When we were very young

[20]
[Woman offering boy a bunch of lavender]

[21]
MARKET SQUARE

I had a penny,

A bright new penny,

I took my penny

To the market square.

I wanted a rabbit,

A little brown rabbit,

And I looked for a rabbit

’Most everywhere.

For I went to the stall where they sold sweet lavender

(“Only a penny for a bunch of lavender!”).

“Have you got a rabbit, ’cos I don’t want lavender?”

But they hadn’t got a rabbit, not anywhere there.

[22]
[Boy looking at fishmonger’s stall]

[23]
I had a penny,

And I had another penny,

I took my pennies

To the market square.

I did want a rabbit,

A little baby rabbit,

And I looked for rabbits

’Most everywhere.

And I went to the stall where they sold fresh mackerel

(“Now then! Tuppence for a fresh-caught mackerel!”)

“Have you got a rabbit, ’cos I don’t like mackerel?”

But they hadn’t got a rabbit, not anywhere there.

[24]
[Boy beside saucepan stall]

[25]
I found a sixpence,

A little white sixpence.

I took it in my hand

To the market square.

I was buying my rabbit

(I do like rabbits),

And I looked for my rabbit

’Most everywhere.

So I went to the stall where they sold fine saucepans

(“Walk up, walk up, sixpence for a saucepan!”).

“Could I have a rabbit, ’cos we’ve got two saucepans?”

But they hadn’t got a rabbit, not anywhere there.

[26]
[Boy watching rabbits]

[27]
I had nuffin’,

No, I hadn’t got nuffin’,

So I didn’t go down

To the market square;

But I walked on the common,

The old-gold common . . .

And I saw little rabbits

’Most everywhere!

So I’m sorry for the people who sell fine saucepans,

I’m sorry for the people who sell fresh mackerel,

I’m sorry for the people who sell sweet lavender,

’Cos they haven’t got a rabbit, not anywhere there!

[28]
[Daffodils]
DAFFODOWNDILLY

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,

She wore her greenest gown;

She turned to the south wind

And curtsied up and down.

She turned to the sunlight

And shook her yellow head,

And whispered to her neighbour:

“Winter is dead.”

[29]
[Fairy sitting on lilypad]
WATER-LILIES

Where the water-lilies go

To and fro,

Rocking in the ripples of the water,

Lazy on a leaf lies the Lake King’s daughter,

And the faint winds shake her.

Who will come and take her?

I will! I will!

Keep still! Keep still!

Sleeping on a leaf lies the Lake King’s daughter . . .

Then the wind comes skipping [Boy with butterfly net]

To the lilies on the water;

And the kind winds wake her.

Now who will take her?

With a laugh she is slipping

Through the lilies on the water.

Wait! Wait!

Too late, too late!

Only the water-lilies go

To and fro,

Dipping, dipping,

To the ripples of the water.

[30]
DISOBEDIENCE

James James

Morrison Morrison

Weatherby George Dupree

Took great

Care of his Mother,

Though he was only three.

James James

Said to his Mother,

“Mother,” he said, said he;

“You must never go down to the end of the town, if you don’t go down with me.”

[Boy on tricycle following woman]

James James

Morrison’s Mother

Put on a golden gown,

James James

Morrison’s Mother

Drove to the end of the town.

James James

Morrison’s Mother

Said to herself, said she:

“I can get right down to the end of the town and be back in time for tea.”

[31]
King John

Put up a notice,

“LOST or STOLEN or STRAYED!

JAMES JAMES

MORRISON’S MOTHER

SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN MISLAID.

LAST SEEN

WANDERING VAGUELY:

QUITE OF HER OWN ACCORD,

SHE TRIED TO GET DOWN TO THE END OF THE TOWN—FORTY SHILLINGS REWARD!”

[Boy talking with royalty]

[32]
James James

Morrison Morrison

(Commonly known as Jim)

Told his

Other relations

Not to go blaming him.

James James

Said to his Mother,

“Mother,” he said, said he;

“You must never go down to the end of the town without consulting me.”

[Boy on tricycle leading woman]

[33]
James James

Morrison’s mother

Hasn’t been heard of since.

King John

Said he was sorry,

So did the Queen and Prince.

King John

(Somebody told me)

Said to a man he knew:

“If people go down to the end of the town, well, what can anyone do?”

(Now then, very softly)

J.J.

M. M.

W. G. Du P.

Took great

C/o his M*****

Though he was only 3.

J.J.

Said to his M*****

“M*****,” he said, said he:

“You-must-never-go-down-to-the-end-of-the-town-if-you-don’t-go-down-with ME!”

[Stern-faced boy on tricycle]

[34]
[Boy flying kite]
SPRING MORNING

Where am I going? I don’t quite know.

Down to the stream where the king-cups grow—

Up on the hill where the pine trees blow—

Anywhere, anywhere. I don’t know.

