(Poem #562) The King's Breakfast The King asked The Queen, and The Queen asked The Dairymaid: "Could we have some butter for The Royal slice of bread?" The Queen asked the Dairymaid, The Dairymaid Said, "Certainly, I'll go and tell the cow Now Before she goes to bed." The Dairymaid She curtsied, And went and told the Alderney: "Don't forget the butter for The Royal slice of bread." The Alderney said sleepily: "You'd better tell His Majesty That many people nowadays Like marmalade Instead." The Dairymaid Said "Fancy!" And went to Her Majesty. She curtsied to the Queen, and She turned a little red: "Excuse me, Your Majesty, For taking of The liberty, But marmalade is tasty, if It's very Thickly Spread." The Queen said "Oh!" And went to his Majesty: "Talking of the butter for The royal slice of bread, Many people Think that Marmalade Is nicer. Would you like to try a little Marmalade Instead?" The King said, "Bother!" And then he said, "Oh, deary me!" The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!" And went back to bed. "Nobody," He whimpered, "Could call me A fussy man; I only want A little bit Of butter for My bread!" The Queen said, "There, there!" And went to The Dairymaid. The Dairymaid Said, "There, there!" And went to the shed. The cow said, "There, there! I didn't really Mean it; Here's milk for his porringer And butter for his bread." The queen took the butter And brought it to His Majesty. The King said "Butter, eh?" And bounced out of bed. "Nobody," he said, As he kissed her Tenderly, "Nobody," he said, As he slid down The banisters, "Nobody, My darling, Could call me A fussy man - BUT I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!" |
There is surely no body of verse in which strong rhythm has been more effectively and enthusiastically used than in children's poetry, and Milne is in this regard (as in several others) one of the very best. Today's poem needs no real commentary, except to say that I find it no less delightful today than I did as a child. Links: To see the illustrated version of the poem: [broken link] http://www.crocker.com/~slinberg/poems/milne/kingsbreakfast.html For another nice Milne poem, and a biography, see poem #463 Afterthought: I was going to write a piece on why rhythmic verse is so appealing to children, but realised that I didn't know too much about it myself. Perhaps someone could comment with greater authority? -martin
Posts
28 comments: ( or Leave a comment )
can anyone tell me if "The King's Breakfast" appears in any of AA
Milne's books of poetry and if so which one. I have been searching for
a book with it in it. I really wish there were a picture book of this
poem. Please let me know which, if any, book this poem is in.
Janice
I stumbled on this poem in a large collection of children’s literature (I’m
sorry; I don’t have the title, but the editor was Clifton Fadiman), and my
4- and 6-year-old absolutely love it. They like to clap to keep the meter
going.
We’re Americans living in the city, so yes, we had to go look up “Alderney”
to make sure it was a kind of cow, but that just made it more fun.
Even at dinner, they’ll ask, “may I have a little bit of butter to my
bread?”
Gary S.
This poem appears in _When We Were Very Young_, a collection of Milne's
poetry. This collection also contains Disobedience, Emmeline, the first
appearance of Winnie the Pooh, and Mary Jane with her *loverly* rice pudding
for dinner again.
Sarah Ruth Paltiel
***************************************************************************
Notice Regarding Entry of Orders and Instructions: Please do not transmit
orders and/or instructions regarding your UBS PaineWebber or UBS
International Inc. account(s) by e-mail. Orders and/or instructions
transmitted by e-mail will not be accepted by UBS PaineWebber or UBS
International Inc. UBS PaineWebber and UBS International Inc. will not be
responsible for carrying out such orders and/or instructions.
Notice Regarding Confirmation: Please be advised that this e-mail is not an
official transaction confirmation. The only official confirmation of a
transaction will be sent to you via regular mail.
I noticed you post on this poem on a website. I don't know if you have already gotten a response, but "The King's Breakfast" is published in the book "When We Were Very Young."
