 
 bag full of cotton. When you have finished, 
 pick out all the seeds and bring them to me, 
 to be planted for other aprons, you know." 
 
 Polly thought that was very queer, but 
 went quietly to work as he had told her. 
 
 She picked and picked and picked, until 
 by and by the bag was full. 
 
 Then she picked out all the seeds, picked 
 and picked and picked, which was a very 
 hard task indeed, and gave them to Mr. Cot- 
 tonstalk.
 
 'So Polly got the bag and away they went'
 
 20 
 
 "What now?" asked Polly Flinders, feel- 
 ing very warm. "This isn't any apron !" 
 
 "Not yet, of course," replied Mr. Cotton- 
 stalk. "It is only the beginning of a white 
 apron. You have been a smart little girl, 
 though, and have worked bravely. Now do 
 
 "Polly thanked Mr. Cottonstalk, and off she went" 
 
 what I tell you and the white apron shall be 
 yours. Put the bag of cotton on your back 
 and carry it to London Town, where there 
 is a large factory. Then the factory man will 
 tell you what next to do."
 
 21 
 
 Polly Flinders was very tired, but thanked 
 Mr. Cottonstalk, and off she went, over the 
 field, across the stile to London Town. 
 
 At last she came to the factory, where she 
 put down her bag. Such a hum and buzz of 
 wheels she had never heard before ! Round 
 and round they whirled, singing merrily: 
 
 Over and over and over we go, 
 Spinning the cotton, as white as the snow, 
 Weaving the cloth for aprons, you know, 
 So over and over and over we go ! 
 
 -Well!" said Polly Flinders. "How 
 strange! That is just what I wanted you to 
 do for me." 
 
 So she untied her bag, and the factory 
 man said: "To be sure. Just bring your 
 cotton this way and empty it into the bin. 
 Now wait a minute; it won't be long before 
 these wheels have your cloth ready. Watch !" 
 
 Polly Flinders could hardly believe her 
 own eyes when she saw her cotton drawn
 
 22 
 
 out into a long, long thread. 
 It grew finer and finer, cross- 
 ing and recrossing like this: 
 
 Then with a spinning whir the wheels 
 stopped, and the factory man said: "Your 
 cloth is finished, Polly Flinders. Take it to 
 your mother and have her make you a new 
 white apron. But wait, I'll just blow you 
 back to the village. Puff-f ! puff-f ! puff-f ! and 
 away you go!" My! Polly Flinders opened 
 her eyes very wide and, guess what? She 
 was sitting on her own doorstep! 
 
 Just then her mother called: "Run here, 
 Polly, and' see what I have made for you." 
 
 And there was a new white apron, with 
 ruffles on it !
 
 The Crooked Mans Story 
 
 ONE morning Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy, 
 and Bess started out for a walk on 
 Primrose Hill. 
 
 They climbed the narrow path, one behind 
 the other, and as they passed a wild rose- 
 bush, what do you think they found? All 
 tucked away among the frail pink roses was a 
 bird-nest home, snug and warm and round. 
 In it were four dainty eggs all blue! 
 
 -Oh oh!" said Elizabeth. "Oh oh!" 
 said Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess. " Let's take 
 them home to show the babies," said Elizabeth.
 
 "/ it were four dainty
 
 25 -M 
 
 " Yes, let's do," said Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess. 
 So each little girl took an egg, and that left 
 none. 
 
 ''Let's go home by the Crooked Man's 
 house, and get him to tell us a story," said 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 "Yes, let's do," said Elspeth, Betsy, and 
 Bess. 
 
 So off they started down the path to the 
 Crooked Man's house, one behind the other. 
 
 "And what shall I tell you about?" said 
 the Crooked Man, when the little girls were 
 seated around his crooked chair. "About 
 birds," said Elizabeth. "Yes-s, do," said 
 Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess. 
 
 So the Crooked Man crossed his legs, shut 
 his eyes and began : Once upon a time two 
 robins married on Saint Valentine's day. 
 They were very happy, and all day long sang, 
 "I love you! I love you! Joy, joy, joy!" 
 For what did they know of sorrow then?
 
 26 
 
 "And now," said Mr. Robin, looking 
 fondly at his wife, "my dear, we must build 
 our home somewhere in a very safe place, 
 you know. For by and by when the eggs 
 are laid and the baby robins come, oh, joy, 
 joy, joy! they must find a place to rest." 
 
 "I know a beautiful place," said Mrs. 
 Robin, "a most beautiful place. Come and 
 see!" 
 
 So she led the way to a hill, where a wild 
 rosebush grew, its blossoms and leaves rich 
 with beauty. The robins worked busily until 
 the nest was finished, and it was such a dainty, 
 pretty home, hidden among the blossoms. 
 One day Mrs. Robin laid an egg, a blue 
 one. Then another, and another, and 
 another, until there were four blue 
 eggs in the nest. That was a joy. 
 And in the four blue eggs 
 were four baby robins, 
 as yet
 
 27 
 
 not waked up. They kept growing and grow- 
 ing and growing, though, and Mr. and Mrs. 
 Robin were longing and waiting for the day 
 to come when their babies would break 
 through the blue egg-shells, and nestle to- 
 gether with them in the pretty home nest. 
 That would be joy indeed. And so they 
 warbled from morning till night, " I love you ! 
 I love you! Joy, joy, joy!" 
 
 " But," said Mrs. Robin, "s'pose some one 
 should steal our pretty blue eggs while we are 
 out hunting something to eat?" 
 
 "Dear, dear," said Mr. Robin, "a trick 
 so mean as that? Why, no one in Mother 
 Goose Village would do a thing so mean!" 
 
 Then the Crooked Man looked at Eliza- 
 beth, Elizabeth looked at Elspeth, Elspeth 
 looked at Betsy, and Betsy looked at Bess. 
 
 Then they put their hands behind them, 
 and Elizabeth said: "Please, Mr. Crooked 
 Man, we will have to go now." "Yes, we
 
 28 
 
 will have to go now," said Elspeth, Betsy, and 
 Bess. And so they passed down the garden 
 walk and through the little crooked gate. 
 Then up the path to Primrose Hill they 
 marched, one behind the other. 
 
 " To Primrose Hill they marched, 
 one behind the other" 
 
 If you will climb to the top of Primrose 
 Hill, and peep into the wild rosebush nest, 
 you will find four blue eggs, safe and sound. 
 
 Now, how do you suppose they got back?
 
 TOMMY GRACE had a most dreadful 
 toothache. How he did cry! Noth- 
 ing seemed to do him any good. His mother 
 tried, his father tried, and even Tommy Long 
 tried his funny song, but Tommy Grace only 
 cried the louder. " Boo-ta>o, boo-hoo! It 
 hurts me so, I don't know wkat to do." 
 
 Mother Goose heard Tommy Grace, and 
 she said: "I know what to do. You go to 
 Dr. Foster s office and let him pall that tooth, 
 then come round to my house this afternoon 
 and we'll have a party. You may invite all
 
 30 
 
 of the Tommies in the village, and we will 
 call it a Tommy party." 
 
 That made Tommy Grace smile, so he got 
 his cap and off he ran to Dr. Foster's office, 
 with tears and smiles mixed up together. 
 
 "Hi, there!" said Dr. Foster. "Little 
 Tommy Grace, I do believe! Climb right 
 into this big chair by the window. Now open 
 your mouth and shut your eyes, and that 
 tooth will be gone in a twinkle. Why, it's 
 nothing more than a baby tooth. One, two, 
 three, and out it comes ! " 
 
 Why, it was done so quickly that Tommy 
 Grace forgot to scream. Dr. Foster wrapped 
 the tooth in a piece of pink tissue paper and 
 gave it to him to show Mother Goose. Then 
 away ran Tommy Grace, as happy as a king. 
 
 That very afternoon he went to the party. 
 The table was set out under the trees, and cov- 
 ered with sugar and spice and all things nice. 
 
 There were ten little chairs around the
 
 'Hi, there!' said Dr. Foster'
 
 1 After they had left the table they played 'blind man's buff"
 
 33 
 
 table, all ready for the ten little Tommies. 
 Ten little plates and ten little glasses, and 
 ten little bunches of violets waiting to be 
 pinned on the ten little Tommies. 
 
 Tommy Grace sat at the head of the table, 
 and Tommy Tucker sat at the foot. On one 
 side sat Tommy Green, Tommy Tittlemouse, 
 Tommy Trout, and Lazy Tom. On the 
 other side sat Tommy Snooks, Tom Piper, 
 Tom Thumb, and Tommy Tinker. Such a 
 merry set of Tommies ! Such a merry party! 
 
 After they had left the table they played 
 " blind man's buff" and "leap frog." Then 
 Mother Goose gave them each a ride home 
 on her gander. 
 
 And that was the end of the Tommy party.
 
 Schoolmasters Pie 
 
 YOU have heard about Jack Homer's 
 Christmas pie; of course you have- 
 how he put in his thumb and pulled out a 
 plum, and said what a great boy am I. 
 
 But Jack Horner had never stopped to 
 think how many people it took to make a 
 Christmas pie. So the Schoolmaster thought 
 it would be a good plan to have a plum-pie 
 lesson. 
 
 Now the Schoolmaster in Mother Goose 
 Village did not use books in his school. The 
 children just studied "things," as Rowley 
 
 34
 
 35 
 
 Powley said. That meant anything you saw 
 and wanted to learn about. If you could, you 
 brought the " thing" to the school, and if you 
 couldn't, why, the Schoolmaster took the chil- 
 dren to the "thing." If it were sheep and 
 cows, they went to the meadows ; if it were 
 birds or trees, they went to the woods, and if 
 it were rocks or fish, they went to the. creek. 
 So you see what good times they always had. 
 
 One morning, just before Christmas, the 
 children marched into school and took their 
 seats in the pretty red chairs which were 
 placed in a large circle. The Schoolmaster 
 put something in the center which was large 
 and round, and all covered over. Then he 
 said, "You may guess what our lesson is to 
 be about to-day." 
 
 "Blackbirds and buzzards!" said Simple 
 Simon. "Oranges!" said Little Tee Wee. 
 "Candy! "said Jack-a-Dandy. "Nuts! "said 
 Johnny Pringle. "Eggs, eggs! "said Humpty
 
 / the center was something large and round''
 
 37 
 
 Dumpty. "Plums, cake, pie! "'said others in 
 a chorus. 
 
 "Yes, pie, to be sure!" said the School- 
 master, as he lifted the cover. 
 
 ''First, we will learn what this pie is 
 made of. 
 
 "Second, how many it took to make the pie. 
 
 "Third, how the pie tastes. 
 
 "Now put on your thinking caps and let 
 us get to work." 
 
 Well, they started with the crust, and 
 named everything in the pie. 
 
 flour water salt butter 
 
 milk eggs sugar spices 
 
 raisins currants citron plums 
 
 Then they learned what family each thing 
 belonged to, and how it got to the pie. 
 
 grain family animal family 
 
 mineral family fruit family 
 
 man's family
 
 38 
 
 The three animals that helped the Christ- 
 mas pie were the cow, the hen, and the 
 horse. The people who helped were the 
 farmer miller tinner porter 
 grocer father mother cook 
 
 "Everybody had a slice* 
 
 The longer they thought, the more things 
 they found which helped to make that pie. 
 
 Tommy Green thought of the trees that 
 made the fire, and Tommy Trout thought of
 
 39 
 
 the match used to kindle it, while Sally 
 Waters named the stove that cooked it. 
 
 Taffy Welchman named the plow and 
 seed, and Curly Locks the sun and rain. 
 
 Jack Horner thought so hard that he even 
 
 '// tasted like more " 
 
 named the grass and clover which the cow 
 ate to make the milk and butter used in the 
 
 pie. 
 
 Yes," said the Schoolmaster with a smile,
 
 40 
 
 as he looked straight at Jack, "we see what 
 a great thing is a Christmas pie." 
 
 Then the pie was cut and everybody had 
 a slice. 
 
 Humpty Dumpty said it tasted like more. 
 It was a very good pie indeed, so good that 
 the children wanted to get the lesson over 
 again. But dear me, the Mother Goose chil- 
 dren never have to get a lesson over, no in- 
 deed.
 
 Dan 
 
 ONE day Bobby Shaftoe and Little Miss 
 Muffet were playing under the apple 
 tree at the Crooked Man's house. 
 
 Every child in the village loved the 
 Crooked Man, and liked to go to his crooked 
 house. 
 
 Maybe it was because he knew so many 
 stories. Why, bless you, all you had to do 
 was to name what you wanted to hear about, 
 and the Crooked Man leaned back in his 
 chair, shut his eyes, crossed his legs, and the 
 story came.
 
 42 - 
 
 Well, as I was saying, Bobby Shaftoe and 
 Little Miss Muffet were playing under his 
 apple tree. All at once Miss Muffet gave a 
 most dreadful scream. My! how she did 
 hollo. Bobby Shaftoe thought surely a spider 
 had her. And the Crooked Man thought it 
 was a spider, too. So he came with a hobble 
 down the walk, to see what was the matter. 
 Little Miss Muffet was dancing all around 
 the apple tree; and, g^less what? A 
 
 caterpillar was crawling on her sleeve. 
 
 Why!" said the Crooked Man, "I'm so 
 glad it wasn't a spider which frightened you. 
 It is only my little friend, the caterpillar. I 
 will place him here on this sprig of apple 
 leaves. You may watch him eat his dinner 
 while I tell you a tale about his cousin, a 
 caterpillar I once knew." 
 
