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The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter · Rediscover the Classics - Fiction You’ll Love

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Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles by Petrick's Potter, Dedicated with very kind
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Speaker 1: regards to old mister John Taylor, who thinks he might
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Speaker 1: pass as a dormouse. Three years in bed and never
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Speaker 1: a grumble. Once upon a time there was a village shop.
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Speaker 1: The name over the window was Ginger and Pickles. It
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Speaker 1: was a little small shop, just the right size for dolls.
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Speaker 1: Lucinda and Jane Dolcook always bought their groceries of ginger
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Speaker 1: and pickles. The counter inside was a convenient height for rabbits.
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Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles sold red spotty pocket handkerchiefs at a
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Speaker 1: penny three farthings. They also sold sugar and snuff and goloshes.
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Speaker 1: In fact, although it was such a small shop, it
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Speaker 1: sold nearly everything except a few things that you want
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Speaker 1: in a hurry, like boot laces, hair pins, and mutton chops.
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Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles were the people who kept the shop.
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Speaker 1: Ginger was a yellow tom cat and Pickles was a terrier.
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Speaker 1: The rabbits were always a little bit afraid of pickles.
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Speaker 1: The shop was also patronized by mice, only the mice
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Speaker 1: were rather afraid of Ginger. Ginger usually requested pickles to
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Speaker 1: serve them, because he said it made his mouth water.
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Speaker 1: I cannot bear, said he to see them going out
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Speaker 1: at the door carrying their little parcels. I have the
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Speaker 1: same feeling about rats, replied Pickles. But it would never
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Speaker 1: do to eat our customers. They would leave us and
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Speaker 1: go to Tabitha Twitchets. On the contrary, they would go nowhere,
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Speaker 1: replied Ginger gloomily. Tabitha Twitch had kept the only other
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Speaker 1: shop in the village. She did not give credit, but
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Speaker 1: there is no money in what is called the till.
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Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles gave unlimited credit. Now the meaning of
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Speaker 1: credit is this, When a customer buys a bar of soap.
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Speaker 1: Instead of the customer pulling out a person paying for it,
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Speaker 1: she says she will pay another time, and Pickles makes
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Speaker 1: a low bow and says, with pleasure, madam. And it
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Speaker 1: is written down in a book. The customers come again
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Speaker 1: and again and buy quantities. In spite of being afraid
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Speaker 1: of Ginger and Pickles. The customers came in crowds every
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Speaker 1: day and bought quantities, especially the toffee customers, but there
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Speaker 1: was always no money. They never paid for as much
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Speaker 1: as a penny worth of peppermints, but the sales were enormous,
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Speaker 1: ten times as large as tabithat Richards, and there was
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Speaker 1: always no money. Ginger and Pickles were obliged to eat
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Speaker 1: their own goods. Pickles ate biscuits and Ginger ate a
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Speaker 1: dried haddock. They ate them by candle light after the
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Speaker 1: shop was closed. It is very uncomfortable. I am afraid
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Speaker 1: I shall be summoned. I have tried in Vain to
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Speaker 1: get a license upon credit at the post office, said Pickles.
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Speaker 1: The place is full of policemen. I met one as
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Speaker 1: I was coming home. Let us send in the bill
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Speaker 1: again to Samuel Whiskers. Ginger, he owes twenty two and
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Speaker 1: nine for bacon. I do not believe that he intends
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Speaker 1: to pay at all, replied Ginger. When it came to
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Speaker 1: January first, there was still no money, and Pickles was
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Speaker 1: unable to buy a dog license. It is very unpleasant.
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Speaker 1: I am afraid of the police, said Pickles. It is
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Speaker 1: your own fault for being a terrier. I do not
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Speaker 1: require a license, and neither does kept the Collie dog.
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Speaker 1: And I feel sure that Anna Maria pockets things. Who
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Speaker 1: are all the cream crackers? You have eaten them? Yourself,
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Speaker 1: replied Ginger. Ginger and Pickles retired into the back parlor.
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Speaker 1: They did accounts. They added up sums and sums and sums.
