The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #103716   Message #2896815
Posted By: Joe Offer
29-Apr-10 - 03:43 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: 'There was a little girl who had a ...'
Subject: Lyr Add: THE LITTLE GIRL WHO WOULDN'T SAY PLEASE
Is this the one you learned as a child, Guest?

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO WOULDN'T SAY PLEASE
(By MSP)

There was once a small child who would never say please,
I believe, if you even went down on your knees.
But, her arms on the table, would sit at her ease,
And call out to her mother in words such as these :
"I want some potatoes!" "Give me some peas!"
"Hand me the butter!" "Cut me some cheese!"
So the fairies, this very rude daughter to tease,
Once blew her away in a powerful breeze,
Over the mountains, and over the seas,
To a valley where never a dinner she sees,
But down with the ants, the wasps, and the bees,
In the woods she must live till she learns to say please.


from St. Nicholas Magazine, Volume III (1874-1875)