Ill 



PETER PIPER 



One was named Sandy, because Sandy is a Scotch 

 name and there were blue-bells growing on the rocks ; so 

 it seemed right that one of them should have a Scotch 

 name, and what could be better, after all, than Sandy 

 for a sandpiper? One was named Pan, because he piped 

 sweetly among the reeds by the river. One, who came 

 out of his eggshell before his brothers, was named Peter, 

 for his father. 



But Mother Piper never called her children Sandy 

 and Pan and Peter. She called them all ^^Pete.'^ She 

 was so used to calling her mate ^^Pete,'^ that that name 

 was easier than any other for her to say. 



The three of them played by the river all day long. 

 Each amused himself in his own way and did not bother 

 his brothers, although they did not stray too far apart 

 to talk to one another. This they did by saying, ''Peep, '^ 

 now and then. 



About once an hour, and sometimes oftener. Mother 

 Piper came flying over from Faraway Island, crying, 

 ''Pete, Pete, Pete/^ as if she were worried. It is no won- 

 der that she was anxious about Sandy and Peter and 

 Pan, for, to begin with, she had had four fine children, 



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