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[Transcriber's Note:

Brief descriptions of each illustration are given in (parentheses).
The author's name on the cover was punctuated as shown.]




  Denslow's

  HUMPTY DUMPTY

  Adapted and Illustrated by W. W Denslow

  [Illustration
  (Humpty Dumpty)]

  G. W. Dillingham Co.
  Publishers New York.




  Copyright 1903 by
  W. W. Denslow

  Published, August

  1903

  [Illustration
  (Humpty dances for three children and a dog):
  To Edward Hall.]




HUMPTY DUMPTY.

  [Illustration
  (Bare Humpty sitting)]

Humpty-Dumpty was a smooth, round little chap, with a
winning smile, and a great golden heart in his broad
breast.

Only one thing troubled Humpty, and that was, that he
might fall and crack his thin, white skin; he wished
to be hard, all the way through, for he felt his heart
wabble when he walked, or ran about, so off he went to
the Black Hen for advice.

This Hen was kind and wise, so she was just the one,
for him to go to with his trouble.

"Your father, Old Humpty," said the Hen, "was very
foolish, and would take warning from no one; you know
what the poet said of him:

  'Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall,
  Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall;
  All the king's horses, and all the king's men
  Cannot put Humpty-Dumpty together again.'

  [Illustration
  (Humpty talks to the Hen)]

"So you see, he came to a very bad end, just because
he was reckless, and would not take a hint from any
one, he was much worse than a scrambled egg; the king,
his horses and his men, did all they could for him,
but his case was hopeless," and the Hen shook her head
sadly.

  [Illustration
  (Humpty's father after his fall)]

"What you must do," continued the Hen, as she wiped
a tear from her bright blue eye, "is to go to the
Farmer's Wife, next door, and tell her to put you into
a pot of boiling hot water; your skin is so hard and
smooth, it will not hurt you, and when you come out,
you may do as you wish, nothing can break you, you can
tumble about to your heart's content, and you will not
break, nor even dent yourself."

So Humpty rolled in next door, and told the Farmer's
Wife that he wanted to be put into boiling hot water
as he was too brittle to be of any use to himself or
to any one else.

  [Illustration
  (Humpty talks to the farmer's wife)]

"Indeed you shall," said the Farmer's Wife, "what is
more I shall wrap you up in a piece of spotted calico,
so that you will have a nice colored dress; you will
come out, looking as bright as an Easter Egg."

  [Illustration
  (Humpty in his calico bundle goes into the pot)]

So she tied him up in a gay new rag, and dropped him
into the copper kettle of boiling water that was on
the hearth.

It was pretty hot for Humpty at first, but he soon got
used to it, and was happy, for he felt himself getting
harder every minute.

He did not have to stay in the water long, before he
was quite well done, and as hard as a brick all the
way through; so, untying the rag, he jumped out of the
kettle as tough and as bright as any hard boiled Egg.

  [Illustration
  (Decorated Humpty emerges from the pot)]

The calico had marked him from head to foot with big,
bright, red spots, he was as gaudy as a circus clown,
and as nimble and merry as one.

  [Illustration
  (Humpty jumps from a high shelf)]

The Farmer's Wife shook with laughter to see the
pranks of the little fellow, for he frolicked and
frisked about from table to chair, and mantelpiece; he
would fall from the shelf to the floor, just to show
how hard he was; and after thanking the good woman
most politely, for the service she had done him, he
walked out into the sunshine, on the clothes-line,
like a rope dancer, to see the wide, wide world.

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration
  (Full Page: Humpty walks a tightrope while farmer's
  wife looks on)]

  [Illustration
  (Humpty sits on a wall playing the banjo)]

Of the travels of Humpty-Dumpty much could be said;
he went East, West, North and South; he sailed the
seas, he walked and rode on the land through all the
Countries of the Earth, and all his life long he was
happy and content.

  [Illustration
  (Full Page: Humpty rides a mouse jumping a hurdle)]

  [Illustration
  (Old man with ear trumpet listens to Humpty
  singing)]

Sometimes as a clown, in a circus, he would make fun
for old and young; again, as a wandering minstrel,
he twanged the strings of his banjo and sung a merry
song, and so on through all his travels, he would
lighten the cares of others, and make them forget
their sorrows, and fill every heart with joy.

  [Illustration
  (Humpty greets little girl with doll)]

But wherever he went, in sunshine or in rain, he never
forgot to sing the praises of the wise Black Hen nor
the good, kind Farmer's Wife, who had started him in
life, _hardened_ against sorrow, with a big heart in
the right place, for the cheer and comfort of OTHERS.


  [Illustration
  (Humpty and small boy sit on wall
  while full moon looks on)]

       *       *       *       *       *
           *       *       *       *
       *       *       *       *       *

Denslow's Picture Books for Children

For these books W. W. Denslow has revised and
adapted several of the best classical fairy tales.
He has improved these stories by elimination of
all coarseness, cruelty, and everything that might
frighten children. They are new; more beautiful and
striking in both text and picture than any children's
books heretofore published. Each book is filled with
pictures of action and fun in brilliant colors. The
twelve books are uniform in size.

  Denslow's ABC Book
  Denslow's One Ring Circus
  Denslow's Tom Thumb
  Denslow's Humpty Dumpty
  Denslow's Old Mother Hubbard
  Denslow's Jack and the Bean-Stalk
  Denslow's ZOO
  Denslow's House That Jack Built
  Denslow's Three Bears
  Denslow's Little Red Riding-Hood
  Denslow's 5 Little Pigs
  Denslow's Mary Had A Little Lamb


  COPYRIGHT, 1903, W. W. DENSLOW

  _Price 25 Cents Each;
    Indestructible, Mounted On Linen,
      50 Cents Each_

  _G. W. Dillingham Company, Publishers, New York_





End of Project Gutenberg's Denslow's Humpty Dumpty, by William Wallace Denslow