The farmer said, “I never had twenty-five grandchildren, and I love every one of your babies.”
The Ink-Bottle Babies began to get sleepy. They tried to remember the story the farmer had told and they said,
“There once was a fox at early morn.”
“No! That is not right!” said Molly.
Then they tried it again, and they said, “There once was a farmer’s field of corn.”
“No! no!” shouted Polly, “that is not right.”
The farmer had to tell the story again, and the Babies repeated it after him in a singsong way:
“There once was a crow, and at early morn
He spied the farmer’s field of corn;
He said, ‘As sure as I am born