Robert Louis Stevenson reader

Part 2 — MY SHADOW

Reading edition

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me, from the heels up to the head; And I see him jump before me when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow— Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball, And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.

He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play, And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see; I’d think shame to stick to Nursie as that shadow sticks to me! One morning, very early, before the sun was up, I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

The illustration shows a young child walking toward a tall flower stalk. The child has dark, curly hair and wears a loose pale yellow long-sleeved smock dress with white socks bunched at the ankles and small dark shoes. A shadow falls behind the child. On the right, a tall hollyhock plant grows with large rounded green leaves at its base and a vertical stalk covered in blooming yellow flowers.