Windmills and wooden shoes

Chapter 28: LITTLE WOODEN SHOES

Open in WeRead

About This Book

The narrative follows Dutch siblings Jan and Katrina and their friends as they carry out everyday life in a small Dutch community: chores like milking cows, churning butter, selling milk; play and games; visits to windmills and barges; cultural details such as wooden shoes, storks' nests, blue-and-white dishes, dikes and canals; seasonal events including sleigh rides, St. Nicholas and Christmas; songs and simple illustrated scenes intended for classroom use. Episodes are short and episodic, combining practical descriptions of customs and landscape with domestic scenes to familiarize young readers with Holland's rhythms and material culture.

LITTLE WOODEN SHOES

Who looks like a tulip on every bright day,

As he works in the meadow and pitches the hay,

In his pretty red cap and his waist-coat so gay?

Little Wooden Shoes.

Who looks like a daffy-down-dilly so fair,

With a pretty white cap on her neat yellow hair,

And the bright orange gown it delights her to wear?

Little Wooden Shoes.

Can you guess who these “Wooden Shoes” really are,

In the Land of the Windmills, so quaint and so far?

Now listen, and I’ll tell you just who they are,

Katrina and Jan!