Explore "Thomas the Pretender" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Tommy's alluz playin' jokes, / An' actin' up, an' foolin' folks; / An' wunst one time he creep / In Pa's big chair, he did, one night, / An' squint an' shut his eyes bofe tight, / An' say, "Now I 'm asleep."
An' nen we knowed, an' Ma know' too, / He _ain't_ asleep no more 'n you!
An' wunst he clumbed on our back'fence / An' flop his arms an' nen commence / To crow, like he's a hen; / But when he failed off, like he done, / He didn't fool us childern none, / Ner didn't _crow_ again.
An' our Hired Man, as he come by, / Says, "Tom can't _crow_, but he kin _cry_. "