It also is in The World of Christopher Robin which is the collection of When We Were very young, And Now we are six. And in The complete poems of Winnie the Pooh. I am doing a report on this poem for Language Arts class
I've always loved this poem.
Its so rhythmical and so simple that you don't really have to think about it like you do with so many poems.
I have an original edition of 'Now we are six' from my mum's guardian who used to live next door to Christopher Robin.
Its slightly tattered and the pages are yellowy but I reckon it would still probably be worth a bit. Not that I'd ever sell it!
Rebecca Williams
When I was small my mother set this poem to a little tune and used it as a
combination lullaby and bedtime story. She used it again with her grandson.
I can still recite it from memory (I'm 64).
My mother was British and used to read me a lot of Poem's from A.A.
Milne's book. This is one of the one's I memorized but couldn't say it
as great as my mom who had the perfect accent! Thanks for posting this.
It is Poem in Your Pocket Day, April 21. I forgot my book at home so I
am grateful to find it on-line at Google.
Erica Shatz- Spry
I had a 78 rpm record when I was 4 years old [in Chicago] which had this poem, and others, one of which went "Christopher Robin went hoppity-hoppity-hoppity-hoppity-hop", all set to music. I can still recall the melodies, and sing them to myself when they pop into my mind, which is often. I am 59 now, so that was 55 years ago. The songs and poems made a huge impression on me, they were lilting and clever and I loved them. I played the record over and over. Does anyone have a clue what the name of the record was, or who made it?
I wonder why this type of poetry is not offered to mid-schoolers as a fundamental exercise in the delight of the english language
Milne's "A King's Breakfast" was published as a book in 1924-5 by E. P.
Dutton & Company, New York. I just discovered we have a copy of the book in
good condition. What is unusual is I found it in a collection of music and
sure enough, King's is Milne poetry set to music. The Introduction begins,
"Before we start singing 'The King's Breakfast' ..." The music is by H.
Fraser-Simson and the Decorations by E. H. Shepard. The poem of this name
quoted in this web site is the lyric in the book I have.
I'd like to know if the poem was ever published separately; I haven't found
it yet and I'm beginning to think the musical version may be the only
published version. I'd welcome any and all info anyone cares to send me
about A King's Breakfast.
Steve Sanford
Charming and much -loved as this poem was in my childhood, in my adult years I learned another version (author unknown, but I think I found it in a gardening book) which charmed me even more:
The King asked the Queen and the Queen asked the Gardener,
"Could we have some compost for the Royal Flower Bed?"
"Certainly!" tha Gardener said.
"I'll go and ask the cow, now, before she leaves the shed."
Sherry Wargo
My son's class - Grade 2 (Melbourne, Australia) are doing poems this term and they had to bring some in. I couldn't help but think of my favourite poem read to me in class over and over again. It made me wonder about marmalade!!!! I will be giving The King's Breakfast to my son to take to class tomorrow.
L Maginness
To Janice Barker
I know that The King's Breakfast was in a volume of verse by AA Milne. My parents brought 4 Milne volumes with them from England, 2 were the Winnie the Pooh stories that Disney has poached so effectively and 2 were poetry. All were favourites with us growing up. I cannot remember all the titles, but I am sure one of the verse volumes was "Now We Are Six".
F O'Rourke
My grandmother who passed away in the early 80's, asked myself and my 3 sisters if we could memorize this poem, if we could she would give us each 25 cents. If I recall correctly, I was the only one who memorized it. For some reason it has stuck with me. I was just thinking of it tonight and decided to punch it into the search engine. I am printing it out and am going to memorize it again. I think it would be wonderful to have my own grandchildren memorize it, once I have some of course which shouldnt be too far in the future!! I am 49 yrs young.
Edith
Dear Sharon - an interesting man named John Frame has put the record you're perhaps searching for online for downloading.
i listened to this record when little also - I'm 54 - and had searched on and off for about 2 years! here you go-
http://www.queerradio.org/David_Tomlinson_When_We_Were_Very_Young.htm
Enjoy!