 Then the Crooked Man sat on the bench 
 beneath the tree, with Bobby Shaftoe on one 
 side and Little Miss Muffet on the other.
 
 " -JJI 
 
 "Bobby Shaftoe on one side and Little Miss Muffet on the other'
 
 44 - 
 
 "Well," he said, "the caterpillar I knew 
 was named Danais Archippus. But his 
 name was such a long one, I called him 
 'Dan,' for short. He was a fine looking 
 fellow, with black and yellow bands along 
 his back. His home was a big milkweed 
 which grew in one corner of Mary Contrary's 
 garden, and he spent his whole time eating. 
 He was as fat as fat could be. And yet, 
 Dan never seemed to have enough. Three 
 times had he burst through the skin of his 
 pretty striped coat, and three times had a new 
 one grown in its place. 
 
 " Now, Dan had been a very happy fellow, 
 and content with a caterpillar's life, until one 
 day when he saw a butterfly. Then the cake 
 was all dough. 
 
 "He watched, with longing eyes, 
 the butterfly flit by. Over the roses and lilies 
 
 and heads of nodding clover, 
 
 she skimmed.
 
 45 
 
 " Pausing now and then on the breast of a 
 rose to rest, Dan noticed her beautiful wings, 
 black and shining like satin, with orange-red 
 dots scattered over. 
 
 "'Oh,' said Dan, 'if I could only fly like 
 that ! What wings ! What a life to live ! ' 
 
 "Her wings spread to the sunlight" 
 
 "'And so you think you would like to fly, 
 Dan?' The voice was close to his side, and 
 looking up he saw the butterfly, her wings 
 spread to the sunlight. 'I? Fly? Yes, yes!' 
 he said, 'but how could such a thing be?' 
 
 '"Why not?' replied the butterfly, 'stranger 
 things have happened. If I was once a cater- 
 pillar, why can't you become a butterfly?'
 
 46 
 
 '"You once a caterpillar, like me? Where 
 did you ever get your wings?' 
 
 '"I just believed that I would have them, 
 and then I waited,' said the butterfly. 'That 
 is what you must do. Live your best life 
 now, and God will do the rest.' Then the 
 butterfly flew away, and left Dan thinking." 
 
 "And did he really become a butterfly?" 
 asked Little Miss Muffet. But the Crooked 
 Man only smiled and went on. "Well, Dan 
 grew fatter and fatter until he had to have 
 another new coat. Then one day he felt so 
 sleepy he decided to take a rest. He swung 
 himself to the milkweed with a strong silken 
 thread which he had spun, and in place of 
 the coat he had been wearing there came 
 another, a beautiful coat of emerald green. 
 
 "One morning he stirred, opened his eyes, 
 and stretched his slender body. I could hear 
 him moving about in his queer little cradle. 
 I knew it would not be long before he crawled
 
 47 
 
 out, and I smiled to think of the joy ahead 
 of him. 
 
 "'Goodness!' said Dan, when he had 
 stretched and stretched, 'it is too warm in 
 this hot, close place for me. I must have 
 been sleeping a very long time indeed. How 
 I long for a breath of fresh air, and for the 
 glorious sunshine! I must get out of here in 
 a hurry/ 
 
 "So Dan, in his snug bed, pushed and 
 pushed, and struggled and struggled, and 
 then, oh, joy! one end of the cradle came 
 open. He felt very queer, not like a cater- 
 pillar at all. And what were those queer 
 folded things at his sides ? Slowly he opened 
 them out wide, like tiny fairy fans of gauze. 
 
 "'Wings! wings! wings!' said Dan. 'I 
 do believe I have wings at last.' 
 
 "Then away he flew over the sweet-scented 
 garden, and his wings, spread wide in the 
 yellow sunlight, were a velvety black, with
 
 48 
 
 orange-red dots scattered over them. I heard 
 him sing as he passed me by: 
 
 A butterfly, a butterfly. Oh, happy am I ! 
 With wings full of joy, I mount the blue sky. 
 
 I dance with a sunbeam, I waltz with a breeze; 
 On the breast of a rose. I rest when I please. 
 
 I drink from the cup of the lily so fair, 
 
 And waft her a kiss, as I sail through the air. 
 
 Then on like a zephyr, so gayly I fly, 
 A butterfly, a butterfly. Oh, happy am I !
 
 TITTLE Tommy Tucker came singing 
 i ^ down the village street. He was on 
 his way to the Old Woman who Lived 
 under the Hill. She sold pies and cakes 
 and buns, and Tommy Tucker wanted a 
 fresh, hot bun for his supper. 
 
 " I have just sold out, Tommy Tucker," 
 said the Old Woman. "I haven't a dust of 
 flour. But go to the grocer and buy me a 
 sack. I will then bake you a fresh, hot bun." 
 
 So Tommy Tucker went on singing, until 
 he reached the store. Then he said, "Oh, 
 
 49
 
 50 
 
 grocer, please sell me a sack of flour. I will 
 take it to the Old Woman under the Hill; 
 she will bake me a fresh, hot bun, and I will 
 sing you a song." 
 
 But the grocer shook his head. " No dust 
 of flour have I, Tommy Tucker, unless the 
 miller first grinds the wheat. Then I can 
 give you the sack of flour, and then you may 
 sing me a song." 
 
 So Tommy Tucker went to the Miller of 
 Dee. "Oh, miller, please grind some wheat, 
 so that the grocer may sell me a sack of flour. 
 I will take the flour to the Old Woman under 
 the Hill; she will bake me a fresh, hot bun 
 for my supper, and I will sing you a song." 
 
 But the miller shook his head and said: 
 "I cannot grind the wheat for the grocer, 
 unless the farmer first brings me the grain. 
 Then will I grind it into flour, and then you 
 may sing me a song." 
 
 Tommy Tucker's feet were beginning to
 
 *No dust of flour have I, Tommy Tucker'
 
 52 
 
 get very tired. He wanted his supper, though, 
 so he ran to the farmer. 
 
 " Oh, farmer, please give me a load of grain, 
 so that the miller may grind some wheat, and 
 
 'But the miller shook his head" 
 
 the grocer sell me a sack of flour. I will take 
 the flour to the Old Woman under the Hill; 
 she will bake me a fresh, hot bun for my 
 supper, and I will sing you a song."
 
 baked a fresh, hot bun for his supper'
 
 54 
 
 Then the farmer said: "To be sure, 
 Tommy Tucker, to be sure I will. Because 
 last spring my horse plowed the field, I 
 planted the seed which the sun warmed, the 
 earth fed, and the rain watered. It grew 
 and ripened, so now my barn is full, and you 
 are welcome." 
 
 Then Tommy Tucker sang his song; the 
 farmer took the wheat to the mill; the miller 
 ground the flour; the grocer sold a sack to 
 Tommy Tucker; he took it to the Old 
 Woman under the Hill, and she baked a 
 fresh, hot bun for his supper 
 
 Dear little Tommy Tucker!
 
 JACK-BE-NIMBLE had never had a 
 party. 
 
 True, he had gone to all the parties in 
 Mother Goose Village, but "that isn't 
 like giving a party yourself," said Jack-be- 
 Nimble. And it isn't. 
 
 Now, at parties you have candies and 
 cakes and ice-cream, and ever so many other 
 things that Jack-be-Nimble's grandmother 
 knew he couldn't have because they cost so 
 much money, you see. 
 
 "Anyway, you do not need so many things 
 
 55
 
 56 
 
 at a party," said his 
 grandmother. 
 
 ''Let me see. We 
 have plenty of ap- 
 ples; the tree is full. 
 CrWhy not give an 
 
 apple party?" 
 
 Jack-be-Nimble thought that 
 would be better than no party 
 at all, so he said he would try it. 
 
 His grandmother painted a red apple in 
 the corner of the invitations, and Jack-be- 
 Nimble carried them around 
 to the village children. 
 
 When he got back home he 
 climbed the apple tree and 
 shook down the apples, while 
 his grandmother filled the 
 baskets. 
 
 Well, at last everything 
 was ready, even to the favors,
 
 57 
 
 which were apple pincushions, made of red, 
 yellow, and green silk stuffed with wool. 
 
 They looked so much like fresh, ripe 
 apples that you almost wanted to bite them. 
 And you couldn't tell which you liked best, 
 the red one, the green one, or the yellow one. 
 
 The children came at sunset, and were 
 soon having so much fun they did not even 
 have time to think about candy and cake. 
 
 All the games they played were apple 
 games. First, there weie two large tubs filled 
 with water on the lawn. Floating in one tub 
 were apples for the boys to bob for, and float- 
 ing in the other tub were apples for the girls 
 to bob for. You had to pull them out of the 
 water with your teeth, and when you ate the 
 apple you found inside the name of the one 
 who loved you best. 
 
 That was heaps of fun, though the chil- 
 dren got their noses and eyes dripping with 
 water. Next they played two games of hiding
 
 The children got their noses and eyes dripping with water'
 
 59 
 
 an apple. One was like our old- 
 fashioned thimble play, where the 
 apple is hidden in some child's 
 hand. The other was called 
 "magic music." In this the apple 
 was hidden and then found to 
 music, Tommy Piper playing very 
 loudly when the seeker came near 
 the apple, and very softly when 
 not near. 
 
 After this the game of "swing- 
 ing apples" kept them all laugh- 
 ing. From the limbs of the trees 
 on the lawn, apples had been 
 swung by long strings tied to the 
 stems. You might eat as many 
 of them as you could, only you 
 must not touch them with your 
 hands. 
 
 Jumping over the candlestick 
 was fun, too. This was done to 
 
 The funny old 
 candlestick
 
 60 
 
 find out which couple should lead in the 
 march to the party table. 
 
 The candle was lighted and placed on the 
 lawn, and each child had one jump over it. 
 
 Jack-be-Nimble made the highest jump, 
 and little Nancy Etticote came next, so they 
 led the way to the party table. 
 
 There were many good things to eat, too, 
 all made out of apples. Apples raw, 
 roasted, and baked. Apple pie, apple tarts, 
 arid apple float, and tiny mugs of fresh apple 
 cider. 
 
 Now wasn't that a very good party? The 
 children thought so, and they kept their apple 
 seeds to plant so they could give an apple 
 party some day, like Jack-be-Nimble's.
 
 ~_ i y 
 
 CurlyLocksTeas \ 
 
 ONE morning Peter Piper got to school 
 very late. The Schoolmaster called 
 him a ten o'clock scholar, and asked him why 
 he came so late. 
 
 Peter Piper smiled and held out his hat, 
 which was brimful of pea pods. 
 
 Then all the other children smiled. Peter 
 Piper was always stopping to pick something; 
 once it had been a peck of pickled peppers. 
 
 " Please, sir," said Peter Piper, "I picked 
 these on the way to school, and brought them 
 to learn about. Will you tell us a story?" 
 
 61
 
 - 62 
 
 Then the Schoolmaster smiled, but he 
 took up one of the pea pods and told them a 
 most beautiful story about five little sisters 
 who slept in the pea-pod cradle, and how 
 some sunbeam fairies and many raindrop 
 fairies were waiting to wake them. Only some 
 one would first have to tuck them away in 
 the great brown bed which mother earth kept 
 for her seed babies. 
 
 Then, while some of the children took clay 
 and modeled the five little sisters in the pod, 
 others drew and painted their picture. After 
 that the Schoolmaster divided all the pea 
 pods among the children, and each child 
 had two pods. That made ten peas, you 
 know. 
 
 " Now we will play soldier with our peas," 
 said the Schoolmaster, "and see into how 
 many even rows they can march." So they 
 marched their soldiers in a row of one's like 
 
 this: OOQOOOOOOQ
 
 The Schoolmaster tells a story about the peas
 
 64 - 
 
 And in rows of two's like this: 
 
 ooooo 
 ooooo 
 
 And in rows of five's like this: 
 
 OQ 
 
 00 
 
 oo 
 
 OQ 
 oo 
 
 When the soldiers got tired of marching, 
 the Schoolmaster gave each child ten tooth- 
 picks, and told them to make something 
 pretty to carry home. 
 
 Simple Simon made some hat pins;
 
 65 
 
 Margery Daw made some hairpins; 
 
 Rowley Powley made a ladder; 
 
 Humpty Dumpty made a 
 pretty picture frame;
 
 Tommy Grace made a chair; 
 
 Dicky Long made a doll; 
 
 Polly Flinders made a very nice table; 
 
 and well, everybody made something, except 
 Curly Locks. She only sat still and watched 
 the others. The Schoolmaster said: "I'm 
 sorry Curly Locks can't make anything.
 
 67 
 
 Shall I show you how to make your doll a 
 sofa?" 
 
 But Curly Locks only shook her head and 
 said: "Please, sir, I'd rather take mine 
 home." 
 
 The children thought that was very queer, 
 and wondered why Curly Locks wouldn't 
 rather have the sofa. 
 
 Curly Locks knew. She was thinking 
 about the ten little sleeping sisters in the 
 pods she had. If she stuck the toothpicks in 
 them, why! they would never wake up. 
 After school she ran home and made ten little 
 holes under the dining-room window. Into 
 each little hole she dropped a pea and covered 
 it softly over. The sunbeam fairies and the 
 raindrop fairies were watching, and they 
 smiled, every one, while Curly Locks planted 
 the peas. 
 
