On Monday morn when I went out,
I had a big surprise;
There was a baby donkey,
With the beautif'llest brown eyes!
His coat was grey and very soft,
And his legs were long as long;
He wasn't near so tall as me,
And just 'bout half as strong.
When I carry him a bowl of milk
I say out loud and plain;
“If you drink it up so quickly, Ned,
You'll surely have a pain!”
My Daddy says I must not ride
Him round the field just yet,
For my legs must grow longer first,
And his must stouter get.
His mummy's name is Bunny Brown,
She has a comfy shed
Upon a hillock in the field,
Where Neddy's put to bed.
Poor Trust is lying in the shed,
His foot is tied up tight,
'Cause Father put some stuff on it,
To make it feel all right.
Trust went too near the naughty cow,
That's always rather cross;
She ran at him and knocked him down,
Then gave him such a toss.
[Illustration]
I hope my darling little Ned
Will take the greatest care
To keep alongside Bunny Brown
If Jenny should be near.
If she should hurt my pretty Ned,
I don't know what I'd do!
I think I'd hit her _very_ hard,
Until she simply flew.
I'll give my Neddy lots of milk,
Until he's quite, quite grown,
For Father's given him to me,
For my very, very own.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Silly Billy and the Kittens.
“I want some milk,” said Kitten Number One.
“So do we,” said his brothers, and away they pattered to the yard, where
they found a lovely saucer full.
“Saucers are too babyish for me,” said Kitten Number One, “I shall drink
out of the jug.” And up on the table he jumped.
Along came Silly Billy, the kid.
“You will never do it like that,” he said. “Bite a hole in the jug, like
this.”
What happened then, you can plainly see by the picture, and it is the
kind of thing that does happen when Silly Billy comes along.
[Illustration]
When the Kittens and Silly Billy were safely out of the way, Mr. and
Mrs. Whiskers popped out of their front door.
“Milk, milk, I sniff milk,” squeaked Mrs. Whiskers, and she began to
drink up every drop she could find, while poor Mr. Whiskers sat and
cried because he could not find any.
But he soon dried his tears when they got to the scrap heap, where they
ate till they were like little round barrels.
[Illustration]
Meanwhile, Silly Billy had told the kittens of a lovely plate of food,
outside the kennel where Jack lived.
And the foolish kittens hurried to it, and began to eat as fast as they
could.
Out of his kennel came Jack, with a mighty shout, which sent the kittens
rolling over with fright. They never tried to eat Jack's dinner again,
and it was a long time before they quite forgave Silly Billy for being
so silly.