Somebody

First published in The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes (1918).

It’s warm, impulsive, and full of that cheerful boldness kids have before the world tells them to think twice. You can almost hear the kid’s voice: “Just one peanut! Maybe a pear too!” There’s no grand plan here, just that sudden idea only a child would have — to pack up a snack and march off to feed lions and monkeys.

Blanche Fisher Wright’s picture adds the warmth. The grown-up looks half amused, half charmed, holding her bowl of fruit while the little one pleads their case. It’s everyday life on the edge of adventure — the kind that starts in the kitchen but ends, at least in a child’s mind, under a circus tent.