Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17) Fun and Thought for Little Folk

III

The little gray mice Mr. and Mrs. Squeaky find themselves in the most charming home imaginable—an old shoe, with a hole in the heel for a door and another higher up for a window. Soon a family of pink baby mice joins them, and Mrs. Squeaky, sitting by the little window one afternoon, declares she feels just like the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. Her peace is nearly shattered when little Maggie, playing hide-and-seek with her brother Johnnie, discovers the peeping mice. But the girl promises to keep their secret safe, and the Squeaky family lives undisturbed.

Equally well-mannered is the good little piggie who obeys his mother by trotting off to market with a pail between his teeth. Along the way he gathers a parade of friends: Bossie the calf, Billie the goat, Rover the dog, and Tabby the cat, each declaring a fondness for milk and falling into line. The procession is so comical that Tabby jokes a circus must be in town. Once at the market, Piggie collects the milk, but his courteous friends each ask for “a sup for politeness’ sake,” and by the time the pail is passed around, it is empty. The honest little piggie hurries home in distress, only to find the farmer has arrived with a great big pail of his own, ensuring a fine supper for all.

Shorter pieces follow. Lucy Fitch Perkins paints Baby’s Paradise, a dreamy place over the hills where children play in flowery gardens with mothers dressed in lace. A brief verse titled “Disobedience” captures a child calling Kitty to be washed, and the cat who refuses to wait. “Uncle Ned” then offers a sweet tribute to a little girl of three, with each farm animal vowing its own service: the cow will give milk, the cat will catch mice, the dog will frighten rude boys, and the horse will carry her across the meadow. A whimsical “Funny Family” poem celebrates a spotted lady with her spotted cow, pig, dress, and dog, all “oh so very trig.”

In “Little by Little,” young Charley is daunted by a snowdrift taller than he is, but his mother teaches him that tiny shovelfuls, like tiny snowflakes, add up. By noon he has cleared a fine path, earning a blue sled lettered with his lesson. The section closes with the classic cumulative rhyme “The House That Jack Built,” building step by step from the malt and the rat to the farmer sowing his corn, before ending on the cheerful name of Giant Thunder Bones.

I

Giant Thunder Bones, a fearsome figure, stands atop a wondrously tangled tale.

II

A small, anxious Dwarf guards the castle and tends the books, loyal servant to Giant Thunder Bones.

III

Beneath the earth, a gray-bearded Gnome digs precious gems day and night to please the Dwarf.

IV

The spirited Princess of Wandeltreg, playing Mumblepeg, is suddenly seized by the Gnome.

V

A brave, gallant Prince sails distant seas and rides far over land to find the Princess, carried off during her game.

VI

A Goblin with thin, frail fingers hops nimbly over mountain and dale, chasing the Prince.

VII

At the rear flies a furious Witch on her broomstick with her cat, sputtering, snarling, and shaking her tall hat because she missed the Goblin.

VIII

The chapter opens with a playful poetic romp by Stella Doughty, a single winding verse gathering mythical figures into one long chain. A Kobold dozes by day and sweeps houses by night, making mischief for a sputtering Witch with broomstick and cat. She shakes her tall hat in fury, having missed the Goblin—nimble of finger, light of foot—who chases a brave Prince sailing over sea and riding over land. The Prince’s quest leads him to the Princess of Wandeltreg, caught mid-game of Mumblepeg by a gray-bearded Gnome who digs for gems night and day to please an anxious Dwarf, keeper of castle and books, all in service of Giant Thunder Bones.

The page turns to a more domestic magic in Carolyn Wells’s “The House That Jill Built,” a cumulative rhyme in the tradition of “The House That Jack Built.” Each stanza adds: the house, the Doll within, the Cake that fed the doll, the Oven, the Wood, the Tree, the shining Ax swung by a Woodman sober and staid. Then arrives a prancing Horse, a Knight in a red cockade, a Lady in gay brocade, and a Glittering Cavalcade. A braying Donkey dismays the King, who had not bargained for such a procession.

“The Old Woman and Her Pig” is a beloved cumulative tale in which a determined old woman sweeps her house, finds a crooked sixpence, and goes to market for a pig. On her way home she comes to a stile her pig refuses to cross, launching a chain of attempted persuasion: she asks a Dog to bite the pig, a Stick to beat the dog, a Fire to burn the stick, Water to quench the fire, an Ox to drink the water, a Butcher to kill the ox, a Rope to hang the butcher, a Rat to gnaw the rope, and a Cat to kill the rat. Each refuses—until the Cat demands a saucer of milk, requiring the cow, who requires hay from a yonder stack. Once fetched, the chain snaps into motion and the terrified pig leaps the stile, carrying the old woman safely home that very night.

“The Lambikin” travels to India. A wee Lambikin sets off to visit his Granny, only to meet a Jackal who declares, “Lambikin! Lambikin! I’ll eat you!” But the little creature gives a frisky reply: he is off to Granny’s to grow fat, and then the Jackal may eat him. So satisfied is the Jackal that he lets him pass, and so it goes with a Vulture, Tiger, Wolf, Dog, and Eagle. At Granny’s, the cunning Lambikin asks to be put into the corn-bin and stuffs himself for seven days. To slip past the waiting beasts on his return, he persuades Granny to make a drum from his dead little brother’s skin, curls up inside, and trundles off singing, “Tum-pa, tum-too!” Every animal he meets asks if he has seen Lambikin and receives the same sly reply: “Fallen into the fire, and so will you, on little Drumikin!” When the Jackal hears that voice from inside, he cries, “Hullo! you’ve turned yourself inside out, have you?”—ending the story with a sharply comic gulp.

“The Cat and the Mouse” returns to English soil with another cumulative chain. The cat bites off the mouse’s tail, who must beg it back, only to be told to fetch milk from the cow, who demands hay from the farmer, who demands meat from the butcher, who demands bread from the baker. The baker agrees—but warns the mouse that if she eats his meal, he’ll cut off her head. The bread is fetched, the tail returned, and the chain of favors paid in reverse.