THE JOLLY YOUNG ELEPHANT.
One day when the Show was passing through a village, one of the young trick-elephants heard a little boy laugh out suddenly. This elephant liked little boys; he had a roguish look himself and could take a joke, and never acted “mad” when some mischievous little visitor fed him an empty peanut shell.
THE YOUNG ELEPHANT’S DREAM.
Turning his mouse-colored head, the young elephant looked in at the open door of the house they were passing. He flapped his big ears at what he saw there, and laughed too.
That night when the show was over, and he stood in a row with the other elephants going to sleep, he thought again of what he saw in that open door, and laughed once more. “That must have been fun!” he said to himself. “It must be fun to be a little boy! That trick was funnier than any we circus elephants are taught to do. I wouldn’t mind being a little boy myself! I truly wouldn’t!”
And then the jolly young elephant went to sleep, and dreamed he could do the little boy’s trick—and really he never enjoyed a dream so much before in all his life.
George Dutton.
The Lions
(Marching Plays for Nursery and Kindergarten.)
Heads drooped, eyes closed, hands on knees.
March forward slowly in line, diverging.
March down to the end of the room, heads held high. Sing with emphasis.
(Teacher sings.)
The lions shun the sun!
All day, asleep,
Deep in the thicket’s shade
The lions keep.
(Teacher sings.)
’Tis in the dark midnights
The lions wake;
All silent and alone
Their way they take.
(Teacher sings.)
Awake, at night they seek
The river-shore;
(Children join in.)
And all the desert vast
Shakes with their roar.
Turn, sing, right arms lifted like imperious paws.
March around the room rapidly, tossing heads, pursuing teacher, or mother, who “falls in” at the right point, keeping in advance.
March around the room again. “Take the prey” by overtaking and surrounding the teacher, or mother.
(Children sing.)
The lions, they are kings!
They make the law!
Yea, every creature fears
The lion’s paw!
(Teacher sings.)
The lions never tire!
With tossing mane
They bound along
The moonlit plain.
(Children sing.)
They never, never tire!
They speed away
And follow, follow on,
And take the prey!
Grey Burleson.