When night was dark, the owl looked out,
And thought he'd leave his house:
For "light," said he, "has come to me—
I'll go and catch a mouse."
The mouse he caught, and then he cried:
"What next am I to do?
The woods shall ring, I'll sit and sing,
Too-whit, too-whit, too-whoo!"
LESSON XL.
BO-PEEP AND THE SQUIRREL.
Little Bo-peep said to her sheep,
"In the wood there is tender grass growing;
And as you're so good, you shall dine in the wood,
By the brook that is quietly flowing."
Then a squirrel hard by looked down with a sigh,
And said, "Oh, please go away, ma'am!
The acorns are mine, and the nuts too, so fine;
And in the woods always I play, ma'am."
Then little Bo-peep at the squirrel did peep:
"No harm we are going to do, sir;
My sheep are not thieves, and, under the leaves
Of the wood, there is room for us too, sir.