Poetry (Grades 3-5)

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.

From The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson (1885). Public domain.

Check your understanding

1. Put these lines back in the order they appear in the poem.

Click the events in the correct order.

2. Read the line and type the missing word.

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