And that's how my story begins.

When he saw the wide ocean,
He soon took a notion
'T would be nicer to stay with his friends.
So he traded his hat
For a tortoise-shell cat--
And that's how the chronicle ends.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

A BEETLE ONCE SAT ON A BARBERRY TWIG

A beetle once sat on a barberry twig,
And turned at the crank of a thingum-a-jig.
Needles for hornets, nippers for ants,
For the bumblebee baby a new pair of pants,
For the grizzled old gopher a hat and a wig,
The beetle ground out of his thingum-a-jig.

[Illustration]

THE THIEVES

Tibbitts and Bibbitts and Solomon Sly
Ran off one day with a cucumber pie.
Tibbitts was tossed by a Kensington cow,
Bibbitts was hanged on a brambleweed bough,
And poor little Solomon--what do you think?
Was drowned one dark night in a bottle of ink.

UPON THE IRISH SEA

Some one told Maria Ann,
Maria Ann told me,
That kittens ride in coffee cans
Upon the Irish Sea.

From quiet caves to rolling waves,
How jolly it must be
To travel in a coffee can
Upon the Irish Sea!

But when it snows and when it blows,
How would you like to be
A kitten in a coffee can
Upon the Irish Sea?

DUCKLE, DAISY

Duckle, duckle, daisy,
Martha must be crazy,
She went and made a Christmas cake
Of olive oil and gluten-flake,
And set it in the sink to bake,
Duckle, duckle, daisy.

[Illustration: DUCKLE, DUCKLE, DAISY]

[Illustration]

I'VE GOT A NEW BOOK

I've got a new book from my Grandfather Hyde.
It's skin on the cover and paper inside,
And reads about Arabs and horses and slaves,
And tells how the Caliph of Bagdad behaves.
I'd not take a goat and a dollar beside
For the book that I got from my Grandfather Hyde.

THE CARROT AND THE RABBIT

A carrot in a garden
And a rabbit in the wood.
Said the rabbit, "Beg your pardon,
But you're surely meant for food;
Though you've started in to harden,
You may still be very good."

HIPPY-HI-HOPPY

Hippy-Hi-Hoppy, the big fat toad,
Greeted his friends at a turn of the road.

Said he to the snail:
"Here's a ring for your tail
If you'll go into town for my afternoon mail."

Said he to the rat:
"I have talked with the cat;
And she'll nab you so quick you won't know where you're at."

Said he to the lizard:
"