The Table and the Chair
Said the Table to the Chair,
'You can hardly be aware,
'How I suffer from the heat,
'And from chilblains on my feet!
'If we took a little walk,
'We might have a little talk!
'Pray let us take the air!'
Said the Table to the Chair.
Said the Chair to the table,
'Now you know we are not able!
'How foolishly you talk,
'When you know we cannot walk!'
Said the Table with a sigh,
'It can do no harm to try,
'I've as many legs as you,
'Why can't we walk on two?'
So they both went slowly down,
And walked about the town
With a cheerful bumpy sound,
As they toddled round and round.
And everybody cried,
As they hastened to the side,
'See! the Table and the Chair
'Have come out to take the air!'
But in going down an alley,
To a castle in a valley,
They completely lost their way,
And wandered all the day,
Till, to see them safetly back,
They paid a Ducky-quack,
And a Beetle, and a Mouse,
Who took them to their house.
Then they whispered to each other,
'O delightful little brother!
'What a lovely walk we've taken!
'Let us dine on Beans and Bacon!'
So the Ducky and the leetle
Browny-Mousy and the Beetle
Dined and danced upon their heads
Till they toddled to their beds.
Poem by by Edward Lear
Yesterday I sold our children's play furniture. It was a solid timber table and chair set with matching stove and cupboard. I bought it second hand from an advertisement in the paper years ago when Charley was a toddler. I remember also, around this time, buying a doll's house from a family with two sweet girls who were selling off their outgrown toys and gear with a view to using the money to buy something else for themselves for Christmas. The parent's left the bartering entirely to the girls. I thought at the time how sad it was to see these girls grow out of their toys - symbolic of the end of their childhood in a way. And now it is happening to us!
The furniture has been well-loved and well-used over the preschool years. But these years, sadly, are behind us and we need bigger chairs and wider tables for homework and board games and card-making and model aeroplane construction. It's the end of an era and I'm a bit sad. I recall lugging the furniture home in the back of my trusty Ford Laser hatchback which has also been traded-in and upgraded. Sigh. I might need to take a little walk and take a little air.