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Speaker 1: Samuel Whiskers has run up a bill as long as
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Speaker 1: his tail. He has had an ounce and three quarters
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Speaker 1: of snuff since October? What is seven pounds of butter
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Speaker 1: at one and three and a stick of sealing wax
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Speaker 1: and four matches? Sending all the bills again to everybody
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Speaker 1: with compliments, replied Ginger. After a time they heard a
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Speaker 1: noise in the shop, as if something had been pushed
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Speaker 1: in at the door. They came out the back parlor.
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Speaker 1: There was an envelope lying on the counter, and a
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Speaker 1: policeman writing in a note book. Pickles nearly had a fit.
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Speaker 1: He barked, and he barked, and made little rushes bite him.
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Speaker 1: Pickles bite him, spluttered Ginger behind a sugar barrel. He's
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Speaker 1: only a German doll. The policeman went on writing in
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Speaker 1: his note book. Twice he put his pencil in his mouth,
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Speaker 1: and once he dipped it in the treacle. Pickles barked
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Speaker 1: till he was hoarse, But still the policeman took no notice.
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Speaker 1: He had bead eyes, and his helmet was sewed on
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Speaker 1: with stitches at length. On his last little rush, Pickles
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Speaker 1: found that the shop was empty. The policeman had disappeared,
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Speaker 1: but the envelope remained. Do you think that he has
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Speaker 1: gone to fetch a real live policeman. I'm afraid it
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Speaker 1: is a summons, said Pickles. No, replied Ginger, who had
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Speaker 1: opened the envelope. It is the rates and taxes. Three
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Speaker 1: pounds nineteen eleven and three quarters pounds are British money,
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Speaker 1: the nineteen is shillings, and then pence. This is the
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Speaker 1: last straw, said Pickles. Let us close the shop. They
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Speaker 1: put up the shutters and left, but they have not
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Speaker 1: removed from the neighborhood. In fact, some people wish they
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Speaker 1: had gone further. Ginger is living in the Warren game
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Speaker 1: Preserve for rabbits. I do not know what occupation he pursues.
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Speaker 1: He looks stout and comfortable. Pickles is at present a gamekeeper.
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Speaker 1: After a time, mister John Dormouse and his daughter began
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Speaker 1: to sell peppermints and candles, but they did not keep
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Speaker 1: self fitting sixes, and it takes five mice to carry
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Speaker 1: one seven inch candle. The closing of the shop caused
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Speaker 1: great inconvenience. Tabitha Twitchet immediately raised the price of everything
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Speaker 1: a halfpenny, and she continued to refuse to give credit.
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Speaker 1: Of course, there are the tradesmen's carts, the butcher, the fishman,
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Speaker 1: and Timothy Baker. But a person cannot live on seed
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Speaker 1: wigs and sponge cake and butter buns, not even when
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Speaker 1: the sponge cake is as good as Timothy's. And Miss
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Speaker 1: Dormouse refused to take back the ends when they were
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Speaker 1: brought back to her with complaints. And when mister John
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Speaker 1: Dormouse was complained to, he stayed in bed and would
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Speaker 1: say nothing but very snug, which is not the way
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Speaker 1: to carry on a retail business. Besides, the candles which
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Speaker 1: they sell behave very strangely in warm weather. So everybody
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Speaker 1: was pleased when Sally Henny Penny sent out a printed
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Speaker 1: poster to say that she was going to reopen the
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Speaker 1: shop Henny's Opening Sale, Grand Cooperative Jumble Penny's Penny prices
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Speaker 1: come by, come try, come by. The poster really was
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Speaker 1: most tyson. There was a rush upon the opening day.
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Speaker 1: The shop was crammed with customers, and there were crowds
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Speaker 1: of mice upon the biscuit canisters. Sally Henny Penny gets
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Speaker 1: rather flustered when she tries to count out change, and
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Speaker 1: she insists on being paid cash. But she is quite harmless,
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Speaker 1: and she has laid in a remarkable assortment of bargains.
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Speaker 1: There is something to please everybody. End of ginger pickles.