I am a 48 year old teacher at a small rural school in Victoria,Australia. Our youngest,or prep class has been studying the olden days. Yesterday they made butter and the line,"a bit of butter to my bread" came from my subconscious. I loved the poems of AA Milne when I was very young and they still give me a lovely tickling feeling. I will take the poem to the class teacher and I am sure the lovelies will enjoy it being read to them. Thank you for making this poem so easily available. I could not even remember the title. From Fiona Fenton
My Mother, who passed away some years ago, used to read this to me when I was young. I am now 69.
I thank you for this, as I was searching for it for Morgan, my Grand Daughter
Ken
This was the favorite of many poems from the two Milne poetry books my mom read to me. (I'm 58). To this day I never use marmalade without saying to myself "Marmalade is tasty if it is very thickly spread!" I just learned that pure bred Alderneys are extinct; the Nazis ate the last one when they occupied the Channel Islands.
I came across this poem when I was in seminary. It was used as a reading for elocution. The poem rattles around in my head from time to time, but I did not know the source until now. The wonders of Google.
My partner and I were just making the 'next days' lunches for our family when he said
"Honey, in future could you put a little more butter on my bread?"
I raced downstairs to find my A.A.Milne compendium of poems to share this poem. When I couldn't find it, I googled [as you do] and have just finished reading it to him.
He's now walking around the kitchen saying "A little bit of butter for my royal slice of bread". It truly is musical.
Thank you for posting this, it has led me to your site, which is now bookmarked for future lunch making scenarios & other important important life events.
Felicity
www.giftsofserendipity.com
It sounds sooo good in russian translated by russian poet Samuel Marschak
The Queen said
"Oh!"
And went to his Majesty:
"Talking of the butter for
The royal slice of bread,
Many people
Think that
Marmalade
Is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade
Instead?"
Sounds Good Generic levitra
I like your articles :)
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, but I am firmly convinced of this and love to learn more about the subject. If possible, acquire knowledge, would you update your blog with more information? It is very helpful to me
Thanks for posting this! It's a favorite in my family, both my mum and grandmum can recite the entire thing and used to! It was so fun for us as kids, even if we didn't appreciate it so much as grouchy teenagers.
replica louis vuitton bags for sale.
replica Mahina Leather handbags for sale.
replica louis vuitton antheia for sale.
replica Monogram Canvas for sale.
replica Monogram denim for sale.
Cheap Monogram Macassar Canvas for sale.
Replica louis vuitton monogram multicolore for sale.
replica Monogram Purses for sale.
replica Monogram Purses for sale.
replica Monogram Vernis bags for sale.
imitation louis vuitton bags for sale.
cheap louis vuitton antheia for sale.
replica Mahina Leather for sale.
replica Monogram Canvas handbags for sale.
replica Monogram denim handbags for sale.
Replica Monogram Macassar Canvas for sale.
Replica Monogram Multicolore for sale.
replica louis vuitton Monogram Vernis for sale.
replica louis vuitton Monogram Purses for sale.
louis vuitton replica for sale designer handbags.
replica louis vuitton antheia for sale.
replica Mahina Leather handbags for sale.
replica Monogram Canvas for sale.
replica Monogram denim for sale.
Cheap Monogram Macassar Canvas for sale.
Replica louis vuitton monogram multicolore for sale.
replica Monogram Purses for sale.
replica Monogram Purses for sale.
replica Monogram Vernis bags for sale.
I love "The King's Breakfast." When I was growing up, we had a 78 rpm (!) recording of Milne poems that someone had set to music. TKB was one of them. NB: You have an error in the text: The cow doesn't say "Many people think that marmalade is nicer;" she says "Many people nowadays think marmalade is nicer." I not only remember that from childhood, but another poetry site with this poem on it has the "nowadays." Can you fix that? Thanks.
Post a Comment