 You should have seen how quickly they 
 waked up, too. Pretty soon Curly Locks had
 
 68 
 
 to tie ten strong strings to the dining-room 
 window, and the peas climbed all the way up 
 to make her a morning call. 
 
 There were pretty leaves and pretty blos- 
 soms, and by and by pretty pods, with the 
 fattest of sister peas tucked inside. 
 
 It was then that Curly Locks invited the 
 Schoolmaster and the children home to 
 dinner. 
 
 And what do you suppose she gave them 
 to eat ? Why ! peas porridge hot, to be sure ! 
 
 Very much better than making chairs and 
 sofas, don't you think so?
 
 irthdav Dolls 
 
 JACK and Jill were twins. That meant 
 that one was just as old as the other. 
 
 They were just as much alike as two peas, 
 and would most surely have gotten mixed up 
 if it hadn't been for Jack's trousers. 
 
 Their hair and eyes and nose and mouth 
 were all made by the same pattern. That's 
 why they looked so much alike. They lived 
 with their mother at the foot of a big hill, the 
 same hill where Jack fell down and broke 
 his crown, and Jill came tumbling after. 
 
 Well, one morning Jack and Jill waked 
 
 6g
 
 70 
 
 up very, very happy. You 
 see it was their birthday, 
 and they were looking for 
 all kinds of fun. 
 
 "I'm six years old to- 
 day," said Jack. 
 
 "I'm six years old to- 
 day," said Jill. 
 
 Then their mother kissed them 
 each six times, and sent them off to school. 
 The Schoolmaster thought birthdays 
 should be the happiest days of all the year, so 
 he told the other children to do all they could 
 that day to make Jack and Jill happy. 
 
 The children made two beautiful crowns 
 of clover, and two beautiful daisy chains, one 
 for Jack and one for Jill, and crowned them 
 king and queen on a birthday throne made 
 from honeysuckle vines. 
 
 Then they formed a large circle under the 
 trees, and played the games Jack and Jill
 
 71 
 
 liked best. When it was 
 time to go home, the twins 
 stood in the center of the 
 circle while the School- 
 master and the children 
 shook hands with them 
 and said: "We wish you 
 many, many happy birthdays." 
 
 At home they found another 
 surprise. Mother Goose had sent a box on 
 which was written : 
 
 "A birthday gift for Jack and Jill 
 Who carry water down the hill." 
 
 Inside of the box were two dolls, exactly 
 alike, only one was dressed in trousers and 
 the other in skirts. Mother Goose believed 
 in dolls. She said every boy and girl should 
 have one if they wished to make good fathers 
 and mothers. 
 
 Anyway, Jack was very proud of his doll, 
 and for hours he and Jill often played a game
 
 72 
 
 called "Lady come to see you," without get- 
 ting tired. 
 
 One day both the dolls got sick with 
 whooping-cough. Jill played she was a 
 trained nurse, and Jack played he was Doctor 
 Foster. 
 
 He fixed up ever so many bread-crumb 
 pills, and a bottle of watermelon juice for 
 medicine. 
 
 Then Doctor Jack went to see the sick 
 dolls, and slowly felt each pulse. He 
 shook his head. They were very, very sick. 
 And although the trained nurse gave the 
 bread-crumb pills and watermelon juice, it 
 did no good. Both dolls died. 
 
 Jack and Jill buried them in a sand bank 
 near the fence. Then Jill cried, until Jack 
 called her a cry baby, and said the dolls were 
 not truly true dead, but only play like. To- 
 morrow they would dig them up and they 
 would be as well as ever. Then Jill felt
 
 "Jack and Jill buried them in a sand bank near the fence"
 
 - 74 - 
 
 better. Together they covered the graves 
 with roses and pinks, and placed small white 
 rocks around them for a border. Just then 
 the supper bell rang, and they ran to get 
 ready. After supper they went to bed. 
 
 Jill thought of the dolls the first thing in 
 the morning, but they had to hurry off to 
 school, so could not dig them up. All day 
 long she thought about the dolls, and after 
 school she and Jack hurried to the sand bank 
 to get them. 
 
 They dug and dug and dug. But no 
 dolls could they find. Both were lost in the 
 sand. Jack and Jill were very sad. Tears 
 streamed down their cheeks. 
 
 "Boo-hoo-hoo," said Jack, and " Boo-hoo- 
 hoo," said Jill. ''We'll never 
 play burying any more." 
 And they never did
 
 Little'SX^e Pumpkins 
 
 HTK ankscMvi 
 
 IT was the night before Thanksgiving. The 
 Great Big Pumpkin, the Middle Size 
 Pumpkin, and the Little Wee Pumpkin were 
 talking together in Peter Pumpkineater's 
 patch. 
 
 The Frost King had sent them each a 
 pretty white coat for a Thanksgiving offer- 
 ing, and they sparkled in the moonlight. 
 
 "All here?" said the Great Big Pumpkin, 
 gayly. 
 
 "All here," said the Middle Size Pump- 
 kin, smiling. 
 
 75
 
 - 76 - 
 
 "All here, "said the Little Wee Pumpkin, 
 with a sneeze. "But I think it will be our 
 last night together, for I heard Peter say to- 
 day that to-morrow he would pull us, and 
 send us on our journeys. How delightful!" 
 
 "To be sure," said the Great Big Pump- 
 kin. "I hope we will make the best of pies 
 for somebody's Thanksgiving dinner. Speak- 
 ing of journeys, though, I do hope Peter will 
 send me to London Town. They say the 
 sights are very wonderful." 
 
 "So I've heard," said the Middle Size 
 Pumpkin. "I should be glad to stop at the 
 King's palace. Old King Cole is a merry old 
 soul." 
 
 "And I, too," said the Little Wee Pump- 
 kin. " I should like so much to see the Prin- 
 cess Cinderella, whom every one loves. But 
 I am not large nor fine enough to go to the 
 palace. Most of all, I should like to make 
 somebody very happy on Thanksgiving
 
 77 
 
 Day, and then, too, I hope my seeds will 
 be saved and planted next year. It is such 
 joy to grow." 
 
 "Indeed it is!" said the Great Big 
 Pumpkin. 
 
 "And indeed it is!" said the Middle Size 
 
 "f should like to make somebody very happy' 
 
 Pumpkin. "I wish Peter could get all our 
 seeds. He takes such good care of us, and 
 likes so to see us grow." 
 
 "Well, good-night, and pleasant dreams," 
 said the Great Big Pumpkin; "if we pump- 
 kins do not close our peepers and go to sleep.
 
 - 78 
 
 the sunbeams will catch us napping, a pretty 
 sight for a Thanksgiving morning." 
 
 So the pumpkins three snuggled beneath 
 their frosty coats and went to sleep. 
 
 On Thanksgiving morning the Little Wee 
 Pumpkin was the first to wake. She almost 
 lost her breath when Peter opened the gar- 
 den gate and the Princess Cinderella herself 
 tripped in behind him. 
 
 She was very beautiful. The same sunny 
 hair and dainty feet and smiling face that you 
 have read about. Being a princess had not 
 changed her, because she was always good 
 and kind. She held in her hand a bunch of 
 violets, almost the color of her pretty eyes, 
 and smiled as she held them up to Peter, say- 
 ing, "See, Peter, I have brought you these 
 from the palace gardens; they are my Thanks- 
 giving offering. Now you must help me find 
 the best pumpkin in all your patch for a jack- 
 o'-lantern. It is to make a little girl very
 
 You must help me find the best pumpkin in all your patch'
 
 80 
 
 happy. She has been sick a long, long time 
 in the London hospital, and I have promised 
 to make her a jack-o'-lantern on Thanksgiv- 
 ing Day." 
 
 "Yes, my lady," said Peter, bowing, and 
 they stepped from vine to vine, hunting the 
 best pumpkin. First she stopped at the 
 Great Big Pumpkin; but no, that was too 
 large. Then she stopped at the Middle Size 
 Pumpkin, but that was too fat. And then 
 she stopped at the Little Wee Pumpkin, and 
 that, and that was just right. 
 
 Now, the Little Wee Pumpkin was very 
 much surprised when Cinderella, stooping 
 down by her, said gayly, "You dear Little 
 Wee Pumpkin. You will make a most 
 beautiful jack-o'-lantern, and are the very one 
 to make the little girl happy this Thanksgiv- 
 ing Day. Come, Peter, I have chosen this 
 one," and she patted the Little Wee Pump- 
 kin gently.
 
 81 
 
 "Yes, my lady," said Peter. 
 
 So he carefully tucked the Little Wee 
 Pumpkin in the pony phaeton beside Cinder- 
 ella, and away they whirled, off to London 
 Town to make the little sick girl happy.
 
 lken Coat 
 
 SIMPLE SIMON heard there was a pot 
 of gold at the end of the rainbow, and 
 he really believed it. 
 
 "I'll find that pot of gold," said Simple 
 Simon, "and buy me a silken coat." 
 
 So he started out, and walked until he 
 came to the Three Wise Men of Gotham. 
 He said to them, "Please tell me the way to 
 the end of the rainbow; I wish to find the pot 
 of gold, to buy me a silken coat." The Three 
 Wise Men said, "Follow the rainbow until 
 you come to the end."
 
 83 
 
 But when he looked in the sky for the 
 rainbow there was none to follow, because the 
 day was clear. 
 
 He walked on, and by and by met an old 
 owl sitting in the top of a high pine tree. 
 "Please, Mr. Owl," said Simple Simon, "tell 
 
 Who-o ! iv/to-o ! ' 
 
 me when I can see the rainbow; I wish to 
 follow it to its end, and find the pot of gold, 
 to buy me a silken coat." 
 
 "Who-o! who-o! who-o!" said the owl. 
 
 "Why, the rainbow," said Simple Simon. 
 "When can I see the rainbow?" 
 
 "Oh!" said the owl, "the rainbow. You
 
 84 
 
 can see that after a rain, Simple Simon, after 
 a rain." 
 
 So Simple Simon sat on a log to wait for 
 a rain. 
 
 While he was sitting on the log a frog 
 hopped by. 
 
 "Good-morning, Mr. Frog," said Simple 
 
 "A frog Jwpped by" 
 
 Simon; "please tell me when it will rain. I 
 wish to see the rainbow, and follow it to its 
 end, and find the pot of gold, to buy me a 
 silken coat." 
 
 The frog said, "Yes, yes, Simple Simon, 
 yes, indeed. When it thunders it will rain. 
 Watch and see." But Simple Simon watched 
 a long time and it did not thunder. So he
 
 85 
 
 walked on until he came to a crow sitting on 
 a fence near a corn field. 
 
 Said he, "Good-morning, Mr. Crow; 
 please tell me when it will thunder. I want 
 the rain to fall that I may see the rainbow, 
 
 1 To be sure' said the crow ' 
 
 and follow it to its end, and find the pot of 
 gold, to buy me a silken coat." 
 
 "To be sure, Simple Simon," said the 
 crow, "to be sure. It will thunder when the 
 clouds rush together." 
 
 Then Simple Simon looked in the sky, 
 but he saw no clouds. So he called to a 
 buzzard flying by, "Oh, Mr. Buzzard, please,
 
 86 
 
 Mr. Buzzard, tell me when the clouds will 
 rush together. I want it to thunder that the 
 rain may fall, that I may see the rainbow, 
 and follow it to its end, and find the pot of 
 gold, to buy me a silken coat." 
 
 "Oh, yes, Simple Simon," said the buz- 
 zard, "I can tell you. It will thunder when 
 the lightning flashes. Of that I am very 
 sure." 
 
 Poor Simple Simon was beginning to get 
 very tired, but he thought of the pot of gold 
 and the silken coat, and walked on. 
 
 At last he came to a spider busily spin- 
 ning her web. Back and forth, back and 
 J forth she drew her silver 
 thread. Simple Simon 
 watched her a long time. 
 Then he said with a very 
 low bow, "Good-morning, 
 Mrs. Spider; stop a moment 
 inning her web" and tell me when the light-
 
 ' Simple Simon watched her a long time '
 
 88 
 
 ning will flash. I want the clouds to rush 
 together, that it may thunder, that the 
 rain may fall, that I may see the rain- 
 bow, and follow it to its end, and find the 
 pot of gold, to make me a silken coat." 
 
 "Tut, tut, tut! Simple Simon," said 
 the spider, "tut, tut, tut! There is no 
 pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 
 Whoever heard tell of just such? But if 
 it is a silken coat you want, why, I'll 
 spin you one. Just let me crawl up on 
 your back and I will take your measure." 
 
 "Spin away," said Simple Simon, 
 laughing. So he sat on a stone while 
 the spider climbed on his back to spin. 
 
 She spun and spun and spun. 
 
 Back and forth, without a rest, 
 She wove her silver thread, 
 Over his arms and back and chest, 
 And around his curly head. 
 Spinning, 
 
 Spinning, 
 
 Spinning.
 
 Oh, dainty spider fairy, 
 I pray you weave for me 
 A coat so rich and airy 
 So wonderful to see. 
 Spinning, 
 
 Spinning, 
 
 Spinning. 
 
 "Finished, my little man," said the spider, 
 as she snapped the silver thread. "Just step 
 to the brook there, and see how you like 
 yourself." 
 
 Dear little Simple Simon ! he had never 
 seen a coat so beautiful before, a soft, rich, 
 silver gray. "Thank you, Mrs. Spider, oh! 
 thank you a hundred times," he said. "This 
 is much better than the pot of gold." 
 