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Speaker 2: The pie and the patty pan. Pussy cat sits by
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Speaker 2: the fire. How should she be fair in walks? The
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Speaker 2: little dog says, miss Pussy? Are you there? How do you,
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Speaker 2: mistress Pussy? Missus pussy, how do you do? I thank
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Speaker 2: you kindly, little dog. I fare as well as you
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Speaker 2: old rhyme. Once upon a time there was a pussy
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Speaker 2: cat called Ribby who invited a little dog called Duchess
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Speaker 2: to tea Come in good time, my dear Duchess, said
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Speaker 2: Ribby's letter, and we will have something so very nice.
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Speaker 2: I'm baking it in a pie dish, a pie dish
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Speaker 2: with a pink rim. You never tasted anything so good,
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Speaker 2: and you shall eat it all. I will eat muffins,
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Speaker 2: my dear Duchess, wrote Ribby. I will come very punctually,
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Speaker 2: My dear Ribby, wrote Duchess, And then at the end
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Speaker 2: she added, I hope it isn't mouse, And then she
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Speaker 2: thought it did not look quite polite, so she scratched
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Speaker 2: out isn't mouse and changed it to I hope it
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Speaker 2: will be fine. And she gave her letter to the postman.
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Speaker 2: But she thought a great deal about Ribby's pie, and
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Speaker 2: she read Ribby's letter over and over again. I'm dreadfully
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Speaker 2: afraid it will be mouse, said Duchess to herself. I
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Speaker 2: really couldn't couldn't eat mouse pie, and I shall have
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Speaker 2: to eat it because it is a party. And my
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Speaker 2: pie was going to be veal and ham a pink
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Speaker 2: and white pie dish, and so is mine, just like
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Speaker 2: Ribby's dishes. They were both bought at Tabatha titch Wits.
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Speaker 2: Duchess went into her larder and took a pie off
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Speaker 2: the shelf and looked at it. Oh, what a good idea.
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Speaker 2: Why shouldn't I rush along and put my pie into
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Speaker 2: Ribby's oven when Ribby isn't there. Ribby, in the meantime,
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Speaker 2: had received Duchess's answer, and as soon as she was
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Speaker 2: sure the little dog would come, she popped her pie
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Speaker 2: into the oven. There were two ovens, one above the other,
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Speaker 2: some other knobs and handles were only ornamental and not
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Speaker 2: intended to open. Ribby put the pie in the lower oven.
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Speaker 2: The door was very stiff. The top oven bakes too quickly,
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Speaker 2: said Ribby to herself. Ribby put on some coal and
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Speaker 2: swept the hearth. Then she went out with the can
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Speaker 2: to the well for water to fill up the kettle.
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Speaker 2: Then she began to set the room in order, for
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Speaker 2: was the sitting room as well as the kitchen. When
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Speaker 2: Ribby had laid the table, she went out down the
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Speaker 2: field to the farm to fetch milk and butter. When
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Speaker 2: she came back, she peeped into the bottom oven. The
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Speaker 2: pie looked very comfortable. Ribby put on her shawl and
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Speaker 2: bonnet and went out again with a basket to the
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Speaker 2: village shop to buy a packet of tea, a pound
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Speaker 2: of lump sugar, and a pot of marmalade. And just
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Speaker 2: at the same time Duchess came out of her house
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Speaker 2: at the other end of the village. Ribby met Duchess
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Speaker 2: half way down the street, also carrying a basket covered
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Speaker 2: with a cloth. They only bowed to one another. They
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Speaker 2: did not speak, because they were going to have a
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Speaker 2: party as soon as Duchess had got round the corner
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Speaker 2: out of sight. She simply ran straightway to Ribby's house.
