Basil Temple Blackwood - Hilaire Bellocs Cautionary verses

L. C. Catalog card number: 5911237 THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK,
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A.

KNOPF, INC. NEW CAUTIONARY TALES, copyright 1931 by Hilaire Belloc. Renewal copyright 1959 by Eleanor Jebb Belloc, Elizabeth Belloc, and Hilary Belloc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages and reproduce not more than three illustrations in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper.Collected edition first published September 1941 and re-printed seven times. eISBN: 978-0-307-83081-4 v3.1

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 wouldnt do,For people such as me and youWho pretty nearly all day longAre doing something rather wrong.Because if things were really so,You would have perished long ago,And I would not have lived to writeThe noble lines that meet your sight,Nor B. T. B. survived to drawThe nicest things you ever saw.H.Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eatenby a Lion. There was a Boy whose name was Jim; His Friends were very good to him. 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 knowat 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 Jims especial Foible, He ran away when he was able, And on this inauspicious day He slipped his hand and ran away! He hadnt gone a yard whenBang! 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! The Honest Keeper heard his cry, Though very fat he almost ran To help the little gentleman. Ponto! he ordered as he came (For Ponto was the Lions name), Ponto! he cried, with angry Frown. The Lion having reached his Head, The Miserable Boy was dead! When Nurse informed his Parents, they Were more Concerned than I can say: His Mother, as She dried her eyes, Said, Wellit gives me no surprise, He would not do as he was told! His Father, who was self-controlled, Bade all the children round attend To James miserable end, And always keep a-hold of Nurse For fear of finding something worse Who chewed bits of String, and was early cut off in Dreadful Agonies. The Lion having reached his Head, The Miserable Boy was dead! When Nurse informed his Parents, they Were more Concerned than I can say: His Mother, as She dried her eyes, Said, Wellit gives me no surprise, He would not do as he was told! His Father, who was self-controlled, Bade all the children round attend To James miserable end, And always keep a-hold of Nurse For fear of finding something worse