Fourth Grade Read Aloud Banquet




A Bird Came Down the Walk

A bird came down the walk:

He did not know I saw;

He bit an angle-worm in halves

And ate the fellow, raw.


And then he drank a dew

From a convenient grass,

And then hopped sidewise to the wall

To let a beetle pass.


He glanced with rapid eyes

That hurried all abroad,

They looked like frightened beads, I thought;

He stirred his velvet head


Like one in danger; cautious,

I offered him a crumb,

And he unrolled his feathers

And rowed him softer home


Than oars divide the ocean,

Too silver for a seam,

Or butterflies, off banks of noon,

Leap, plashless, as they swim.


  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
Week 53              
             
             
Week 54              
             
             
Week 55              
             
             
Week 56              
             
             
Week 57              
             
             
Week 58              
             
             
Week 59              
             
             
Week 60              
             
             
Week 61              
             
             
Week 62              
             
             
Week 63              
             
             
Week 64              
             
             
Week 65              
             
             
Week 66              
             
             
Week 67              
             
             
Week 68              
             
             
Week 69              
             
             
Week 70              
             
             
Week 71              
             
             
Week 72              
             
             
Week 73              
             
             
Week 74              
             
             
Week 75              
             
             
Week 76              
             
             
Week 77              
             
             
Week 78              
             
             
Week 79              
             
             
Week 80              
             
             
Week 81              
             
             
Week 82              
             
             
Week 83              
             
             
Week 84              
             
             
Week 85              
             
             
Week 86              
             
             
Week 87              
             
             
Week 88              
             
             
Week 89              
             
             
Week 90              
             
             
Week 91              
             
             
Week 92              
             
             
Week 93              
             
             
Week 94              
             
             
Week 95              
             
             
Week 96              
             
             
Week 97              
             
             
Week 98              
             
             
Week 99              
             
             
Week 100              
             
             
Week 101              
             
             
Week 102              
             
             
Week 103              
             
             
First row Previous row          Next row
The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Dog and His Reflection

A Dog, to whom the butcher had thrown a bone, was hurrying home with his prize as fast as he could go. As he crossed a narrow footbridge, he happened to look down and saw himself reflected in the quiet water as if in a mirror. But the greedy Dog thought he saw a real Dog carrying a bone much bigger than his own.


[Illustration]

If he had stopped to think he would have known better. But instead of thinking, he dropped his bone and sprang at the Dog in the river, only to find himself swimming for dear life to reach the shore. At last he managed to scramble out, and as he stood sadly thinking about the good bone he had lost, he realized what a stupid Dog he had been.

It is very foolish to be greedy.