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Speaker 2: Ribby went into the shop and bought what she required
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Speaker 2: and came out after a pleasant gossip with cousin Tabitha
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Speaker 2: titch Wit. Ribby went on to Timothy Baker's and bought
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Speaker 2: the muffins. Then she went home. There seemed to be
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Speaker 2: a sort of scuffling noise in the back passage as
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Speaker 2: she was coming in at the front door, but there
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Speaker 2: was nobody there. Duchess, in the meantime, had slipped out
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Speaker 2: the back door. It is a very odd thing that
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Speaker 2: Ribby's pie was not in the other when I put
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Speaker 2: mine in, and I can't find it anywhere. I have
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Speaker 2: looked all over the house. I put my pie into
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Speaker 2: a nice hot oven at the top. I could not
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Speaker 2: turn any of the other handles. I think they are
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Speaker 2: all shams, said Duchess. But I wish I could have
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Speaker 2: removed a pie made of mouse. I cannot think what
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Speaker 2: she has done of it. I heard Ribby coming and
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Speaker 2: I had to run out the back door. Duchess went
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Speaker 2: home and brushed her beautiful black coat, and then she
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Speaker 2: picked a bunch of flowers in her garden as a
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Speaker 2: present for Ribby, and passed the time until the clock
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Speaker 2: struck four. Ribby, having assured herself by careful search that
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Speaker 2: there really was no one hiding in the cupboard or
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Speaker 2: in the larder, went upstairs to change her dress. She
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Speaker 2: came downstairs again and made the tea and put the
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Speaker 2: teapot on the hob. She peeped into the bottom oven.
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Speaker 2: The pie had become a lovely brown and was steaming hot.
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Speaker 2: She sat down before the fire to wait for the
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Speaker 2: little dog. I'm glad I used the bottom oven, said Ribby.
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Speaker 2: The top one would certainly have been much too hot.
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Speaker 2: Very punctually, at four o'clock, Duchess started to go to
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Speaker 2: the party. At quarter past four to the minute, there
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Speaker 2: came an almost genteel little tappity tap, is miss Ribston
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Speaker 2: at home, inquired Duchess in the porch. Come in and
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Speaker 2: how do you do, my dear duchess, cried Ribby. I
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Speaker 2: hope i'd see you well quite well. I thank you,
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Speaker 2: And how did you do? My dear Ribby? Said duchess.
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Speaker 2: I've brought you some flowers. What a delicious smell of pie, Oh,
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Speaker 2: what lovely flowers? Yes, it is mouse and bacon. I
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Speaker 2: think it wants another five minutes, said Ribby. Just a
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Speaker 2: shade longer. I will pour out the tea while we wait.
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Speaker 2: Do you take sugar, my dear Duchess. Oh yes, please,
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Speaker 2: my dear Ribby, And may I have a lump upon
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Speaker 2: my nose with pleasure, my dear duchess. Duchess sat up
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Speaker 2: with the sugar on her nose and sniffed, Oh, how
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Speaker 2: good that pie smells. I do love veal and ham.
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Speaker 2: I meant to say mouse and bacon. She dropped the
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Speaker 2: sugar in confusion and had to go hunting under the
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Speaker 2: tea table, so did not see which oven Ribby opened
13:51
Speaker 2: in order to get out the pie. Ribby set the
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Speaker 2: pie upon the table. There was a very savory smell.
13:57
Speaker 2: Duchess came out from under the tablecloth, munching sugar, and
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Speaker 2: sat up on a chair. I will first cut the
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Speaker 2: pie for you. I'm going to have a muffin and marmalade,
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Speaker 2: said Ribby. I think, thought Duchess to herself. I think
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Speaker 2: it would be wiser if I helped myself to pie.
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Speaker 2: Though Ribby did not seem to notice anything when she
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Speaker 2: was cutting it. What very small fine pieces it has
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Speaker 2: cooked into. I did not remember that I had minced
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Speaker 2: it up so fine. I suppose this is a quicker
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Speaker 2: oven than my own. The pie dish was emptying rapidly.
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Speaker 2: Duchess had had four helps already and was fumbling with
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Speaker 2: the spoon. A little more bacon, my dear Duchess, said Ribby.
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Speaker 2: Thank you, my dear Ribby. I was only feeling for
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Speaker 2: the patty pan. The patty pan, my dear Duchess, the
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Speaker 2: patty pan that held up the pie crest, said Duchess,
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Speaker 2: blushing under her black coat.
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Speaker 3: Oh I didn't put one in, my.
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Speaker 2: Dear Duchess, said Ribby. I don't think that it is
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Speaker 2: necessary in pies made of mouse. Duchess fumbled with a spoon.
