Weird Beard
Old Mr. Sykes is a little bit weird—
he had a nest in his scruffy old beard!
And in the nest lived a family of crows—
how they live in that beard, nobody knows.
The parents and five babies lived in that nest.
I asked Uncle Ray, because he knows him best,
and Ray said that old Mr. Sykes, who is weird,
enjoyed having seven crows live in his beard!
Each morning at six they cawed him awake.
For breakfast he fed them small bits of crumb cake.
At eight in the evening they'd croak him a song—
with such a nice crow family, what could go wrong?
But then the day came that the cake tin was bare.
Mr. Sykes went to feed them and nothing was there!
So what did he give them for breakfast instead?
The dried up old crusts of an old loaf of bread.
The family of crows left the beard of Old Sykes
to find something else that the crow family likes.
But even without that crow's nest in his beard,
that old Mr. Sykes is decidedly WEIRD!
The Track Trick
When you're out in the car,
sitting there in the back—
you must be alert
for each railroad track.
There is something special
that you need to do
when you go rumbling over
to bring luck to you.
Each time you pass over,
you must lift your feet—
just lift them up high
and lean back in your seat.
Your luck will turn bad
if feet stay on the floor.
You'll have more misfortune
than you had before.
But lift them right up
over each railroad track-
you'll soon find your luck
will come quickly back.
Just try it, you'll see!
This trick is quite true!-
so please lift your feet
when you go rumbling through.
Tussle Time
I'm Samson, a small cat with stripes.
I'm frisky, so I'll take some swipes
at Tiger, he's my brother, so
I'll jump on him and then we'll go
a-tumbling, rolling through the grass.
He'll paw at me, I'll make a pass.
We'll scuffle 'til we're tired out,
and I will win, without a doubt!
I'm Tiger and I'm stripey too.
My roar is like a tiny mew.
But I can tussle like a pro
with Samson - he's my mate, you know.
I'll pounce on him with mighty force.
We'll leap up high and land, of course.
And when our feisty fight is done,
Samson will see that I have won!
Then after every hop and leap,
when sparring's through,
here's what we'll do-
we'll cuddle close and fall asleep.
I Had a Little Frog
I had a little frog.
I caught him in the pond.
He was a brownish greenish,
and of him I was quite fond.
I kept him in a bucket
with water, rocks and mud—
but then one day he climbed right out,
and landed with a thud.
He quickly hopped away,
across the kitchen floor.
I tried my best to catch him,
but he leaped right out the door.
Now I'm not really sure,
I didn't really see
what direction he was headed
when he ran away from me.
But later on that night,
all tucked up in my bed,
I'm sure I heard my froggie croak,
out by the garden shed.
He sounded very happy,
much happier, in fact,
then when inside my bucket,
but he croaked his joy with tact.
He said he didn't blame me
for catching him, and all,
but that he had to leave me,
had to answer nature's call.
And so each time I hear a frog
a-croaking in a pond—
I'm sure that it's my frog,
of whom I'm still so very fond.
