I would like to design a children's book based on an old poem but the original poem seems to have no title nor author. I've been searching for months. Does anyone have any advice on avoiding plagiarism in this case? I don't want to claim the poem as my own because it's not but I also can't find out who to ask permission from.
There once was a rabbit with silvery fur. Her grey woodland neighbours looked up to her. And she said one night in the moonlit wood, "the reason I'm white is because I am good."
So far I've found the rest of the poem and I believe it to be part of an old play but the author is now unknown and the language is pretty poor so needs work to make but I think it'll make a beautiful children's book. My Grandfather used to recite this poem to me as he said all children his age were forced to learn it in school.
There's an old joke in the publishing industry. If you lift ideas from one author its plagiarism, but if you lift ideas from many authors it's research.
Let us have some of the poem, and we can all search for you - hundreds of heads are better than one. It may well be, if the poem is old, it will be out of copyright anyway.
If nothing comes in from the multitude then beware. Others may have a different opinion, but I work on the basis, 'If in doubt, don't.'