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Speaker 2: I can't find it, she said, anxiously. There isn't a
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Speaker 2: patty pan, said Ribby, looking perplexed. Yes, indeed, my dear Ribby,
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Speaker 2: where can it have gone to, said duchess. Duchess looked
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Speaker 2: very much alarmed, and continued to scoop the inside of
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Speaker 2: the pie dish. I have only four pi patty pans,
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Speaker 2: and they are all in the cupboard. Duchess set up
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Speaker 2: a howl. I shall die I shall die. I have
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Speaker 2: swallowed a patty pan. Oh, my dear Ribby, I do
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Speaker 2: feel so ill. It is impossible, my dear Duchess, there
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Speaker 2: was not a patty pan. Yes there was, my dear Ribby.
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Speaker 2: I am sure I have swallowed it. Let me prop
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Speaker 2: you up with a pillow, My dear Duchess. Where do
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Speaker 2: you think you feel it? Oh? I do feel so
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Speaker 2: ill all over me, my dear Ribby. Shall I run
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Speaker 2: for the doctor?
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Speaker 3: Oh?
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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, touch doctor Maggotty, my dear Ribby. He is
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Speaker 2: a pie himself. You will certainly understand. Ribby settled Duchess
15:39
Speaker 2: in an arm chair before the fire and went out
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Speaker 2: and hurried to the village to look for the doctor.
15:43
Speaker 2: She found him at the smithy. Ribby explained that her
15:45
Speaker 2: guest had swallowed a patty pan. Doctor Maggotty hopped so
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Speaker 2: fast that Ribby had to run. It was most conspicuous
15:51
Speaker 2: all the village could see that Ribby was fetching the doctor.
15:54
Speaker 2: But while Ribby had been hunting for the doctor, a
15:57
Speaker 2: curious thing had happened to Duchess, who had been left
15:59
Speaker 2: by herself sitting before the fire, sighing and groaning and
16:02
Speaker 2: feeling very unhappy. How could I have swallowed it such
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Speaker 2: a large thing as a patty pan. She sat down
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Speaker 2: again and stared mournfully at the grate. The fire crackled, danced,
16:11
Speaker 2: and something sizzled. Duchess started. She opened the door of
16:15
Speaker 2: the top oven. Out came a rich, steamy flavor of
16:18
Speaker 2: veal and ham, and there stood a fine brown pie.
16:21
Speaker 2: And through the hole in the top of the pie
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Speaker 2: crust was a glimpse of the little tin patty pan.
16:26
Speaker 2: Duchess drew a long breath. Then it must have been
16:29
Speaker 2: eating mouse. No wonder I feel ill, But perhaps I
16:32
Speaker 2: should feel worse if I had really swallowed a patty pan.
16:35
Speaker 2: Duchess reflected, what a very awkward thing to have to
16:38
Speaker 2: explain to Ribby. I think I will put my pie
16:41
Speaker 2: in the back yard and say nothing about it. When
16:43
Speaker 2: I go home, I will run round and take it away.
16:46
Speaker 2: She put it outside the back door and sat down
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Speaker 2: again by the fire and shut her eyes. When Ribby
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Speaker 2: arrived with the doctor, she seemed fast asleep. I am
16:54
Speaker 2: feeling very much better, said Duchess, waking up with a jump.
16:57
Speaker 2: I am truly glad to hear it. He has brought
16:59
Speaker 2: you a pill my dear Duchess, I think I should
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Speaker 2: feel quite well if he only felt my pulse, said Duchess,
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Speaker 2: backing away from the magpie, who sidled up with something
17:07
Speaker 2: in his beak. It is only a bread pill. You
17:10
Speaker 2: had much better take it. Drink a little milk, my
17:12
Speaker 2: dear duchess. I'm feeling very much better. My dear Ribby,
17:15
Speaker 2: said Duchess. Do you not think that I had better
17:17
Speaker 2: go home before it gets dark? Perhaps it might be wise,
17:20
Speaker 2: my dear duchess. Ribby and Duchess said good bye affectionately,
17:24
Speaker 2: and Duchess started home. Half Way up the lane, she
17:26
Speaker 2: stopped and looked back. Ribby had gone in and shut
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Speaker 2: her door. Duchess slipped through the fence and ran round
17:31
Speaker 2: the back of Ribby's house and peeped into the yard.
