“The Song of the Pear Tree” counts its way from branch to twig to nest, egg, bird, feather, bed, and child, while “There Is the Key of the Kingdom” unwinds from city down to flowers in a basket and back again. The Fun for Very Little Folk pages tumble forth: Tommy and his sister pile too many friends into their pony-cart, three little kittens venture out and flee home from Jack, Ted wishes himself an owl and is granted his awful wish, and Timothy Trundle of Topplety Town, so round he tumbles down a hill, eventually resurfaces as a circus clown. An array of Culmer Barnes illustrations follows, with bunnies dodging the third rail, Father Owl scolding Mr. Woodpecker, the Bruin family reuniting at the sea shore, and a fond Papa Mouse demonstrating a mousetrap to his children.
The chapter finally opens onto “The Frog’s Fiasco” by D. K. Stevens, where a frog in a lonesome bog rehearses his booming voice, bills himself as Signor, posts handbills for a Song Recital at a shilling a seat, and gathers friends from Crane to Curious Cricket, Hare, Hedgehog, Coon, and Fox, awaiting the applause he believes his career deserves.
VIII
The second segment of the collection’s eighth volume opens with a silly concert disaster: Signor Frog, resplendent in state, kicks off his evening exhibition with his self-penned original ditty “Ger-rump,” only for the Critical Owl, perched in a private box on a complimentary ticket, to gutturally object that the frog has sung that same tune all summer long, and no one should pay to hear it. The crowd agrees, streaming out in a chilly rout, demanding and receiving their shillings back from the Muskrat running the cash stand. Left alone, the luckless frog slumps into dejection in his lonesome bog, where he now sings only his “Ger-rump” in a booming bass every night.
Next comes D.K. Stevens’ “The Musical Trust,” a rhyming tale of three groups of struggling musicians: a man who plays “Old Zip Coon” on a yellow flute, a tuba player who has never earned a cent with his oom-pah-pah, and a pair of men who bang a bass drum and cymbal without making a penny. When they join forces, their combined tootle-ti-toot, oom-pah-pah, and boom-zing-zing rings out across the countryside, drawing crowds that fling coins at their feet as they travel far and wide, finally finding success none could achieve alone.
Stevens’ follow-up “The Cautious Cat” follows a cautious cat, reckless rat, and innocent lamb who set sail in a yawl with nothing but a sugar-cured ham to eat. When the wind blows in unpredictable, eerie gusts—high, low, and in between—the cat insists they turn back immediately to send a Marconiogram warning of the treacherous conditions, overruling the rat’s desire to push on. They tack back to the nearest port, the grumbling rat lets the matter drop, and the lamb says nothing at all.
M.C. McNeill’s “Three Little Bears” tells of three polite little black bears who visit a town, bowing and dancing with such charm that everyone exclaims over their good manners. When the bears announce they want to go to school to learn like everyone else, Tommy Perkins steps forward to teach them, but the townspeople whisper their ABC lessons are “fiddle-dee-dee” and shout over them when they try to count. The bears note that not everyone has fine manners, then bow politely and dance off home, wishing everyone good day.
W.W. Ellsworth’s short poem “The Snowman” recalls children who build a fine, frozen snowman, with one boasting he will last two years. But a warm wind blows overnight, winter runs away, and by morning the snowman is gone, everything having “runned away” with the melting snow.
The section’s animal story segment opens with A.L. Sykes’ “Tiny Hare and the Wind Ball,” written for very little folk in words of no more than four letters. Tiny Hare insists he wants to “do just as I like” instead of listening to his parents’ warnings about man, dog, and hawk, or eating the safe food near their burrow. He spots a rolling, flying wind ball and chases it all over the woods, getting so tired his feet are sore. He hides from a man in a tree hole, from a dog in a wall hole, from a hawk in a bush, all the while wishing he was home. When the wind ball rolls slowly past again, he follows it wearily until he finds his way back to his burrow, apologizes to his mama, and promises to be good, then takes a long nap with his parents.
Sykes’ follow-up “How Tiny Hare Met Cat” sees the little hare disobey his mother on a rainy day to visit the man’s house and see the cat he has heard about. He finds the cat mourning her lost baby kittens, and she picks him up, licking and washing him hard. When man and dog come home, the dog barks at the hare, but the cat swats his nose to protect him. When the cat leaves for tea, Tiny Hare escapes, running all the way home. His mother washes him thoroughly to remove the cat’s scent, and he promises to be good again.
“The Wee Hare and the Red Fire,” also by Sykes, finds Tiny Hare begging his mother to tell him the story of the wee hare who sought the red fire. The wee hare disobeys his parents, sneaks out to find the red bush (fire) he has seen glowing in the distance, runs all day in the wood, gets lost, and falls asleep. When he wakes, snow covers every path, he is cold and lame, and he spots a red fire in the wood with a man and dog beside it. He hides in a tree hole, watching the pair keep their distance from the flames. When the man puts snow on the fire and leaves, the wind pushes the wee hare home over the hard, icy snow. He apologizes to his mother, promises to be good, and they all nap till dawn, while Tiny Hare is glad to be safe in his own burrow.
Margaret and Clarence Weed’s “The Good King” tells of a one-legged good king in Spain who runs an animal farm for creatures missing one or more limbs. A Little Half Chick, with one eye, one wing, and one leg, is nearly starved by the other chickens, so a donkey tells him about the king’s farm. He sets off hoppity-hop to Madrid, gathering companions along the way: a two-legged cat on a crutch, a three-legged dog, a one-legged crow, and a legless snake that rolls loopity-loop. They reach Madrid, the king and his daughter Margaret laugh at the funny group, and lead them to the animal farm where they live happily ever after.
W.S. Reed’s short poem “Early and Late” lays out the perks of heading to bed early—waking with joy, being ready for play, avoiding pains and ills, growing tall—against the downsides of staying up late: being cross, moping all day, needing doctors and pills, and staying small.
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