Once Upon a Time and Other Child-Verses

"Oho, Willie Winkie; and hey, Willie
Winkie!
The moonbeams they sleep on the sea:
Catch the loveliest dreams in the poppy-fleet,
And here is a kiss for thee."
Wee Willie Winkie sat up in bed,
Stubbornly shaking his curly head,
When his mother had shut the door:
"Is the Prince asleep? I would like to see;
Is the robin asleep in the cherry-tree,
And every little flower?
"The flowers are awake and play with the
bees,
The robins, they sing in the cherry-trees,
And the Prince is the gladdest of all;
For he's merry and wide awake, of course,
He is prancing about on his rocking-horse,
Or else he is playing at ball."

Wee Willie Winkie sat up in bed,
Stubbornly shaking his curly head —
The moon shone bright as day;
"I'll run through the town myself," said he,
"And see if they all asleep can be —
I think they are all at play!"

Wee Willie Winkie – no shoes on his feet,
No hat on his head – ran down the street,
And he called at every lock:
"Are your babies asleep in their cradles now?
Do your lilies asleep in the night-wind blow?
For 'tis now ten o'clock!"

Wee Willie Winkie in his nightgown,
Little fat, rosy boy, ran thro' the town,
His curly head damp with dew:

"Are the robins and babies and rosies all
Abed and asleep?" he loud would call —
"If they are, I'll go too!"

To Wee Willie Winkie, who loudly tapped
At the window-panes where the babies napped,
A strange thing did befall;
For the white-haired babies, the birds and
flowers
Who had slept and dreamed through the eve-
ning hours,
He awoke from their slumbers all.

And everything that was little and sweet
Came trooping out on the moonlit street,
All crying out with glee;
And through the streets of the silent town
With Wee Willie Winkie ran up and down,
As merry as they could be.

Wee Willie Winkie marched at the head,
Poor little wight, quite pale with dread,
A long line after him:
Twittering larks and murmuring bees,
Dandelions blown on the evening breeze,
And tiger-lilies grim;

Cooing babies, and bleating lambs
Stealing away from their sleeping dams,
Behind him ambled and crept;
Singing treetoads and katydids,
Robin red-breasts and frolicsome kids,
Flew and hopped and leaped;

And the gay little Prince was there, of
course,
Prancing along on his rocking-horse,
In his white silk nightgown fine.
Wee Willie Winkie, he shook with fear:
"Oh, what would I give, my mamma dear,
To sleep in that bed of mine! "

Quite over the town the tumult spread:
From many a window a nightcapped head
Came cautiously popping out;
The King awoke and began to frown;
"The foe, they are riding upon the town!"
The courtiers all did shout.

Wee Willie Winkie came up the street,
Crying aloud, on his little bare feet,
With his train to the palace door;
"Queer sights I have seen," quoth slowly the
Ring,
"But I never have seen, by my signet-ring,
A sight like this before!

"And what do you mean, I pray, wee sir,
That the whole of the town you wake and stir
At ten o'clock of the night?
That the babies, and birds, and lambs, and all,
From their cradles into the street you call,
And give folks such a fright?