17:35
Speaker 2: Upon the roof of the pig stye sat Doctor Maggotty
17:37
Speaker 2: and three jackdaws. The jackdaws were eating pie crust, and
17:40
Speaker 2: the magpie was drinking gravy out of the patty pan.
17:43
Speaker 2: Duchess ran home, feeling uncommonly silly. When Ribby came out
17:47
Speaker 2: for a pailful of water to wash up the tea things,
17:50
Speaker 2: she found a pink and white pie dish lying smashed
17:52
Speaker 2: in the middle of the yard. Ribby stared with amazement,
17:55
Speaker 2: did you ever see the like? So there really was
17:58
Speaker 2: a patty pan. But my patty pans are all in
18:00
Speaker 2: the kitchen cupboard? Why I never did? Next time I
18:04
Speaker 2: ought to give a party of all in breat Cousin
18:05
Speaker 2: Tabitha Twitchet and the pie the paddy pan. The Complete
18:10
Speaker 2: Tales of Beatrice.
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Speaker 1: Potter The roly Poly Pudding by Beatrix Potter in remembrance
18:18
Speaker 1: of Sammy, the intelligent, pink eyed representative of a persecuted
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Speaker 1: but irrepressible race, an affectionate little friend, and most accomplished thief.
18:33
Speaker 1: Once upon a time there was an old cat called
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Speaker 1: Missus Tabitha Twitchet, who was an anxious parent. She used
18:43
Speaker 1: to lose her kittens continually, and whenever they were lost,
18:47
Speaker 1: they were always in mischief. On baking day, she determined
18:52
Speaker 1: to shut them up in a cupboard. She called Moppet
18:56
Speaker 1: and mittens, but she could not find Tom. Missus Tabitha
19:02
Speaker 1: went up and down all over the house, mewing for
19:06
Speaker 1: Tom kitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase,
19:11
Speaker 1: and she searched the best spare bedroom that was all
19:15
Speaker 1: covered up with dust sheets. She went right upstairs and
19:19
Speaker 1: looked into the attics, but she could not find him anywhere.
19:25
Speaker 1: It was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages.
19:30
Speaker 1: Some of the walls were four feet thick, and there
19:34
Speaker 1: used to be queer noises inside them, as if there
19:38
Speaker 1: might be a little secret staircase. Certainly, there were odd
19:43
Speaker 1: little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared at night,
19:49
Speaker 1: especially cheese and bacon. Missus Tabitha became more and more
19:54
Speaker 1: distracted and new dreadfully. While their mother was searching the house,
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Speaker 1: Moppet and Mittens had got into mischief. The cupboard door
20:06
Speaker 1: was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.
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Speaker 1: They went straight to the dough, which was set to
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Speaker 1: rise in a pan before the fire. They patted it
20:18
Speaker 1: with their little soft paws. Shall we make dear little muffins,
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Speaker 1: said Mittens to Moppet. But just at that moment somebody
20:30
Speaker 1: knocked at the front door, and Moppett jumped into the
20:33
Speaker 1: flower barrel in a fright. Mittens ran to the dairy
20:38
Speaker 1: and hid in an empty jar on the stone shelf,
20:41
Speaker 1: where the milk pans stand. The visitor was a neighbor,
20:46
Speaker 1: Missus Ribby. She had called to borrow some yeast. Missus
20:52
Speaker 1: Tabitha came downstairs, mewing dreadfully. Come in, Cousin Ribby, come
20:58
Speaker 1: in and sit you down. I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,
21:03
Speaker 1: said Tabitha, shedding tears. I've lost my dear son Thomas.
21:09
Speaker 1: I'm afraid the rats have got him. She wiped her
21:12
Speaker 1: eyes with her apron. He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha.
21:19
Speaker 1: He made a cat's cradle of my best bonnet last
21:22
Speaker 1: time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?
21:27
Speaker 1: All over the house? The rats are too many for me.
21:31
Speaker 1: What a thing it is to have an unruly family,
21:35
Speaker 1: said Missus Tabitha at Richard. I'm not afraid of rats.
21:40
Speaker 1: I will help you to find him and whip him too.
21:44
Speaker 1: What is all that suit in the finger the chimney
21:48
Speaker 1: once sweeping? Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby. Now moppet and
21:53
Speaker 1: mittens are gone. They have both got out of the cupboard.
