Opening of the book
CAUTIONARY TALES FOR
CHILDREN
CAUTIONARY TALES
FOR
CHILDREN
Designed for the Admonition of Children between
the ages
of eight and fourteen years
Verses by
H. BELLOC
———
Pictures by
B. T. B.
DUCKWORTH
3 HENRIETTA STREET, LONDON, W.C.
First published by Eveleigh Nash, 1907
First published by Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., 1918
Thirteenth Impression, 1957
All rights reserved
Made and Printed in Great Britain by
Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd
London and Edinburgh
DEDICATED
TO
BOBBY, JOHNNY, AND EDDIE
SOMERSET
INTRODUCTION
Upon being asked by a Reader whether the
verses contained in this book were true.
And is it True? It is not True.
And if it were it wouldn’t do,
For people such as me and you
Who pretty nearly all day long
Are doing something rather wrong.
Because if things were really so,
You would have perished long ago,
And I would not have lived to write
The noble lines that meet your sight,
Nor B. T. B. survived to draw
The nicest things you ever saw.
H. B.
Jim,
Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten by a Lion.
There was a Boy whose name
was Jim;
His Friends were very good to
him.
They gave him Tea, and Cakes,
and Jam,
And slices of delicious Ham,
And
Chocolate
with
pink
inside,
And little Tricycles to ride,
And
read him Stories through and
through,
And even took him to the Zoo
—
But there it was the dreadful
Fate
Befell him, which I now relate.
You know—at least you ought
to know.
For I have often told you so—
That
Children
never
are
allowed
To leave their Nurses in a
Crowd;
Now this was Jim’s especial
Foible,
He ran away when he was
able,
And on this inauspicious day
He slipped his hand and ran
away!
He hadn’t gone a yard when—
Bang!
With
open
Jaws,
a
Lion
sprang,
And hungrily began to eat
The Boy: beginning at his feet.
Now just imagine how it feels
When first your toes and then
your heels,
And then by gradual degrees,
Your shins and ankles, calves
and knees,
Are slowly eaten, bit by bit.
No wonder Jim detested it!
No wonder that he shouted
“Hi!”
Keep listening free
Readnara