 He kissed his hand to her and skipped 
 away, such a happy, happy boy, to have a 
 silken coat!
 
 MaidenMapleLeaf 
 
 THE Schoolmaster came into the school- 
 house with a smile on his face. 
 All the chairs were in place on the circle, 
 and the children were waiting for him, won- 
 dering what their lesson was to be about, 
 
 "See, I have brought a little maiden to 
 spend the day with us," he said. " I met her 
 this morning as I walked along. 
 She fluttered merrily on ahead 
 of me until we got to the school- 
 house, where she stopped on the steps. So, 
 of course, I invited her in. Her name is 
 
 90
 
 91 
 
 Maiden Maple Leaf, and her home 
 is on the brow of Primrose Hill. 
 
 "There you will find a tree; on 
 the tree is a limb; on the limb is a twig, and 
 on the twig this little maiden lives. /jL 
 
 y*T" "^A 
 
 "Her mother is very proud of Iry' her, 
 and has dressed her in the daintiest of red 
 scalloped dresses, that she might visit you. 
 To be sure she has other dresses, which I 
 have sometimes seen, green, yellow, and 
 spotted ones. But I am glad she wore her 
 red one to-day, because we wish to see just 
 how it is made. ^4 
 
 "See how prettily SF^ her dress stands 
 out, over her ribs and veins. They are very 
 much like ours, though ever so much smaller. 
 Let us count them if we can, beginning with 
 the long one down the center, which I'm sure 
 must be her backbone, to which are joined all 
 the other ribs and bones. C^T 
 
 "I will tell you a secret about^^T Maiden
 
 92 
 
 Maple Leaf's backbone. It is her waterpipe. 
 Why, her dress would dry up were it not for 
 that. Her mother sends food and 
 sap-water all the way from her 
 roots under the ground, up her 
 large trunk, along the limbs, through the 
 twigs, into this tiny backbone, and then into 
 the ribs and veins, so that her little daughter 
 may have her breakfast sweet and fresh. 
 
 "Isn't that a long way /\f r a breakfast 
 to travel? But Maiden ^Jfcr^Maple Leaf 
 drinks it eagerly, and ^ dances and 
 
 swings in the sunshine/kk such a happy, 
 thankful leaf! 
 
 "Maybe you think leaves haven't any 
 work to do, only to look pretty and play all 
 the day. Dear me, no. God never makes 
 anything just for that. Now put on 
 your thinking caps and tell me the 
 work you think they do." 
 They give us shade," said Curly Locks.
 
 93 
 
 y 
 
 r 
 
 ;>i 
 
 'They give us 
 fans," said little 
 Jumping Joan. 
 
 "They give us medicine," 
 said Tommy Grace. 
 
 "They make the ground rich 
 that flowers may grow," said Mary 
 Contrary. 
 
 "And the leaves give us food," 
 said Little Peg; "lettuce, cab- 
 bage, greens, and watercress." 
 
 "And they cover the seeds 
 in winter, and keep plants 
 from freezing," said 
 Sally Waters. ,
 
 - 94 - 
 
 "They can make good dippers," said Sim- 
 ple Simon. 
 
 "Yes, yes," said feL the Schoolmaster, 
 "leaves do all of those, and many 
 
 things besides, to ^ (x^hdp in the world. 
 Why, they even breathe for us, and keep the 
 air fresh and sweet, in order that we may not 
 get sick. 
 
 "Stranger even than that, this little 
 Maiden Maple Leaf knows how to make the 
 coal we burn in our fires, though the sun- 
 beams have to help. Even then it takes over 
 two hundred years. 
 
 "So you see to what a busy class of work- 
 ers this scarlet leaf belongs. You wouldn't 
 think, to see her, that she could eat, 
 drink, work, rest, breathe, and sleep 
 just as we do. And yet Maiden Maple Leaf 
 does all of this. 
 
 " But come, I think she would like to go 
 back home now. Put on your pointed caps
 
 v s 
 
 Put on your pointed caps and let us go for a walk"
 
 96 - 
 
 and let us go for a walk. We will look for 
 other leaves as we go, the most beautiful ones 
 we can find. To-morrow we will draw their 
 pictures, model them in clay to see their ribs 
 and veins, and cut the pattern of their 
 pretty dresses, to color and press in 
 our books. Mother Goose will be 
 glad to see them, and to know how many 
 kinds we can find." 
 
 And so they tripped out of the little red 
 schoolhouse as happy as birds in May, while 
 the Schoolmaster followed after, with Maiden 
 Maple Leaf perched on the lapel of his coat.
 
 NancvEtticotes 
 
 CHRISTMAS was coming, and of all 
 things in the world, little Nancy Etti- 
 cote wanted a gold ring in her stocking. 
 
 She was nearly eight years old and had 
 never had a ring, though she had always 
 wanted one. 
 
 Every Christmas she had written Santa 
 Claus a letter, and put it up the broad, black 
 chimney. But somehow, he had not gotten 
 the letter, because the ring was not in her 
 stocking, you know. 
 
 Humpty Dumpty was the only one in the 
 
 97
 
 98 
 
 village who kn-ew about the ring. Indeed, 
 it was he who had helped Nancy Etticote 
 write the letters to Santa Claus, and had 
 poked them up the kitchen chimney himself, 
 
 "Nancy wiped away the tears" 
 
 running over again every Christmas morning 
 to see if the ring had come. 
 
 So you see Humpty Dumpty was almost 
 as sorry as Nancy Etticote, when they did 
 not find the ring.
 
 "Never mind," he had said the last time, 
 "that ring will come next Christmas, I'm 
 sure. Just you watch out and see." 
 
 Then Nancy Etticote had wiped away 
 
 Humpty Dumpty went home whistling 
 
 the tears on the folds of her clean white 
 dress, and Humpty Dumpty had gone home 
 whistling, and thinking very hard. 
 
 "Yes," he said, "that gold ring has got to
 
 - 100 - 
 
 come! I'll see what kind of a Santa Claus 
 Humpty Dumpty will make. He won't be 
 quite so busy as the other one, nor have so 
 many places to go to." 
 
 Then he smiled to think of himself as a 
 truly true Santa Claus, and wondered what 
 the old gentleman would think. 
 
 He told no one about his plan, except the 
 Old Woman who went to the market her 
 eggs for to sell, and his black hen. Of 
 course the black hen had to know, because 
 she was to lay the eggs which the Old Woman 
 was to sell for him when she went to market. 
 And the money, well, he was going to save 
 that in his tin bank to buy the ring with. So 
 you see his plan was a good one if the black 
 hen lived, and she was enjoying very good 
 health then. You should have seen her shake 
 out her tail feathers when Humpty Dumpty 
 spoke to her about it. She surely understood, 
 because he found her nest the very next day
 
 She shook her tail feathers when Humpty Dumpty spoke to her about it.
 
 102 
 
 under the rose-bush. And there was an egg 
 in it, too. 
 
 Each day after that did she cackle loud 
 and long, and each day did Humpty Dumpty 
 find a new, fresh egg, which was placed in 
 the market basket until the Old Woman 
 called for them. 
 
 "Eack day did she cackle loud and long" 
 
 She went to market every Saturday to 
 sell her own eggs, and it was a real pleasure 
 for her to carry Humpty Dumpty's, too. 
 
 By the end of the year he had three dollars 
 in the tin bank, and he and the Old Woman 
 went to London Town together to buy the 
 ring. 
 
 He was very happy, so happy that he
 
 103 
 
 hopped and skipped the whole way back. 
 And, what do you think ! There was a pretty 
 ring in his jacket pocket, all gold with a ruby 
 set in it. 
 
 Well, that Christmas he and Nancy Etti- 
 cote again wrote the letter to Santa Glaus, 
 and poked it up the chimney as before. 
 
 "Now," said Humpty Dumpty, "I guess 
 that will reach the old fellow." And his 
 merry blue eyes danced with joy. You see, 
 he knew the ring would be in the stocking 
 anyway. That's what tickled him. 
 
 On Christmas-eve night Nancy Etticote 
 hung her stocking near the fireplace and went 
 to bed with a beating heart. She was so 
 afraid the ring would not come. 
 
 She slept and slept, and the next thing 
 she knew, why, it was broad daylight, and 
 there hung her stocking filled to the brim. 
 She quickly pulled out each thing, a book, a 
 doll, a pair of mitts, some candy, firecrackers,
 
 104 - 
 
 nuts, an orange, an apple, and, yes, away 
 down in the very toe was a queer little pack- 
 age. How her heart did beat! It was tied 
 with a very hard knot, but she worked and 
 worked till it came untied. Then she un- 
 rolled and unrolled tissue paper, and came to 
 another hard knot. "Well," said Nancy 
 Etticote, "did you ever?" When that string 
 was untied, and more tissue paper unrolled, 
 there was a wee, tiny box. And when she 
 opened the box, you know what? There 
 was the ruby ring! 
 
 "Oh! oh! oh!" said little Nancy Etticote, 
 as she slipped the ring on her finger. 
 
 And Humpty Dumpty? He was the 
 happiest boy in all the village that 
 Christmas morning. 
 
 I wonder can you guess the 
 reason why?
 
 Christmas Tree 
 
 ONCE upon a time Bo-Peep and Boy 
 Blue had a secret. They did not tell 
 anyone but Mother Goose, and she promised 
 never to tell a soul until Christmas, and that 
 was many months off. 
 
 Bo-Peep and Boy Blue both kept sheep. 
 Sometimes Boy Blue looked after the cows, 
 too, but Bo-Peep didn't, because she was a 
 girl, and girls don't like cows, much. 
 
 Well, their secret was about sheep's wool 
 and a Christmas tree for the Old Woman 
 who Lived in the Shoe. I suppose I might 
 
 105
 
 106 
 
 as well tell you, if you will promise never to 
 tell. But I wouldn't have the Old Woman 
 find out, not for anything. That would 
 spoil the surprise. 
 
 Bo-Peep and Boy Blue had talked it all 
 over at the meadow bars. They said they 
 would clip the wool from their sheep that 
 spring, and use it all to be made into clothes 
 for the Old Woman's children. Of course, 
 the wool would have to be sent in bags to the 
 factory in London Town. Mother Goose 
 herself had promised to take it, and have it 
 woven into the prettiest of cloth, part blue 
 and part yellow. Then she was to take it to 
 old Mother Twitchett, to make into clothes. 
 
 Now old Mother Twitchett had but one 
 eye, but dear me, how she could sew! She 
 makes clothes for everybody in the world 
 and never gets tired. 
 
 So she told Mother Goose she would 
 make jackets and skirts and blouses and
 
 'Bo-Peep and Boy Blue had talked it all over at the meadow bars "
 
 - 108 - 
 
 trousers and dresses and sacks and caps and 
 cloaks and roundabouts, and be only too glad 
 to do it. 
 
 Well, the secret turned out beautifully 
 
 Dressed in her new clothes 
 
 from the day the sheep were led into the 
 clear meadow brook to have their thick wool 
 washed and sheared, to the day when old 
 Mother Twitchett sent the clothes to Bo-
 
 109 
 
 Peep's house, all ready for the Old Woman's 
 children to wear. Nothing had been for- 
 gotten, even to mitts and socks. 
 
 Then came the fun for Bo-Peep and Boy 
 Blue. 
 
 Everything had to be wrapped in bundles, 
 numbered and tied to the branches of the 
 Christmas tree. The Old Woman had never 
 named her children. She had so many she 
 said it was easier just to number them. So 
 there were Number One, 
 Number Two, Number 
 Three, Number Four, and 
 so on, until you got away 
 up almost to one hundred. 
 
 It took busy fingers to 
 get the tree ready. When 
 it was finished there wasn't 
 room anywhere to hang 
 even a chestnut, bundles, 
 bundles everywhere. 
 
 undies
 
 110 - 
 
 On Christmas-eve night, while everyone 
 slept, Mother Goose had the tree carefully 
 moved to the Old Woman's house, and 
 propped against the heel of the shoe. There 
 
 1 Pretty is as pretty does" 
 
 it was found early the next morning. And 
 such a jubilee! Soon the news spread 
 all over the shoe, and the children rushed 
 out.
 
 Ill 
 
 They caught hands and danced round the 
 tree, singing: 
 
 "Hey diddle de diddle, come and see 
 This beautiful, beautiful Christmas tree. 
 Some one brought it to us last night 
 And ran away before it was light ; 
 Hey diddle de diddle, happy are we, 
 You beautiful, beautiful Christmas tree." 
 
 That day the Old Woman dressed all her 
 children up in their new clothes. They 
 looked so sweet and pretty she kissed them 
 all round and sent them out for a walk. But 
 she shook her finger and smiled lovingly at 
 them as she said, "Remember, dears, pretty 
 is as pretty does."
 
 y 
 
 Marx Contrary's Doll Bed 
 
 YOU did not know Mary Contrary 
 planted dolls in her garden, did you? 
 
 When I read of the pretty maids all in a 
 row I thought so, but of course I really did 
 not know until I saw the dolls, growing. 
 
 Mary Contrary said some one had to make 
 dolls for the children who lived in the shoe. 
 The Old Woman said she couldn't, because 
 she had so much to do she had no time to 
 waste on dolls. And I guess she was right. 
 
 That was the reason Mary Contrary 
 wanted to plant dolls in her garden.
 
