The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Song of Sixpence, by Walter Crane
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Title: The Song of Sixpence Picture Book
Author: Walter Crane
Release Date: May 8, 2006 [EBook #18344]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE SONG OF SIXPENCE PICTURE BOOK
CONTAINING SING A SONG OF SIXPENCE PRINCESS BELLE ETOILE ALPHABET OF OLD FRIENDS
WALTER CRANE'S PICTURE BOOKS
LONDON & NEW YORK: JOHN LANE
THESONG OFSIXPENCE PICTURE BOOK
CONTAININGSING A SONG OFSIXPENCE;PRINCESS BELLE ETOILE;ANALPHABET OF OLDFRIENDS: WITH THEORIGINAL COLOUREDDESIGNS BY WALTER CRANE INCLUDING A PREFACE AND OTHER EMBELLISHMENTS
W that popular price is not stated in his simple rhyme, but, at all events, we learn that he started with "a pocket full," and proceeded to draw on his imagination for all it was worth. What that famous blackbird-pie really cost—except in black-birds—is not disclosed, though the King seemed to show some anxiety about the state of his treasury, as he was discovered "in his counting house" imediately after the feast. But while the Queen, regardless of expense, regales herself on "bread and honey" in "the parlour", and her Maid-of-honour, or perhaps of-all-work, is engaged at the clothes-line, nothing is said about a princess. No doubt there was a princess, and that Princess might have been PRINCESS BELLE-ETOILE? Anyway here she is in the same boat—I mean book—and certainly her adventures are romantic enough to prevent any surprise at the company in which Her Highness now finds herself. Even princesses cannot do without Alphabets, and so in her train comes AN
ALPHABET in which will be discovered many OLD and tried FRIENDS of the Nursery.
Thus we launch another volume of our series, like a fairy ship with a rather mixed cargo, in the hope that—to change the metaphor—like the blackbird-pie, it may prove, when opened, to be "a pretty dish to set before—" their Babyships.
Kensington. Sept: 1909
SING A SONG OF SIXPENCE
Walter Crane
S
in
g
a
s
o
n
g
o
f s
ix
p
e
n
c
A pocket full of rye,
e
,
Four and twenty black-birds, Baked in a pie
When the pie was open'd The birds began to sing
Was'nt that a dainty dish To set before the King?
The King was in his counting-house, Counting out his money.
The Queen was in the parlour, Eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden, Hanging out the clothes;