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011 - The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse · The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Others

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  Speaker 1: Stories Section eleven of Peter Rabbit and Other Tales by
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  Speaker 1: Beatrix Potter. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by RhE Evans. Peter
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  Speaker 1: Rabbitt and Other Tales by Beatrix Potter. The Tale of
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  Speaker 1: Missus Tittlemouse. Once upon a time there was a woodmouse,
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  Speaker 1: and her name was Missus Tittlemouse. She lived in a
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  Speaker 1: bank under a hedge, such a funny house. There were
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  Speaker 1: yards and yards of sandy passages leading to store rooms
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  Speaker 1: and nut sellers and seed sellers. All amongst the roots
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  Speaker 1: of the hedge. There was a kitchen, a parlor, a pantry,
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  Speaker 1: and a larder. Also there was Missus Tittlemouse's bedroom, where
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  Speaker 1: she slept in a little box bed. Missus Tittlemouse was
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  Speaker 1: the most terribly tidy, particular little mouse, always sweeping and
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  Speaker 1: dusting the soft sandy floors. Sometimes a beetle lost its
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  Speaker 1: way in the passages. Shoo, shoo, little dirty feet, said
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  Speaker 1: Missus Tittlemouse, clattering her dust pan. And one day a
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  Speaker 1: little old woman ran up and down in a red
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  Speaker 1: spotty cloak. Your house is on fire, mother ladybird, fly
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  Speaker 1: away home to your children. Another day, a big fat
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  Speaker 1: spider came in to shelter from the rain. Beg pardon
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  Speaker 1: is this not miss Muffet's go away, you bold bad spider,
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  Speaker 1: leaving ends of cobweb all over my nice clean house.
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  Speaker 1: She bundled the spider out at a window. He let
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  Speaker 1: himself down the hedge with a long, thin bit of string.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Tittlemouse went on her way to a distant store
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  Speaker 1: room to fetch cherry stones and thistledown seat for dinner.
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  Speaker 1: All along the passage she sniffed and looked at the floor.
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  Speaker 1: I smell a smell of honey? Is it the cow
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  Speaker 1: slips outside in the hedge? I am sure? I can
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  Speaker 1: see the marks of little dirty feet. Suddenly, round a
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  Speaker 1: corner she met Babbity bumble ziz bisbe, said the bumblebee.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Tittlemouse looked at her severely. She wished she had
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  Speaker 1: a broom. Good day, Babbity bumble I should be glad
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  Speaker 1: to buy some bees wax. But what are you doing
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  Speaker 1: down here? Why do you always come in at a
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  Speaker 1: window and says this biz biz missus tittlemouse began to
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  Speaker 1: get cross. This this, this, replied babbitty Bumble in a
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  Speaker 1: peevish squeak. She sidled down a passage and disappeared into
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  Speaker 1: a storeroom which had been used for acorns. Missus Tittlemouse
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  Speaker 1: had eaten the acorns before Christmas. The storeroom ought to
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  Speaker 1: have been empty, but it was full of untidy, dry moss.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Tittlemouse began to pull out the moss. Three or
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  Speaker 1: four other bees put their heads out and buzzed fiercely.
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  Speaker 1: I am not in the habit of letting lodgings. This
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  Speaker 1: is an intrusion, said Missus tittlemouse. I will have him
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  Speaker 1: turned out. Bus bis bis, I wonder who would help me,
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  Speaker 1: miss busus. I will not have mister Jackson. He never
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  Speaker 1: wipes his feet. Missus Tittlemouse decided to leave the bees
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  Speaker 1: till after dinner. When she got back to the parlor,
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  Speaker 1: she heard someone coughing in a fat voice, and there
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  Speaker 1: sat mister Jackson himself. He was sitting all over a
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  Speaker 1: small rocking chair, twiddling his thumbs and smiling with his
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  Speaker 1: feet on the fender. He lived in a drain below
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  Speaker 1: the hedge, in a very dirty, wet ditch. How do
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  Speaker 1: you do, mister Jackson, dearie me, you have got very wet.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you, Missus dittlemouse. I'll sit
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  Speaker 1: and dry myself, said mister Jackson. He sat and smiled,
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  Speaker 1: and the water dripped off his coat tails. Missus Tittlemouse
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  Speaker 1: went round with a mop. He sat such a while
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  Speaker 1: that he had to be asked if he would take
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  Speaker 1: some dinner. First, she offered him cherry stones. Thank you,
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  Speaker 1: thank you, missus diddlemouse. No teeth, no teeth, no teeth,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Jackson. He opened his mouth most unnecessarily wide.