 113 
 
 To be sure they were only gourds, with 
 prettily rounded heads. But when their faces 
 were painted and they were dressed in their 
 long white dresses, you couldn't tell them 
 
 Painted faces and long white dresses 
 
 from truly true doll babies. And the Old 
 Woman's children thought they were the 
 most beautiful doll babies any child ever had. 
 The dolls got ripe in August. It was 
 great fun to gather and dress them, and
 
 - 114 
 
 Mary Contrary always gave a big sewing 
 party at that time, which lasted until all the 
 dolls were dressed. 
 
 Most every child in the village who knew 
 how to sew was invited, and even the boys 
 were always glad to come. They could help 
 gather the dolls, thread needles, and wait on 
 the girls in many other ways. It was great 
 fun for them to take the market baskets and 
 go into the garden with Mary Contrary, doll- 
 gathering. They would go from one end of 
 the bed to the other, hunting the gourds 
 which would make the prettiest dolls, long 
 ones and short ones, fat ones and lean ones. 
 All were pulled and carried in glee to the 
 large back porch, where the girls were wait- 
 ing to dress them. 
 
 The heads were first covered with white 
 cloth and their faces painted. Straight 
 noses, pink cheeks, and rosebud mouths, with 
 eyes of blue and gray and brown. The hair
 
 '/ the garden with Mary Contrary, doll-gathering*
 
 116 
 
 was made of curly rings of sheep's wool, 
 which looked very cunning, peeping beneath 
 the rim of the caps. 
 
 When the heads were all finished it was 
 time to cut and sew the dresses, and those 
 were happy days on the vine-clad porch. 
 Laughter and sunshine mingled with the 
 song of the needle, as busy fingers 
 plied the thread. 
 
 Mother Goose gave the cloth 
 to make the white dresses, and she 
 often came to see how the little 
 dressmakers were getting on with 
 their work. She showed them 
 how to make a pretty pointed cap, 
 called the Mother Goose cap. 
 They were so quaint, many of the 
 children in London Town wore 
 them, and even to-day they are 
 seen on the heads of well-dressed 
 
 1*11 
 
 children. 
 
 "Straight noses, 
 
 cheeks-
 
 117 
 
 As soon as a doll was dressed and her 
 cap tied on she was placed in the row against 
 the banister railing. By and by this row 
 reached from one end of the long porch to 
 the other, and a neater, sweeter row of dolls 
 I'm sure you never saw. 
 
 "Even old Santa Claus could not have 
 done better," said Mother Goose, as she held 
 her head on one side and smilingly looked 
 down the row. 
 
 t "You have done very well, my dears, very 
 well, indeed," she said, "and I am sure the 
 Old Woman's children will be quite happy 
 to get these charming babies." 
 
 And they were, too. When finished, all 
 the dolls were packed neatly in a large clothes 
 basket, and placed one night on the doorstep 
 of the Old Woman's house. Early the next 
 morning they were found, and you should 
 have seen those children dance around that 
 basket and say, "Oh, oh, oh!"
 
 118 
 
 They were always good when they had 
 dolls to play with, bless their little hearts! 
 
 It was too cute to see them hug those 
 gourd babies, calling them '"darling," and 
 "sweet," and "pet, "and "mother's dear one." 
 
 Many were the happy days they played 
 beneath the trees that old game "Lady come 
 to see you," holding the cherished gourd 
 baby up for a kiss of welcome. 
 
 At night the babies were put to bed with 
 the greatest of care and rocked to sleep. to 
 the softest strains of- 
 
 ' ' Bye baby bunting, 
 Daddy's gone a-hunting, 
 To get a little rabbit skin, 
 To wrap his baby up in."
 
 EPTLE PEG was the miller's daughter. 
 She was a cripple, you know, and had 
 only one leg. But she was happy for all that. 
 "Because, even if I have not two legs," said 
 Little Peg, "I have two eyes, two ears, and 
 two hands. That is much to be thankful 
 for." 
 
 Late one summer day she was lying on 
 the grass looking at her picture book. Not 
 a truly true picture book like yours and mine, 
 oh, no, but one much more beautiful. 
 
 Peg's picture book was<the clouds; it had
 
 120 
 
 no end to it like yours and mine, but it was 
 full of new pictures and new stories every 
 day. Such a beautiful, wonderful book! 
 
 Sometimes she would see a picture that 
 looked like the king's palace, with great mar- 
 ble pillars and arches and steps. Sometimes 
 she would see lions and tigers and elephants, 
 
 "King Sun " 
 
 or graceful white swans swimming on lakes 
 of blue. Often she would try to look at 
 King Sun himself as he smiled warmly 
 upon her. 
 
 Sometimes there would be woolly sheep 
 and wee, fluffy lambs; and again, galloping 
 gray ponies or stately ships with golden masts 
 and puffy silver sails.
 
 121 
 
 Then there would sometimes be cloud 
 ladies; and children, boys and girls with 
 merry, laughing faces. They seemed always 
 beckoning to Little Peg to come and play 
 with them in cloudland. 
 
 "Oh, if I only could!" she said, and then, 
 guess what ? She fell asleep in the grass. 
 
 While she lay there sleeping the Old 
 Woman who swept cobwebs from the sky 
 passed by. 
 
 "Deary me," she said, "the day has been 
 too long for Little Peg. I believe I will take 
 her to ride with me while I brush the cob- 
 webs from the sky." 
 
 So she tucked her down into the basket, 
 with only the top of her curly head peeping 
 out; then up, up, up she sailed, straight to 
 cloudland. 
 
 Peg could hardly believe it when she 
 opened her eyes and found herself among the 
 
 clouds, 
 a
 
 - 122 - 
 
 The Old Woman smiled and said, "How 
 do you like it, my dear?" 
 
 "Very, very much," replied Little Peg. 
 "How did you know I wanted to come?" 
 
 "Perhaps a bird or a fairy told me. We 
 are passing through fairyland now, so listen, 
 and I will tell you where they all live. 
 
 Queen J\foon 
 
 "That beautiful palace over there belongs 
 to my lady, the moon. She is the queen of 
 the heavens, and the sun is king. With them 
 dwell all the light fairies of both day and 
 night. They are a busy set, I can tell you, 
 these moonbeams and sunbeams which 
 carry light to the earth. The large gray
 
 ' How do you like it, my dear?'
 
 124 
 
 palace with fluted columns is the home of the 
 water fairies, another busy set. There dwell 
 the snowflakes, the rain, the mist, and the dew. 
 
 "They always dress in white or gray 
 And keep the flowers fresh and gay, 
 They wash the faces of trees and grass 
 And throw a kiss to all they pass. 
 
 "Sometimes they join their hands in a row 
 And down to the earth with sunbeams go, 
 They form a rainbow gay and bright 
 And dance and sing with glad delight." 
 
 "Yes, yes," said Little Peg, "I have seen 
 these fairies many times, though I did not 
 know they lived in such a beautiful home. 
 The stars, too, I have learned to love, watch- 
 ing them play hide-and-seek with the clouds. 
 I have seen them march and form pretty 
 figures like the Great Bear, Jacob's Ladder, 
 and the Sparkling Dipper. And best of all, 
 I have seen them run a race, pellmell down 
 the Milky -Way Stream." 
 
 "Yes, indeed," laughed the Old Woman,
 
 125 
 
 "the star fairies are a merry troop. They are 
 the moon's children, you know, and she has 
 named them all, though, dear me, I cannot 
 see how she ever keeps up with them. Why, 
 she is even worse than the Old Woman who 
 Lives in the Shoe. 
 
 "But come, I have finished my sweeping, 
 and Mother Goose will wonder what has 
 become of me. Shut your eyes and count 
 five, then open them wide and you will find 
 yourself in the grass where I found you." 
 
 And so she did.
 
 Are-Cream Kcp/ 
 
 THERE was quite a stir in the Old 
 Woman's shoe one morning. 
 
 The children were swarming around like 
 so many bees, and you couldn't tell Number 
 Six from Number Twenty, they were so 
 mixed up. And the noise, My! 
 
 You see when they got up that morning, 
 the youngest girl had found a big square let- 
 ter under the door. It was addressed to the 
 Old Woman's children who lived in the shoe. 
 
 Now the Old Woman did not often get 
 a letter, and the children almost never. So 
 
 126
 
 127 
 
 that was the cause of the hubbub. All of 
 them wanted to open it. 
 
 "Come, come," she said, "this will never 
 do. You almost drive me crazy. Number 
 Seven, bring me that letter. It is I who 
 shall have the honor of opening it. Atten- 
 tion, while I read." 
 
 You could have heard a pin drop. The 
 Old Woman smoothed her cap and apron, 
 settled her specs over her nose, and read: 
 
 "All you children who live in the shoe 
 
 Are invited, this afternoon at two, 
 
 For an ice-cream picnic on Primrose Hill, 
 
 Where you can play and eat your fill. 
 
 When the sun has set, you may all come back. 
 
 I am yours very truly, Mother Goose's Jack." 
 
 "A very kind letter, indeed," she said. 
 "You have never tasted ice-cream at all, so I 
 am sure it will be a treat. But remember," 
 and she held up her finger with a warning 
 gesture, "not one spot of dirt goes to that 
 picnic with you. So you had better scrub
 
 - 128 - 
 
 "Soap is cheap and water is free, and the 
 creek still runs at the foot of the hill. Now 
 go clown there and scrub, every boy and girl, 
 and when you have finished, come back to 
 
 11 Cheeks glowed with the rubbing'' 1 
 
 me, and I will have clean, fresh pinafores 
 waiting for you." 
 
 The children were so happy they tumbled 
 all over one another down the hill. 
 
 Soon there was such another splashing
 
 - 129 
 
 and scrubbing of feet, hands, and faces as 
 you never saw. Cheeks just glowed with 
 the rubbing. Then they sat on the rocks to 
 dry in the sun, and brushed out their rumpled 
 
 "Another trip to wash their ears " 
 
 hair with pine cones, very good brushes 
 indeed, when you haven't any better. 
 
 After all had finished, they went back, 
 full of glee, to the house, where the Old 
 Woman looked at them closely, to see if she 
 could find any dirty spots.
 
 130 
 
 Her eyes were very sharp, and some of the 
 boys took another trip to the river to wash 
 their ears. But by and by all were as clean 
 as water could make them, and the girls 
 put on fresh print aprons, and the boys stiff 
 snow-white collars and clean blouses. 
 
 They looked as fresh and sweet as a May 
 morning, and the Old Woman was very proud 
 of them. She watched them off, standing in the 
 doorway, shading her face with her hand, and 
 smiling a good-by. It was two o'clock sharp 
 when the children reached the top of the hill. 
 
 Mother Goose and Jack were there to 
 meet them, and soon the fun began. There 
 were swings and joggling boards enough for 
 all. So they swung and joggled, and joggled 
 and swung. Then they played "Jacob" and 
 " Drop the handkerchief" until Mother Goose 
 called them to the picnic table. 
 
 This table was only a very, very large 
 round tablecloth, cut by the pattern of the
 
 " There were swings and joggling boards for all
 
 132 
 
 full moon. It was spread out on the grass, 
 and everybody had a seat around it. 
 
 The children's eyes grew wide as Jack 
 placed before each child a candy basket filled 
 with ice-cream and a candy boat full of cakes. 
 They had never seen such a sight before, and 
 they clapped their hands with joy. 
 
 They ate the cream and cakes, but saved 
 the candy baskets and boats to carry home 
 and eat some other day. 
 
 Just as the sun went down they said good- 
 by, and kissing their hands to Jack and Mother 
 Goose, trotted down the hill to their home in 
 the shoe, as happy as happy could be.
 
 ) The Sleeping Princess 
 
 IN a queer brown house, without windows 
 or doors, a beautiful princess lay fast 
 asleep. 
 
 She had slept and slept and slept, until 
 the fairy servants who cared for her thought 
 she would never wake. 
 
 Though the brown house was in Mary 
 Contrary's garden, she did not know the 
 princess slept there. The birds knew, but 
 did not tell; they only sang to her every day. 
 The sunbeams knew; they warmed her couch 
 for her. The raindrops knew; they carried 
 
 133
 
 134 
 
 her cool, fresh water. And a little worm 
 knew; he helped to make her bed soft. But 
 they did not tell, and so the little princess 
 slept on. 
 
 One morning she stirred. The breezes 
 told the birds, and the birds told the sun- 
 beams. 
 
 "Come!" said a wee sunbeam fairy, "let 
 us peep at her." 
 
 "Yes," said another, "and let us carry her 
 something beautiful. What shall it be?" 
 
 "Why, a dress; let it be a beautiful dress 
 from the Rainbow Palace," said all the sun- 
 beam fairies. 
 
 "What color shall we have it?" 
 
 "Purple, a rich, velvety purple for a prin- 
 cess," said one. 
 
 "And a rich, golden border," said another. 
 
 "Yes, gold and royal purple will indeed 
 be beautiful. Let us carry it to her at once." 
 
 So the sunbeam fairies caught hands and,
 
 135 
 
 forming a sunbeam fairy chain, came dancing 
 
 to the brown house where the princess slept. 
 
 They slipped in and dressed her in the 
 
 queenly robe, and then crept away with their 
 
 'A sunbeam fairy chain 
 
 fingers on their lips. They did not wish to 
 waken the sleeping princess. 
 
 Early, oh, so early, one morning, when the 
 dew fairies were bathing the faces of ferns 
 and flowers, the princess opened her eyes.
 
