12
POLLY AND PETER

Polly had some china cows

And Peter had a gun.

She turned the bossies out to browse,

And Peterkin, for fun,

Just peppered them with butter beans

And blew them all to smithereens.

* * *

Now what will pretty Polly do

For milk and cream and butter too?

[NOTES] This rhyme is about the bad things boys do.Polly is playing with her toy cows that are made from china. Peter is playing with this toy gun. When Polly puts the toy cows outside, Peter shoots them with beans from his toy gun. The glass cows break. Now Polly cannot play that the cows give her milk and cream and butter.

china—hard, white glass

bossies—cows

browse—eat a little

to pepper—to shoot

butter beans—small round food

to blow—to shoot

smithereens—completely broken in thousands of pieces