Where am I going? The clouds sail by,

Little ones, baby ones, over the sky.

Where am I going? The shadows pass,

Little ones, baby ones, over the grass.

[35]
If you were a cloud, and sailed up there,

You’d sail on water as blue as air,

And you’d see me here in the fields and say:

“Doesn’t the sky look green to-day?”

Where am I going? The high rooks call:

“It’s awful fun to be born at all.”

Where am I going? The ring-doves coo:

“We do have beautiful things to do.”

If you were a bird, and lived on high,

You’d lean on the wind when the wind came by,

You’d say to the wind when it took you away:

“That’s where I wanted to go to-day!”

Where am I going? I don’t quite know.

What does it matter where people go?

Down to the wood where the blue-bells grow—

Anywhere, anywhere. I don’t know.

[Boy examining blue-bells]

[36]
[Boy on beach watching waves]
THE ISLAND

If I had a ship,

I’d sail my ship,

I’d sail my ship

Through Eastern seas;

Down to a beach where the slow waves thunder—

The green curls over and the white falls under—

Boom! Boom! Boom!

On the sun-bright sand.

Then I’d leave my ship and I’d land,

And climb the steep white sand,

[37]
And climb to the trees,

The six dark trees,

The coco-nut trees on the cliff’s green crown—

Hands and knees

To the coco-nut trees,

Face to the cliff as the stones patter down,

Up, up, up, staggering, stumbling,

Round the corner where the rock is crumbling,

Round this shoulder,

Over this boulder,

Up to the top where the six trees stand. . . .

And there would I rest, and lie,

My chin in my hands, and gaze

At the dazzle of sand below,

And the green waves curling slow,

And the grey-blue distant haze

Where the sea goes up to the sky. . . .

And I’d say to myself as I looked so lazily down at the sea:

“There’s nobody else in the world, and the world was made for me.”

[38]
THE THREE FOXES

Once upon a time there were three little foxes

Who didn’t wear stockings, and they didn’t wear sockses,

But they all had handkerchiefs to blow their noses,

And they kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes.

[Foxes asleep]

They lived in the forest in three little houses,

And they didn’t wear coats, and they didn’t wear trousies.

They ran through the woods on their little bare tootsies,

And they played “Touch last” with a family of mouses.

[39]
[Foxes fishing]

They didn’t go shopping in the High Street shopses,

But caught what they wanted in the woods and copses.

They all went fishing, and they caught three wormses,

They went out hunting, and they caught three wopses.

[Foxes hunting]

[40]

They went to a Fair, and they all won prizes—

Three plum-puddingses and three mince-pieses.

They rode on elephants and swang on swingses,

And hit three coco-nuts at coco-nut shieses.

[Foxes at the fair]

That’s all that I know of the three little foxes

Who kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes.

They lived in the forest in three little houses,

But they didn’t wear coats and they didn’t wear trousies,

And they didn’t wear stockings and they didn’t wear sockses.

[41]
[Rear view of boy]
POLITENESS

If people ask me,

I always tell them:

“Quite well, thank you, I’m very glad to say.”

If people ask me,

I always answer,

“Quite well, thank you, how are you to-day?”

I always answer,

I always tell them,

If they ask me

Politely. . . .

BUT SOMETIMES

I wish

That they wouldn’t.

[42]
[Man wheeling boy and dog in barrow]

[43]
JONATHAN JO

Jonathan Jo

Has a mouth like an “O”

And a wheelbarrow full of surprises;

If you ask for a bat,

Or for something like that,

He has got it, whatever the size is.

[Man watching boy with cricket bat]

[44]
[Man showing hoop to boy]

If you’re wanting a ball,

It’s no trouble at all;

Why, the more that you ask for, the merrier—

Like a hoop and a top,

And a watch that won’t stop,

And some sweets, and an Aberdeen terrier.

[Worried man watching dog with ball]

[45]
Jonathan Jo

Has a mouth like an “O”

But this is what makes him so funny:

If you give him a smile,

Only once in a while,

Then he never expects any money!

[Man seated with boy and dog]

[46]
[Boy looking at hippo]
AT THE ZOO

There are lions and roaring tigers, and enormous camels and things,

There are biffalo-buffalo-bisons, and a great big bear with wings,

There’s a sort of a tiny potamus, and a tiny nosserus too—

But I gave buns to the elephant when I went down to the Zoo!

There are badgers and bidgers and bodgers, and a Super-intendent’s House,

There are masses of goats, and a Polar, and different kinds of mouse,

And I think there’s a sort of a something which is called a wallaboo—

But I gave buns to the elephant when I went down to the Zoo!

[47]
If you try to talk to the bison, he never quite understands;

You can’t shake hands with a mingo—he doesn’t like shaking hands.

And lions and roaring tigers hate saying, “How do you do?”—

But I give buns to the elephant when I go down to the Zoo!

[Boy looking at bison]