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  Speaker 1: He certainly had not a tooth in his head. Then
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  Speaker 1: she offered him thistle doown seed, diddle widdleywiddly puff puff puff,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Jackson. He blew the thistle down all over
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  Speaker 1: the room. Thank you, thank you, thank you, missus dittlemouse.
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  Speaker 1: Now what I really really should like would be a
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  Speaker 1: little dish of honey. I am afraid I have not
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  Speaker 1: got any, mister Jackson, said Missus Littlemouse. Diddlywiddly widedly, Missus
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  Speaker 1: Diddlemouse said the SMA, smiling mister Jackson, I can smell it.
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  Speaker 1: That is why I came to call. Mister Jackson rose
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  Speaker 1: ponderously from the table and began to look into the cupboards.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Tittlemouse followed him with the dishcloth to wipe his
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  Speaker 1: large wet footmarks off the parlor floor. When he had
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  Speaker 1: convinced himself that there was no honey in the cupboards,
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  Speaker 1: he began to walk down the passage. Indeed, indeed, you
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  Speaker 1: will stick fast, mister Jackson did, lewardly widdly, Missus diddlemouse.
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  Speaker 1: First he squeezed into the pantry, till liwidlywededly, no honey,
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  Speaker 1: no honey, Missus dittlemouse. There were three creepy crawley people
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  Speaker 1: hiding in the plate rack. Two of them got away,
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  Speaker 1: but the littlest one he caught. Then he squeezed into
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  Speaker 1: the larder. Miss Butterfly was tasting the sugar, but she
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  Speaker 1: flew away out the window. Till lewardly widdly, missus diddlemouse,
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  Speaker 1: you seem to have plenty of visitors. And without any invitation,
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  Speaker 1: said Missus Thomasina tittlemouse. They went along the sandy passage
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  Speaker 1: de li willy muss wus whis He met Babbitty round
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  Speaker 1: a corner and snapped her up and put her back
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  Speaker 1: down again. I do not like bumble bees. They are
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  Speaker 1: all over bristles, said mister Jackson, wiping his mouth with
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  Speaker 1: his coat sleeve. Get out, y nasty old toad, shrieked,
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  Speaker 1: babbitty bumble Ah. I shall go distracted, said Missus Tittlemouse.
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  Speaker 1: She shut herself up in the nut cellar while mister
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  Speaker 1: Jackson pulled out the bees nest. He seemed to have
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  Speaker 1: no objection to stings. When Missus Tittlemouse ventured to come out,
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  Speaker 1: everybody had gone away, but the untidiness was something dreadful.
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  Speaker 1: Never did I see such a mess, Spears of honey
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  Speaker 1: and moss and thistle down, and marks of big and
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  Speaker 1: little dirty feet all over my nice clean house. She
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  Speaker 1: gathered up the moss and the remains of the bees wax.
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  Speaker 1: Then she went out and fetched some twigs to partly
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  Speaker 1: close up the front door. I will make it too
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  Speaker 1: small for mister Jackson. She fetched soft soap and flannel
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  Speaker 1: and a new scrubbing brush from the store room, but
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  Speaker 1: she was too tired to do any more. First she
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  Speaker 1: fell asleep in her chair. Then she went to bed.
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  Speaker 1: Will it ever be tiny again? Said poor missus tittlemouse.
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  Speaker 1: Next morning, she got up very early and began a
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  Speaker 1: spring cleaning, which lasted our fortnight. She swept and scrubbed
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  Speaker 1: and dusted, and she rubbed up the furniture with bees
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  Speaker 1: wax and polished her little tin spoons. When it was
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  Speaker 1: all beautifully neat and clean, she gave a party to
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  Speaker 1: five other little mice without mister Jackson. He smelt the
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  Speaker 1: party and came up the bank, but he could not
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  Speaker 1: squeeze in at the door, so they handed him out
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  Speaker 1: acorn cupfuls of honey dew through the window, and he
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  Speaker 1: was not at all offended. He sat outside in the
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  Speaker 1: sun and said, tiddleywiddleywiddley, your very good health, missus diddlemouse.
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  Speaker 1: End of the Tale of Missus Dittlemouse. Recording by Rhie
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  Speaker 1: Evans