Fourth Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Berries

There was an old woman
Went blackberry picking 
Along the hedges
From Weep to Wicking. 
Half a pottle—
No more she had got, 
When out steps a Fairy
From her green grot; 
And says, "Well, Jill,
Would 'ee pick 'ee mo?" 
And Jill, she curtseys,
And looks just so.
"Be off," says the Fairy,
"As quick as you can, 
Over the meadows
To the little green lane, 
That dips to the hayfields 
Of Farmer Grimes:
I've berried those hedges
A score of times;
Bushel on bushel
I'll promise 'ee, Jill,
This side of supper
If 'ee pick with a will."
She glints very bright, 
And speaks her fair;
Then lo, and behold! 
She has faded in air.

Be sure old Goodie 
She trots betimes
Over the meadows 
To Farmer Grimes.
And never was queen 
With jewellery rich
As those same hedges 
From twig to ditch;
Like Dutchmen's coffers, 
Fruit, thorn, and flower—
They shone like William
And Mary's bower.
And be sure Old Goodie
Went back to Weep,
So tired with her basket 
She scarce could creep.
When she comes in the dusk 
To her cottage door,
There's Towser wagging 
As never before,
To see his Missus
So glad to be
Come from her fruit-picking 
Back to he.

And soon as next morning 
Dawn was grey,
The pot on the hob
Was simmering away; 
And all in a stew
And a hugger-mugger 
Towser and Jill
A-boiling of sugar,
And the dark clear fruit 
That from Faërie came, 
For syrup and jelly
And blackberry jam.

Twelve jolly gallipots 
Jill put by;
And one little teeny one, 
One inch high;
And that she's hidden 
A good thumb deep, 
Half way over
From Wicking to Weep.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 52	Seasonal Story	Victoria—War from Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall	Seasonal Story	Seasonal Story	Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow from The Struggle for Sea Power by M. B. Synge	The Little Match-Girl from Fairy Tales Too Good To Miss—Across the Lake by Lisa M. Ripperton	Seasonal Story
	Seasonal Story	Seasonal Story	Seasonal Story	Seasonal Story	Seasonal Story	Seasonal Story	And Now We Come to the Last Scene in the Pantomime from The Rose and the Ring by William Makepeace Thackeray Summary from The Rose and the Ring by William Makepeace Thackeray
		Seasonal Poem	The Death of the Old Year by Alfred Lord Tennyson	Seasonal Poem	Seasonal Poem	Seasonal Poem	An Old Christmas Carol, Anonymous
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Week 103

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

The Wolf and the House Dog

There was once a Wolf who got very little to eat because the Dogs of the village were so wide awake and watchful. He was really nothing but skin and bones, and it made him very downhearted to think of it.

One night this Wolf happened to fall in with a fine fat House Dog who had wandered a little too far from home. The Wolf would gladly have eaten him then and there, but the House Dog looked strong enough to leave his marks should he try it. So the Wolf spoke very humbly to the Dog, complimenting him on his fine appearance.

"You can be as well-fed as I am if you want to," replied the Dog. "Leave the woods; there you live miserably. Why, you have to fight hard for every bite you get. Follow my example and you will get along beautifully."

"What must I do?" asked the Wolf.

"Hardly anything," answered the House Dog. "Chase people who carry canes, bark at beggars, and fawn on the people of the house. In return you will get tidbits of every kind, chicken bones, choice bits of meat, sugar, cake, and much more beside, not to speak of kind words and caresses.

The Wolf had such a beautiful vision of his coming happiness that he almost wept. But just then he noticed that the hair on the Dog's neck was worn and the skin was chafed.

"What is that on your neck?" "Nothing at all," replied the Dog.

"What! nothing!"

"Oh, just a trifle!"

"But please tell me."

"Perhaps you see the mark of the collar to which my chain is fastened."

"What! A chain!" cried the Wolf. "Don't you go wherever you please?"

"Not always! But what's the difference?" replied the Dog.

"All the difference in the world! I don't care a rap for your feasts and I wouldn't take all the tender young lambs in the world at that price." And away ran the Wolf to the woods.

There is nothing worth so much as liberty.