 - 136 
 
 She had heard a voice, strong and tender, 
 calling her. A voice that said so plainly, 
 ''You have slept long enough, my pansy; open 
 your eyes and make bright the world around 
 you." 
 
 And now she had pushed herself free from 
 the brown house where she slept, and stood 
 wide awake. It was all very beautiful the 
 blue sky, the dancing sunbeams, the cooling 
 breezes, and the singing birds, and she 
 wondered why she had not wakened before. 
 Then she looked down at her own royal 
 robe, and wondered at its richness. 
 
 Where did it come from ? Who had 
 brought it ? 
 
 The sunbeams did not tell, for they only 
 smiled. The breezes did not tell, for they 
 only danced. The little worm did not tell, 
 for he only peeped. And the birds did not 
 tell, for they only sang, "Make bright the 
 world ! Make bright the world !"
 
 enough, my pansy ; open your eyes"
 
 - 138 
 
 The pansy princess nodded her dainty 
 head, and smiled on the flowers around her. 
 
 Did Mary Contrary ever find the pansy 
 princess? Yes, indeed. No flower bloomed 
 in the old garden which she did not find. 
 
 She knelt on the border of stones beside 
 the flower and said, "You lovely, lovely 
 pansy! Where did you come from anyway, 
 and where did you get your dress so gay?"
 
 The Old 
 
 Basket- 
 
 WHAT do you think? The Old Woman 
 who Lived in the Shoe got a pair 
 of new babies. Yes, two of them. And bless 
 you, they came to stay. That, to other peo- 
 ple, was the funniest part of it. The Old 
 Woman did not think it was very funny, just 
 at first. They came in a basket on New 
 Year's night, and it happened this way: 
 
 Everybody in the village had been paying 
 New Year calls all day long, and saying at 
 each quaint red house, "I wish you a happy 
 New Year." They had all gotten home, put 
 
 139
 
 140 
 
 away their Sunday clothes and gone to bed, 
 all except the Old Woman. She was sitting 
 up before her fire nodding and resting, for she 
 had just put all her children to bed, washed 
 their faces and combed their heads, and was 
 very, very tired. So she sat down to rest a bit. 
 
 Well, while she was sitting there nodding 
 and nodding, a gentle tap came at the door. 
 
 The Old Woman thought it was the wind, 
 and did not stir. Then all at once she heard 
 something cry, first a tiny, tiny cry, then a 
 louder one. It sounded as though it came 
 from under the bed. But when she looked 
 under there, why! there wasn't anything. 
 
 Then she looked in the cupboard, and 
 behind the trunk, and in the press, and there 
 wasn't anything. Then she counted all her 
 children's noses, and none were missing. So 
 she went back to the fireplace and took her 
 seat again. But the Old Woman didn't sit 
 there long.
 
 141 
 
 She was just nodding off nicely when 
 something went rap, rap, rap, right against 
 her door. It was such a sudden knock the 
 Old Woman jumped three feet high, so it 
 seemed to her. Then she straightened her 
 cap and spectacles and said, "Well, I do 
 wonder! Now who can be paying me a 
 New Year's call this time of night? I'll just 
 go and see." 
 
 So she lit the candle, long and slim, that 
 Nancy Etticote had sent her for a Christmas 
 present, and went to the door. 
 
 When she opened it, only the snowflakes 
 drifted in, but right at her feet near the door- 
 way was a great big basket. But she did not 
 hear a sound. 
 
 On the basket was a card tied with white 
 satin ribbon, and in great big letters she read, 
 -FOR YOU!" 
 
 "To be sure," said the Old Woman, smil- 
 ing, "something good to eat. These dear
 
 - 142 - 
 
 village people are always sending me some- 
 thing, bless them. I will drag it in to the 
 fire and have a quiet snack while the children 
 sleep." 
 
 So she drew the New Year basket to the 
 fireplace and, sitting down to enjoy herself, 
 took the cover off, and, I wish you could 
 have seen her face. It was a sight to behold. 
 
 " Saints above!" she cried, throwing both 
 hands above her head. "Another pair of 
 babies, so sure as I live. Whoever heard 
 tell of just such? Why, I've got so many 
 now I don't know what to do. Surely I must 
 be dreaming!" 
 
 But she was not. No, indeed. For just 
 then both fat babies opened their eyes, smiled 
 the cutest little three-cornered smiles, and 
 stretched out their dainty pink hands to the 
 Old Woman. 
 
 "Bless your angel hearts," she said, "how 
 can I help but love you now? You are the
 
 "Stretched out their dainty pink hands to the Old Woman 1
 
 144 - 
 
 dearest New Year callers I have had this 
 day. Where did you come from, anyway?" 
 
 But dear me, the babies did not know. 
 They only blinked and blinked, cooed as 
 birdies coo, and blinked and blinked. 
 
 So the Old Woman kept them for her 
 
 'Crowded round the basket^ 
 
 very own. Two more babies did not make 
 much difference with her, you know. She 
 cuddled them both in her brave, strong arms, 
 and rocked them gently to and fro until both 
 babies fell asleep listening to her pretty song. 
 The next morning, when all the children 
 waked, you never heard such a hubbub, as
 
 145 
 
 they crowded round the basket, and peeped 
 at the two new babies. You would have 
 thought they never had seen a baby before. 
 "Oh-o-o!" they said, "only see! 
 
 "What cute little eyes and fingers and nose, 
 What dear dimpled hands, what cunning pink toes, 
 What soft, pretty hair in rings of dark brown, 
 What darlings you are, the dearest in town!" 
 
 So that is how the Old Woman got her 
 two new babies. I know you wish you had 
 them. But I will tell you now, the Old 
 Woman wouldn't part with them, not for 
 anything. At least that is what she told 
 Mother Goose.
 
 ETTLE BOY BLUE was very anxious 
 to send Little Miss Muffet a valentine. 
 Because of all the children in Mother Goose 
 Village, he loved her the best. But dear me! 
 Valentines cost money, you know, and Boy 
 Blue had none. 
 
 What time he was not asleep under the 
 haystack, why! he was blowing his horn or 
 watching the cows and sheep. And there 
 seemed to be no way for him to earn any 
 money. 
 
 So he told Mother Goose about it. She
 
 147 
 
 was the dearest old lady in all the world, and 
 everybody loved her and went to her when 
 in trouble. 
 
 Indeed, she promised to tend the cows 
 
 " Off he started" 
 
 and sheep while Boy Blue went through the 
 village hunting jobs to do. 
 
 So off he started as fast as his fat little 
 legs could carry him, thinking about Little 
 Miss Muffet and how much he loved her.
 
 - 148 - 
 
 And he found plenty of work to do, too. 
 
 First he went to the Old Woman who 
 Lived in the Shoe, and got there just in time 
 to keep the youngest boy from falling over 
 the heel of the shoe, a most dreadful fall 
 it would have been. 
 
 Next he visited the Old Woman who 
 brushed cobwebs from the sky. Then he ran 
 round to the Crooked Man's house and to 
 Peter Piper's, where he helped to pick a peck 
 of peppers. 
 
 After that he hurried on to Jack Sprat's, 
 to Simple Simon's, to Jack-be- Nimble's, to 
 Tommy Tucker's, to Tommy Grace's, to Jack 
 Horner's, to Humpty Dumpty's, to Jack and 
 Jill's, to Mary Contrary's, to Margery Daw's, 
 and even to Old Mother Hubbard's in search 
 of work. 
 
 And every one of them, except Mother 
 Hubbard, gave him a job to do. 
 
 So by and by dear Little Boy Blue had
 
 149 
 
 fifteen pennies snug within his blue jacket 
 pocket to buy a valentine for Little Miss 
 Muffet, because he loved her so. 
 
 He stood for a long time before the big 
 shop window, wondering which was the most 
 beautiful valentine, and which one Little Miss 
 Muffet would like the best. 
 
 While he was wondering and wondering, 
 Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son, came hurrying 
 down the street with something under his 
 arm. Guess what? 
 
 Dear no! It wasn't a pig. Though I 
 have heard something about Tom and a pig. 
 Why, it was the softest, dearest gray kitten 
 that ever you saw. With four white mittens, 
 too; and yet, what do you think? Tom was 
 really on his way to the pond to drown that 
 kitten. He told Boy Blue so. 
 
 My! Boy Blue thought that would be a 
 most dreadful act. So he offered all the 
 pennies he had to Tom for the gray kitten,
 
 "Tom was on his way to drown that
 
 151 
 
 and holding her close under his dimpled chin 
 hurried back to good Mother Goose and told 
 her all about it. 
 
 There was a great round tear on his cheek 
 when he said, "And now I haven't any val- 
 entine for Little Miss Muffet." 
 
 Mother Goose thought for a minute, then 
 she looked at Boy Blue and smiled as she 
 said, "Why not send the gray kitten to Little 
 Miss Muffet for a valentine? I'm sure she 
 \vould like it. You see, I'll write a piece of 
 poetry and tie it around her neck with a 
 yellow ribbon. And then you can carry it 
 to her yourself to-morrow morning. Isn't 
 that a fine plan ?" 
 
 Boy Blue clapped his hands with glee. 
 He thought that a very fine plan indeed. 
 
 So Mother Goose found a most beautiful 
 piece of yellow ribbon and tied it around the 
 gray kitten's neck with the card, on which 
 was written these words :
 
 152 
 
 " Hey diddle de diddle, a valentine kitty, 
 And that is what Boy Blue bought ; 
 Hey diddle de diddle, a valentine kitty, 
 With love to Miss Muffet, he brought." 
 
 How did Little Miss Muffet like the val- 
 entine? 
 
 Why, she thought it was the loveliest thing 
 in the world. Indeed, she sent it to London 
 to visit the queen. You have heard about 
 how, while there, this very kitty frightened a 
 mouse from under the queen's chair. 
 
 To be sure you have. Any one who reads 
 the wonderful book of good Mother Goose 
 knows that fact To be sure he does.
 
 A Mother Hubbards Easter Lily 
 
 WHY doesn't Mary Contrary plant 
 me, I wonder?" said a lily bulb, 
 one cold, drizzly day. " Last year I had such 
 beautiful blossoms, and I should like so much 
 to have them ready again by Raster. Surely 
 she has not forgotten me." 
 
 ''Stop fretting and go to sleep," said a 
 blade of grass near by. "Do you not know 
 that lily bulbs never bloom well the second 
 year? I heard Mary Contrary say so. That 
 is why you were thrown away. So go to 
 sleep and keep quiet." 
 
 153
 
 154 
 
 "Dear me," said the lily bulb, "that is too 
 bad. I'm sure I could grow if some one 
 would only plant me. I shall send out my 
 rootlets anyway, and maybe when Mary Con- 
 trary sees how hard I try she will plant me." 
 
 And so she tried her very best. But just 
 then Old Mother Hubbard's dog Fido came 
 
 "Stopped right still and wagged his tail" 
 
 scampering through the grass, his cold, black 
 nose sniffing the ground as he ran. He was 
 hunting a bone, you know, and when he saw 
 the fresh lily bulb, he stopped right still and 
 wagged his tail. Fido looked at it very hard, 
 turning it over and over with his shaggy paw. 
 Then he tossed his head and said, "A potato! 
 A potato ! I have found a fine fat potato !
 
 155 
 
 Mother Hubbard likes potatoes, so I'll just 
 carry her this one." ** 
 
 And before the lily bulb W> could say one 
 word, she was galloping down the street in 
 Fido's mouth, frightened almost to death. 
 At last he dropped her at Mother Hubbard's 
 feet, wagged his tail and barked with joy. 
 He knew how much she liked potatoes. 
 
 ''Where did you get that lily bulb, Fido?" 
 said Mother Hubbard. "I hope you haven't 
 been scratching up Mary Contrary's garden. 
 Where did you get it, sir?" 
 
 Fido only wagged his tail more quickly, sat 
 on his hind legs and crossed hi^ front paws. 
 
 That meant, "Upon my word and honor 
 I have been good. Please give me a ^8*V 
 bone." ** 
 
 So Mother Hubbard patted Fido on the 
 head and went to the cupboard to get him a 
 bone, but there wasn't any, so the poor dog 
 had none. And Mother Hubbard went back
 
 'Fido sat on his hind legs and crossed his front paws'
 
 157 
 
 and picked up the lily bulb, looking at it 
 closely to see if Fido's sharp teeth had hurt it. 
 
 "No," she said, shaking her head, "it is 
 all right. Poor little thing! it is trying its 
 best to grow. I shall plant it and have it for 
 my Easter lily. Maybe it will bloom." 
 
 Trotting off to the cupboard again she 
 got a pretty glass bowl and placed a hand- 
 ful, of sand and rocks in the bottom. Then 
 she planted the bulb carefully on them, cov- 
 ering it with fresh water, and placing it on 
 the sunny window-seat to grow. And now 
 the lily bulb was very, very happy. 
 
 I only wish you could have seen her grow. 
 Even Fido was surprised. He thought that a 
 very queer way for Mother Hubbard to bake 
 a potato. He wanted it covered in the ashes, 
 and when done to have it for his supper. 
 
 So, every time Mother Hubbard brought 
 fresh water to the lily bulb, Fido would catch 
 her by the apron, bark and pull. Then he
 
 158 
 
 would run to the fireplace and scratch in the 
 ashes, trying his very best to say, "Cook it, 
 cook it!" But Mother Hubbard would only 
 laugh and say, "Down, sir! Fido, you haven't 
 one grain of sense. This is no potato." S^\ 
 
 When Easter morning came, the first qf 
 thing Mother Hubbard did was to open her 
 eyes. The next thing she did was to look 
 at her bulb, and the next thing she did was 
 to smile and smile. 
 
