The Land of Counterpane

Robert Louis Stevenson · 1885

Catalog grade guidance: K–5 — Short children’s lyric; good for early memorization and reading aloud.

18 content lines · 110 words · Est. recitation about 1 min 6 sec (approx.)

Public-domain text for reading and recitation practice. Source: Project Gutenberg #136.Estimated time uses ~120 words/minute plus short pauses—not a contest rule.

The Land of Counterpane

  When I was sick and lay a-bed,
  I had two pillows at my head,
  And all my toys beside me lay,
  To keep me happy all the day.

  And sometimes for an hour or so
  I watched my leaden soldiers go,
  With different uniforms and drills,
  Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

  And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
  All up and down among the sheets;
  Or brought my trees and houses out,
  And planted cities all about.

  I was the giant great and still
  That sits upon the pillow-hill,
  And sees before him, dale and plain,
  The pleasant land of counterpane.


                                           XVII