21:59
Speaker 1: Ribby and Tabitha said to work to search the house
22:01
Speaker 1: thoroughly again. They poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella,
22:06
Speaker 1: and they rummaged in cupboards. They even fetched a candle
22:11
Speaker 1: and looked inside a clove's chest in one of the attics.
22:16
Speaker 1: They could not find anything, but once they heard a
22:19
Speaker 1: door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs. Yes, it is infested
22:27
Speaker 1: with rats, said Tabitha tearfully. I caught seven young ones
22:32
Speaker 1: out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we
22:35
Speaker 1: had them for dinner last Saturday. And once I saw
22:40
Speaker 1: the old father rat, an enormous old rat, cousin Ribby,
22:44
Speaker 1: I was just going to jump upon him, when he
22:47
Speaker 1: showed his yellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.
22:52
Speaker 1: The rats get upon my nerves, cousin Ribby, said Tabitha.
22:57
Speaker 1: Ribby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a
23:02
Speaker 1: curious roly poly noise under the attic floor. There was
23:06
Speaker 1: nothing to be seen. They returned to the kitchen. Here's
23:12
Speaker 1: one of your kittens, at least, said Ribby, dragging Moppet
23:17
Speaker 1: out of the flower barrel. They shook the flower off
23:21
Speaker 1: her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She
23:25
Speaker 1: seemed to be in a terrible fright. Oh mother, mother,
23:30
Speaker 1: said Morpet there's been an old woman rat in the kitchen,
23:35
Speaker 1: and she's stolen some of the dough. The two cats
23:39
Speaker 1: ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough, there
23:43
Speaker 1: were marks of little scratching fingers, and a lump of
23:46
Speaker 1: dough was gone. Which way did she go? Mobert? But
23:52
Speaker 1: Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of
23:55
Speaker 1: the barrel again. Ribby and Tabitha took her with them
23:59
Speaker 1: to keep her safely in sight while they went on
24:02
Speaker 1: with their search. They went into the dairy. The first
24:08
Speaker 1: thing they found was Mittens, hiding in an empty jar.
24:14
Speaker 1: They tipped over the jar, and she scrambled out, Oh mother, mother,
24:20
Speaker 1: said Mittens, Oh mother, mother. There has been an old
24:25
Speaker 1: man rat in the dairy, a dreadful, enormous figure at mother,
24:29
Speaker 1: and he stole in a pat of butter and the
24:31
Speaker 1: rolling pin. Ribby and Tabitha looked at one another, A
24:38
Speaker 1: rolling pin and butter. Oh my poor son, Thomas, exclaimed Tabitha,
24:44
Speaker 1: wringing her paws. A rolling pin, said Ribby. Did we
24:51
Speaker 1: not hear a roly poly noise in the attic when
24:53
Speaker 1: we were looking into that chest? Ribby and Tabitha rushed upstairs.
24:59
Speaker 4: Again.
25:00
Speaker 1: Sure enough, the roly poly noise was still going on.
25:04
Speaker 1: Quite distinctly under the attic floor was his serious cousin.
25:10
Speaker 1: Tabitha said, rebby, we must send for John Joyner at
25:14
Speaker 1: once with a saw. Now this is what had been
25:18
Speaker 1: happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very unwise
25:22
Speaker 1: it is to go up a chimney in a very
25:24
Speaker 1: old house, where a person does not know his way,
25:27
Speaker 1: and where there are enormous rats. Tom Kitten did not
25:32
Speaker 1: want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he
25:35
Speaker 1: saw that his mother was going to bake, he determined
25:38
Speaker 1: to hide. He looked about for a nice convenient place,
25:42
Speaker 1: and he fixed upon the chimney. The fire had only
25:47
Speaker 1: just been lighted, and it was not hot, but there
25:50
Speaker 1: was a white, choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom
25:54
Speaker 1: Kitten got upon the fender and looked up. It was
25:58
Speaker 1: a big, old fashioned fire place. The chimney itself was
26:03
Speaker 1: wide enough inside for a man to stand up and
26:06
Speaker 1: walk about, so there was plenty of room for a
26:09
Speaker 1: little tom cat. He jumped right up into the fireplace,
26:15
Speaker 1: balancing himself upon the iron bar where the kettle hangs.