 Of course you know the reason why. 
 Peeping from the rich, green leaves of the lily 
 bulb was a most beautiful Easter lily. 
 
 And that is what made Mother Hubbard 
 smile.
 
 omm^Tinker s CharmString 
 
 TOMMY TINKER was getting up a 
 charm string. 
 
 So were Bobby Shaftoe and Daffy-down- 
 dilly and the Queen of Hearts and many of 
 the other children in the village. 
 
 You know what a charm string is. Just 
 ever so many pretty buttons strung together 
 and worn around your neck. There are glass 
 buttons, silver buttons, gold buttons, brass 
 buttons, jet buttons, pearl buttons, and all 
 kinds of buttons. 
 
 Daffy-down-dilly had the prettiest button 
 
 159
 
 - 160 
 
 of all; everybody said so. No one else had 
 one like it; even the Schoolmaster knew that. 
 
 But something sorrowful happened one 
 day, for Daffy-clown-dilly lost her pretty but- 
 ton in the grass. It was red, with a gold star, 
 and though she looked and looked, it couldn't 
 be found. So she had to go home without it. 
 
 Early the next morning Tommy Tinker 
 passed that way and found the button lying 
 in the grass. 
 
 First, Tommy Tinker said, "Oh, it is 
 Daffy-down-dilly's prettiest button. I will 
 run and carry it to her right now." 
 
 Next, he said, "No, I'll put it on my 
 string just for to-day. Daffy-down-dilly won't 
 care. To-morrow I will take it to her." 
 
 But when the next day came the button 
 looked so pretty on his string Tommy Tinker 
 couldn't bear to take it off. And dear me! 
 he kept it another day. How dreadful! 
 
 Tommy Tinker felt very queer somehow.
 
 161 
 
 Why, he even did not want to meet Mother 
 Goose, nor the Schoolmaster, nor the Old 
 Woman who never told lies, nor, Daffy- 
 down-dilly, his very best friend. 
 
 "The button looked so pretty on his string" 
 
 And queerest of all, he didn't like to wear 
 his charm string any more, but kept it wadded 
 up in his trousers pocket. 
 
 "How dreadful," said Tommy Tinker's
 
 Wadded up in his trousers pocket"
 
 163 
 
 buttons, "to be kept here in the dark this 
 way! We love the light. What can be the 
 matter with Tommy Tinker?" 
 
 You know what was the matter with 
 Tommy Tinker. And Tommy Tinker knew 
 what was the matter, too. And what's more, 
 the big hall clock knew what was the matter. 
 For when Tommy Tinker stood looking at 
 its honest face it said, "Tick-tack, tick-tack, 
 take-it-back, take-it-back ! " 
 
 Then what do you think Tommy Tinker 
 did? Ran just as fast as ever he could and 
 slipped the button into Daffy-down-dilly's 
 hand. And Daffy-down-dilly was so glad. 
 
 And Tommy Tinker was so glad. Then 
 he wore his charm string on his neck again, 
 and the buttons were glad to be in the light.
 
 AWAY down in one end of Mary Con- 
 2~\ trary's garden grew Mrs. Morning- 
 Glory-Vine. She climbed all over the back 
 fence, and, like the Old Woman who Lived 
 in the Shoe, Mrs. Morning-Glory-Vine had so 
 many children she did not know what to do. 
 
 They were her blossoms, you know, and 
 she dressed them all in pink. 
 
 She thought they were very beautiful. 
 And the village children thought so, too, for 
 every morning they would stop by the fence, 
 on their way to school, just to count how
 
 - 165 
 
 many new children Mrs. Morning- 
 Glory-Vine had, and to see in what 
 tints of pink they were dressed. 
 
 ''Mother," said the morning-glories 
 one day when the children had passed, 
 "what will they do when we are gone 
 and the cold, cold winter time comes 
 
 of which you told us? We would 
 like to bloom always to make the 
 children happy; they love us so." 
 "That is very kind, little blossoms, 
 but the winter would be too cold for you, 
 and you would surely freeze. Besides, 
 morning-glories, like the children, 
 must have a time to sleep and rest. 
 "But listen ; I have a wonderful 
 secret to tell you. There is a way 
 in which you can come back to the 
 children next year. Shall I tell you 
 how?" 
 
 "Yes, yes," eagerly nodded each
 
 166 
 
 pink morning-glory, as it nestled close 
 
 to the mother vine. 
 
 "Well," she said, "all through the 
 
 long summer months I have been 
 
 very busy making each one of you a 
 brown seed-pocket. Have you never noticed 
 them beneath your pink skirts? To be sure 
 you have. Well, by and by, when you grow 
 very tired of playing with your friends the 
 sunbeams, raindrops, and breezes, I will put 
 you to sleep in these seed-pockets. You will 
 be mother's seed-babies then, and I shall be 
 very near you until you are quite fast asleep. 
 "Now look below you at the ground. That 
 is the soft brown bed where all the seed-babies 
 sleep. I slept there once myself, and it is very 
 fine. And you, too, will sleep and 
 sleep and sleep and sleep, a long, long 
 nap, until the cold winter has passed 
 away. 
 
 " It is then that the wonderful part
 
 "Here comes Mary Contrary to see how her garden grows 1
 
 - 168 - 
 
 of my secret happens, for when you wake next 
 spring, why! you will no longer be brown 
 seed-babies, but a truly true vine like your 
 mother. You will have pretty green leaves 
 and ever so many blossoms dressed in pink, 
 all your very own." 
 
 "How wonderful, how wonderful!" they 
 cried in a breath, nodding their heads so gay. 
 "Tell us more about it, mother; tell us more. 
 We like to listen." 
 
 "Hush, "said Mrs. Morning-Glory-Vine, 
 laughing, "here comes Mary Contrary to see 
 how her garden grows. Roll your skirts into 
 neat little rolls and let us get to work. The 
 brown seed-pockets will never get finished 
 unless you do your part. Hasten, my blos- 
 soms."
 
 The Little Brown\lentine 
 
 TITTLE TEE WEE was the only one 
 1 ^ who remembered to carry the Crooked 
 Man a valentine. 
 
 It was a pretty heart with birds and flow- 
 ers painted on it. Tee Wee had made it 
 himself. 
 
 "Please, sir, could you tell me a story?" 
 said Tee Wee. 
 
 "To be sure," said the Crooked Man. 
 "What shall it be about?" 
 
 "About valentines^" said Little Tee Wee. 
 
 So the Crooked Man crossed his legs and
 
 Little Tee Wee gives the Crooked Man a valentine
 
 171 - 
 
 shut his eyes and leaned back in his crooked 
 chair and began: 
 
 " Every year the birds have a ball on St. 
 Valentine's Day. That is the time they 
 marry, you know, and at the ball they choose 
 the one they love the best to be their vale'n- 
 tine. Then, side by side, they fly gayly away 
 to find the most beautiful place to build their 
 nest, singing as they go: 
 
 "'I love you! I love you! 
 Sweet heart mine. 
 Sweet, sweet, sweet, 
 Sweet valentine ! ' 
 
 "Robert of Lincoln was the happiest of 
 all the birds at the valentine balls, a gay, rol- 
 licking fellow. 
 
 "Each year he came dressed in a glorious 
 vest of white and black, and, perching high 
 on some budding twig, would 
 make the air ring with the gay- 
 est of songs .
 
 172 
 
 ' ' ' Bob-o'link ! Bob-o'link ! 
 Spink, spank, spink. 
 Who'll be my valentine? 
 Mine ! Mine ! Mine ! ' 
 
 "It was always a sober little brown bird 
 that he chose in the end to be his valentine. 
 
 "He loved them best. They were tender 
 and shy, and let Robert do all the singing: 
 
 " ' Bob-o'link ! Bob-o'link ! 
 Spink, spank, spink. 
 A little brown valentine 
 \ WB^/ F or me only think ! ' 
 
 "But one year it snowed and 
 snowed on St. Valentine's Day, and 
 Robert got to the ball very late. 
 
 "He came in a perfect flutter of excite- 
 ment, with his 'spink, spank, spink.' What 
 if all the brown birds had been chosen and 
 none left for him ? 
 
 " Oh, Bob-o'link ! Bob-o'link ! 
 What would you think? 
 
 "Fluttering from bush and tree and twig,
 
 173 
 
 he twittered past cooing couples of happy 
 mates. On and on he fluttered, his saucy 
 head on one side, his bright eyes searching 
 eagerly. At last he found her, down by the 
 jasmine bush, a little bird in brown. 
 
 " 'She's mine ! 
 She's mine ! 
 My valentine!' 
 
 he caroled, and, brushing a flake of snow 
 from his vest of white and black, fluttered to 
 the ground by her side. 
 
 "Now I must tell you a secret about this 
 little brown bird; she had gone away to hide. 
 
 "Beneath the jasmine bush, with a very 
 sad heart, she drooped her pretty brown head. 
 'No one has chosen me,' she said, 'and I am 
 nobody's valentine. Nobody cares for me.' 
 
 "It was just then that Robert of Lincoln 
 flew down, twittering softly in her ear: 
 
 ' ' ' Lovest them me, little bird in brown, 
 Enough to be my valentine ! 
 Sweet, sweet, sweet heart mine?'
 
 - 174 - 
 
 "Now what do you suppose she said?" 
 asked the Crooked Man with a crooked little 
 smile. 
 
 And Little Tee Wee smiled back again 
 and said, "Yes." 
 
 "To be sure she did," laughed the Crooked 
 Man, "and they lived happily ever after- 
 wards. And Robert kept on singing: 
 
 " ' I love you ! I love you ! 
 Sweet heart mine, 
 Sweet, sweet, sweet, 
 Sweet valentine.' "
 
 Cinderella s Egg Hunt 
 
 CINDERELLA did not live in Mother 
 Goose Village, though she often went 
 there. 
 
 She lived in London Town at the king's 
 palace, where she had been ever since the 
 prince found that the glass slipper fitted her. 
 
 Anyway, whenever Cinderella's tiny pony 
 phaeton was seen on the streets of Mother 
 Goose Village the children knew something 
 good was going to happen. 
 
 She had been there just the week before, 
 because Jack saw her. She spent the whole 
 
 175
 
 176 
 
 afternoon with Mother Goose in her quaint 
 cottage, and talked and talked and talked. 
 
 And so on Easter Friday the children were 
 not very much surprised when the School- 
 master told them to put on their pointed caps 
 and get ready for a trip to Primrose Hill. 
 
 "Oh, I do believe it will be an egg hunt," 
 said Little Tee Wee to Curly Locks. 
 
 And Curly Locks said, "Maybe so, and 
 oh, won't that be heaps of fun!" 
 
 So they started out, a double row of little 
 pointed caps. 
 
 Across the village, and by the mill, 
 Then up the path to Primrose Hill. 
 
 Sure enough, there stood Cinderella and 
 Mother Goose waiting for them. 
 
 And sure enough it was to be an egg 
 hunt. They had hidden heaps and heaps of 
 eggs among the grass and stumps and leaves 
 and rocks and briars on Primrose Hill. Such 
 pretty, pretty eggs, too!
 
 177 
 
 China eggs, wax eggs, clay eggs, candy 
 eggs ; hen eggs, turkey eggs, and guinea eggs; 
 blue eggs, red eggs, green eggs, and yellow 
 eggs; all kinds of eggs. And one golden 
 egg- 
 
 "Away they scampered" 
 
 This was hidden best of all, and the one 
 who found the golden egg, why! he had 
 the sharpest eyes. 
 
 Cinderella gave them each a dainty wil- 
 low basket for their very own, and then she
 
 178 
 
 counted, one, two, three. And away they 
 scampered out on the hunt. Such a merry 
 time as they had, scratching like so many 
 chickens. 
 
 Jack-be-Nimble found the first egg, a most 
 
 /.'"'< 
 
 "All the baskets -were quite full"" 
 
 beautiful blue one, and little Jumping Joan 
 found the next. 
 
 After that every one seemed to find them 
 at the same time. All over the hill you could 
 hear them saying together, "Oh, oh! Look, 
 look! See mine! How pretty! Oh, oh, oh!"
 
 179 
 
 At last all the baskets were quite full and 
 all the eggs had been found except one. And 
 that one was the golden egg. 
 
 " S'pose we can't find it at all," said Patchy 
 Dolly. 
 
 "S'pose we can't," said Solomon Grundy. 
 
 "Oh-o!" said Willy Boy; "only s'pose we 
 can't." 
 
 But just then they heard some one shout, 
 "I've found it! Oh, I've found it! Goody, 
 goody, goody!" 
 
 And there came Humpty Dumpty as fast 
 as his fat little body could wabble, holding 
 the egg above his sunny head. 
 
 And goodness me! He stumped his toe 
 and dropped the golden egg. It was broken 
 into two halves, and all the king's horses and 
 all the king's men couldn't put it together 
 again. 
 
 I do believe Humpty Dumpty was about 
 to cry, but of course he didn't; oh, no, not for
 
 1 Holding the egg above his sunny head'
 
 181 
 
 anything. For were not Mother Goose and 
 Cinderella and the Schoolmaster all there? 
 What would they think of a cry baby? 
 
