The Young and Field Literary Readers Part 4

This time the queen laughed.

She looked at him a long time and then said:

"Nimmy, nimmy, not!

You're Tom t.i.t Tot."

At that the little black thing gave a great cry, and away he flew, out into the dark.

The queen never saw him again.

POEMS BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

LAMBKINS

On the gra.s.sy banks Lambkins at their pranks; Woolly sisters, woolly brothers, Jumping off their feet, While their woolly mothers Watch by them and bleat.

FERRY ME ACROSS THE WATER

"Ferry me across the water, Do, boatman, do."

"If you've a penny in your purse, I'll ferry you."

"I have a penny in my purse, And my eyes are blue; So ferry me across the water, Do, boatman, do."

"Step into my ferry-boat, Be they black or blue, And for the penny in your purse I'll ferry you."

CORAL

"O sailor, come ash.o.r.e.

What have you brought for me?"

"Red coral, white coral, Coral from the sea.

"I did not dig it from the ground Nor pluck it from a tree; Feeble insects made it In the stormy sea."

THE SWALLOW

Fly away, fly away over the sea, Sun-loving swallow, for summer is done;

Come again, come again, come back to me, Bringing the summer and bringing the sun.

WRENS AND ROBINS

Wrens and robins in the hedge, Wrens and robins here and there; Building, perching, pecking, fluttering, Everywhere!

BOATS SAIL ON THE RIVERS

Boats sail on the rivers, And s.h.i.+ps sail on the seas; But clouds that sail across the sky Are prettier far than these.

There are bridges on the rivers, As pretty as you please; But the bow that bridges heaven, And overtops the trees, And builds a road from earth to sky, Is prettier far than these.

FABLES FROM aeSOP

THE LION AND THE MOUSE

A lion was asleep in the woods.

A little mouse ran over his paw.

The lion woke up and caught him.

"You are a very little mouse, but I think I will eat you," he said.

"Do not eat me," said the mouse, "I am so little! Let me go. Some time I may be of help to you."

The lion laughed.

"What can you do?" he said.

But he let the mouse go.

Not very long after this the lion was caught by some men and made fast with a rope.

The men left him and went to get more rope, to bind him.

"Now is my time!" said the mouse.

He ran to the lion and began to gnaw the rope.

He gnawed and he gnawed.

At last he gnawed through the rope and set the lion free.

"You laughed at me," said the mouse, "but have I not helped you?"

"You have saved my life," said the lion.