 So he swallowed his tears and smiled 
 when the children shouted: 
 
 "Hurrah for Humpty Dutnpty ! 
 The boy with the sharpest eyes, 
 He stumped his toe and broke his egg, 
 But never, never cries." 
 
 Where did he find the golden egg? Why, 
 in the hollow of a tree.
 
 Mother Goose 
 Rliymes 
 
 Old Mother Goose, 
 
 When she wanted to wander 
 Would ride through the air 
 
 On a very fine gander. 
 
 Mother Goose had a house, 
 'Twas built in a wood, 
 
 Where an owl at the door 
 For sentinel stood. 
 
 She had a son Jack, 
 A smart-looking lad 
 
 He was not very good, 
 Nor yet very bad. 
 
 She once sent him to market, 
 A live goose he bought. 
 
 " Here mother," said he, 
 " It will not go for naught." 
 
 Jack's goose and her gander 
 
 Grew very fond ; 
 They'd both eat together, 
 
 Or swim in one pond. 
 
 Jack found one morning, 
 As I have been told, 
 
 His goose had laid him 
 An egg of pure gold. 
 
 Jack rode to his mother, 
 The news for to tell ; 
 
 She called him a good boy, 
 And said it was well. 
 
 Jack sold his gold egg 
 To a rascally knave 
 
 Not half of its value 
 
 To poor Jack he gave. 
 183 -
 
 184 
 
 Then Jack went a-courting 
 
 A lady so gay, 
 As fair as a lily 
 
 And sweet as the May. 
 
 The knave and the squire 
 Came close at his back, 
 
 And began to belabor 
 The sides of poor Jack. 
 
 And then the gold egg 
 Was thrown in the sea, 
 
 But Jack jumped in 
 And got it back presently. 
 
 The knave got the goose, 
 Which he vowed he'd kill, 
 
 Resolving at once 
 His pockets to fill. 
 
 Jack's mother came in 
 
 And caught the goose soon, 
 
 And mounting its back, 
 Flew up to the moon. 
 
 II. 
 
 Old King Cole 
 
 Was a merry old soul, 
 
 And a merry old soul was he ! 
 And he called for his pipe 
 And he called for his bowl 
 
 And he called for his fiddlers 
 three. 
 
 And every fiddler he had a fine 
 
 fiddle, 
 And a very fine fiddle had he ! 
 
 "Tweedle dee, tweedle dee," 
 said the fiddlers, 
 
 " Oh there's none so rare as can 
 
 compare 
 
 With King Cole and his fid- 
 dlers three.'' 
 
 III. 
 
 There was a crooked man and 
 
 he went a crooked mile, 
 And he found a crooked sixpence 
 
 against a crooked stile ; 
 He bought a crooked cat which 
 
 caught a crooked mouse, 
 And they all lived together in a 
 
 little crooked house. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Little Tee Wee, 
 He went to sea 
 In an open boat ; 
 And while afloat 
 The little boat bended 
 My story's ended. 
 
 V. 
 
 Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater, 
 Had a wife and couldn't keep 
 
 her; 
 
 He put her in a pumpkin shell 
 And there he kept her very well. 
 
 Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater, 
 Had another and didn't love her; 
 Peter learned to read 'and spell, 
 And then he loved her very well.
 
 185 
 
 VI. 
 
 Little Tommy Tittlemouse 
 Lived in a little house ; 
 He caught fishes 
 In other men's ditches. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Bobby Shaf toe's gone to sea, 
 Silver buckles on his knee ; 
 He'll come back and marry me, 
 Pretty Bobby Shaftoe. 
 
 Bobby Shaftoe's fat and fair, 
 Combing down his yellow hair, 
 He's my love for evermore, 
 Pretty Bobby Shaftoe. 
 
 VIII. 
 Peg, Peg, with a wooden leg 
 
 Her father was a miller ; 
 He tossed a dumpling at her 
 
 head, 
 And said he would not kill her. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Little Nancy Etticote, 
 In a white petticoat, 
 
 With a red nose ; 
 The longer she stands 
 
 The shorter she grows. 
 
 X. 
 
 Three wise men of Gotham 
 Went to sea in a bowl ; 
 If the bowl had been stronger 
 My song had been longer. 
 
 XI. 
 
 As I was going up Primrose Hill, 
 Primrose Hill was dirty ; 
 
 There I met a pretty Miss, 
 And she dropped me a cour- 
 tesy. 
 
 XII. 
 Polly, put the kettle on, 
 
 Molly, call the muffin man, 
 Sally, blow the bellows strong, 
 
 And we'll all have tea. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Mary, Mary, quite contrary, 
 How does your garden grow ? 
 
 Silver bells and cockle shells, 
 And pretty maids all in a row. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Jack be nimble, 
 Jack be quick, 
 And Jack jumped over the 
 candlestick. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Little Robin Red-breast 
 
 Sat upon a rail ; 
 Needle naddle went his head, 
 
 Wiggle waggle went his tail. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Bow-wow-wow, 
 Whose dog art thou ? 
 
 Little Tom Tucker's dog, 
 Bow-wow-wow.
 
 186 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Little Polly Flinders sat among 
 
 the cinders, 
 
 Warming her pretty little toes ! 
 Her mother came and caught 
 
 her, 
 
 And whipped her little daughter 
 For spoiling her nice new 
 clothes. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, 
 Humpty Dumpty had a great 
 
 fall; 
 All the king's horses and all the 
 
 king's men 
 Cannot put Humpty Dumpty 
 
 together again. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Jack Sprat's pig, 
 He was not very little, 
 
 Nor yet very big ; 
 He was not very lean, 
 
 He was not very fat 
 " He'll do well for a grunt," 
 
 Says little Jack Sprat. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Old Mother Twitchett had but 
 
 one eye, 
 And a long tail, which she let 
 
 fly; 
 And every time she went over 
 
 a gap 
 She left a bit of her tail in a trap. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Doctor Foster went to Gloster 
 
 In a shower of rain ; 
 He stepped in a puddle up to 
 the middle 
 
 And never went there again. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 See-saw, Margery Daw, 
 
 Jenny shall have a new mas- 
 ter; 
 
 She shall have but a penny a day 
 Because she can't work any 
 faster. 
 
 XXIII. 
 Little Tommy Tucker sings for 
 
 his supper. 
 What shall he eat ? White bread 
 
 and butter. 
 How shall he cut it without any 
 
 knife? 
 How will he marry without any 
 
 wife? 
 
 XXIV. 
 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 looks 
 
 after the sheep ? 
 He is under the haystack fast 
 
 asleep. 
 
 Will you wake him ? No, not I ! 
 For if I do he'll be sure to cry.
 
 187 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy, and 
 
 Bess, 
 They all went together to seek 
 
 a bird's nest. 
 They found a bird's nest with 
 
 four eggs in, 
 They all took one and left none 
 
 in. 
 
 XXVI. 
 There was an old woman lived 
 
 under the hill, 
 And if she's not gone she lives 
 
 there still. 
 Baked apples she sold and craii- 
 
 berry pies, 
 And she's the old woman that 
 
 never told lies. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 A diller, a dollar, 
 A ten o'clock scholar, 
 
 What makes you come so soon? 
 You used to come at ten o'clock, 
 
 But now you come at noon. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 Peter Piper picked a peck of 
 
 pickled pepper, 
 A peck of pickled pepper Peter 
 
 Piper picked. 
 If Peter Piper picked a peck of 
 
 pickled pepper, 
 Where is the peck of pickled 
 
 pepper Peter Piper picked ? 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Old father Graybeard, 
 Without tooth or tongue ; 
 
 If you'll give me your finger, 
 I'll give you my thumb. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Little Miss Muffet 
 Sat on a tuffet, 
 
 Eating of curds and whey ; 
 There came a great spider 
 Who sat down beside her, 
 
 And frightened Miss Muffet 
 away. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Little Jack Horner sat in a cor- 
 ner, 
 
 Eating a Christmas pie. 
 He put in his thumb and took 
 
 out a plum 
 
 And said, " What a good boy 
 am I ! " 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 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 
 
 Up Jack got and home did trot, 
 
 As fast as he could caper; 
 Dame Jill had the job to plaster 
 
 his knob 
 
 With vinegar and brown 
 paper.
 
 188 
 
 XXXIII. 
 Jack Sprat could eat no fat, 
 
 His wife could eat no lean, 
 And so between them both, you 
 
 see, 
 They licked the platter clean. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Pease porridge hot, 
 Pease porridge cold, 
 
 Pease porridge in the pot 
 Nine days old. 
 
 Some like it hot, 
 
 Some like it cold, 
 Some like it in the pot 
 
 Nine days old. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 There was an old woman went 
 
 up in a basket, 
 Ninety times as high as the 
 
 moon 
 And where she was going I 
 
 couldn't but ask her, 
 For in her hand she carried a 
 broom. 
 
 "Old woman, old woman, old 
 
 woman," quoth I, 
 " Whither, O whither, O whither 
 
 so high ? ' ' 
 "To sweep the cobwebs off the 
 
 sky!" 
 ' Shall I go with you ? " "Aye, by 
 
 and by." 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Simple Simon met a pieman 
 
 Going to the fair ; 
 Says Simple Simon to the pie- 
 man, 
 
 " Let me taste your ware." 
 
 Says the pieman to Simple 
 
 Simon, 
 
 " Show me first your penny ;" 
 Says Simple Simon to the pie- 
 man, 
 " Indeed I have not any." 
 
 Simple Simon went a-fishing, 
 To try and catch a whale ; 
 
 All the water he had with him 
 Was in his mother's pail. 
 
 Simple Simon went to look 
 If plums grew on a thistle ; 
 
 He pricked his fingers very much 
 Which made poor Simon 
 whistle. 
 
 Then Simple Simon went a-hunt- 
 ing, 
 
 To try and catch a hare ; 
 He rode a goat about the street, 
 
 But could not find one there. 
 
 He went for water in a sieve, 
 But soon it all run through ; 
 
 And now poor Simple Simon 
 Bids you all adieu !
 
 189 
 
 XXXVII. 
 Daffy-down-dilly has come up to 
 
 town, 
 In a fine petticoat and a green 
 
 gown. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Tom, Tom, the piper's son, 
 Stole a pig and away he ran ; 
 The pig was eaten 
 And Tom was beaten, 
 And Tom ran crying down the 
 street. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have 
 
 you been ? 
 I've been to London to visit the 
 
 queen. 
 Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did 
 
 you there ? 
 I frightened a little mouse under 
 
 her chair. 
 
 XL. 
 
 The north wind doth blow, 
 And we shall have snow, 
 And what will poor Robin do 
 then? 
 
 Poor thing ! 
 
 He will hop to a barn, 
 And to keep himself warm 
 Will hide his head under his 
 wing, 
 
 Poor thing ! 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep 
 And cannot tell where to find 
 
 them; 
 Leave them alone and they will 
 
 come home, 
 
 And bring their tails behind 
 them. 
 
 Little Bo-Peep fell fast asleep, 
 And dreamt she heard them 
 
 bleating ; 
 When she awoke she found it a 
 
 joke, 
 For still they all were fleeting. 
 
 Then up she took her little crook, 
 Determined she would find 
 
 them. 
 She found them, indeed, but it 
 
 made her heart bleed, 
 For they left their tails behind 
 them. 
 
 It happened one day, as Bo-Peep 
 did stray 
 
 Into a meadow close by, 
 She found their tails side by side, 
 
 All hung on a tree to dry. 
 
 She heaved a sigh and wiped 
 
 her eye, 
 Then over the hillocks she 
 
 raced, 
 And tried what she could as a 
 
 shepherd should, 
 That each tail should be 
 rightly placed.
 
 190 
 
 XLII. 
 There was an old woman as I've 
 
 heard tell, 
 And she went to market her 
 
 eggs to sell. 
 She went to market all on a 
 
 market day 
 And she fell asleep on the king's 
 
 highway. 
 
 There came by a peddler, whose 
 
 name was Stout, 
 He cut off her petticoats all 
 
 round about. 
 He cut off her petticoats up to 
 
 the knees, 
 Which made the old woman 
 
 shiver and freeze. 
 
 When the old woman first did 
 
 awake, 
 She began to shiver and she 
 
 began to shake ; 
 She began to wonder and she 
 
 began to cry, 
 "Mercy, mercy on me, this is 
 
 not I! 
 
 " But if it be I, as I hope it be, 
 I have a little dog at home, and 
 
 he'll know me. 
 
 If it be I, he'll wag his little tail, 
 And if it be not I, he'll bark and 
 
 wail." 
 
 Home went the little woman all 
 
 in the dark, 
 Up jumped the little dog and 
 
 he began to bark. 
 He began to bark and she began 
 
 to cry, 
 "Mercy, mercy on me, this is 
 
 not I!" 
 
 XLIII. 
 Little Tommy Grace had a pain 
 
 in his face, 
 So bad he couldn't learn a 
 
 letter. 
 
 Then in came Dicky Long 
 Singing such a funny song, 
 And Tommy laughed 
 
 And found his face much 
 better.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 f 1954 
 
 D-URB 
 SDISft 
 
 DEC 2 7 
 
 Perm L9-100m-9,'52(A3105)444 
 
 -^ 
 
 21 
 
 And 
 
 'l'H*J UtiKAK) 
 TOIVERSITY OF CALiKOKMI.4
 
 II 
 
 158 00433 8256 
 
 C 
 
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