26:20
Speaker 1: Tom Kitten took another big jump off the bar and
26:22
Speaker 1: landed on a ledge high up inside the chimney, knocking
26:27
Speaker 1: down some suit into the fender. Tom Kitten coughed and
26:32
Speaker 1: choked with the smoke. He could hear the sticks beginning
26:35
Speaker 1: to crackle and burn in the fireplace down below. He
26:39
Speaker 1: made up his mind to climb right to the top
26:42
Speaker 1: and get out on the slates and try to catch sparrows.
26:47
Speaker 1: I cannot go back. If I slipped, I might fall
26:50
Speaker 1: in the fire and singe my beautiful tail and my
26:53
Speaker 1: little blue jacket. The chimney was a very big, old
26:57
Speaker 1: fashioned one. It was in the days when people burnt
27:01
Speaker 1: logs of wood upon the hearth. The chimney stack stood
27:06
Speaker 1: up above the roof like a little stone tower, and
27:09
Speaker 1: the daylight shone down from the top under the slanting
27:12
Speaker 1: slates that kept out the rain. Tom Kitten was getting
27:17
Speaker 1: very frightened. He climbed up and up and up. Then
27:22
Speaker 1: he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like
27:26
Speaker 1: a little sweep himself. It was most confusing in the dark.
27:32
Speaker 1: One flu seemed to lead into another. There was less smoke,
27:37
Speaker 1: but tom Kitten felt quite lost. He scrambled up and up,
27:43
Speaker 1: but before he reached the chimney top. He came to
27:46
Speaker 1: a place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall.
27:49
Speaker 1: There were some mutton bones lying about. This seems funny,
27:55
Speaker 1: said Tom Kitten, who has been gnawing bones up here
27:59
Speaker 1: in the chimney. I wish I had never come. And
28:03
Speaker 1: what a funny smell. It is something like a mouse,
28:07
Speaker 1: only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze, said Tom Kitten.
28:14
Speaker 1: He squeezed through the hole in the wall and dragged
28:16
Speaker 1: himself along a most uncomfortably tight passage, where there was
28:21
Speaker 1: scarcely any light. He groped his way carefully for several yards.
28:27
Speaker 1: He was at the back of the skirting board in
28:29
Speaker 1: the attic where there is a little mark in the picture.
28:34
Speaker 1: All at once he fell head over heels in the dark,
28:36
Speaker 1: down a hole, and landed on a heap of very
28:39
Speaker 1: dirty rags. When Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked
28:44
Speaker 1: about him, he found himself in a place that he
28:47
Speaker 1: had never seen before, although he had lived all his
28:50
Speaker 1: life in the house. It was a very small, stuffy,
28:54
Speaker 1: fusty room, with boards and rafters and cobwebs and laugh
28:58
Speaker 1: and plaster opposite to him, as far away as he
29:03
Speaker 1: could sit was an enormous rat. What do you mean
29:08
Speaker 1: by tumbling into my bed all covered with swots? Said
29:12
Speaker 1: the rat, chattering his teeth. Please, sir, the chimney one sweeping,
29:19
Speaker 1: said poor Tom Kitten. Anne Maria, and A Maria squeaked
29:24
Speaker 1: the rat. There was a pattering noise, and an old
29:28
Speaker 1: woman rat poked her head round her. After all, in
29:32
Speaker 1: a minute, she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he
29:36
Speaker 1: knew what was happening, his coat was pulled off and
29:40
Speaker 1: he was rolled up in a bundle and tied with
29:43
Speaker 1: string in very hard knots Anna Maria did the tying.
29:49
Speaker 1: The old rat watched her and took snuff. When she
29:52
Speaker 1: had finished, they both sat staring at him with their
29:56
Speaker 1: mouths open. Ana Maria said the old man rat, whose
30:02
Speaker 1: name was Samuel Whiskers, Sonna Maria, take me a kitten
30:06
Speaker 1: dumpling roly poly pudding for my dinner. It requires dough
30:12
Speaker 1: and a pat of butter and a rolling pin, said
30:15
Speaker 1: Anna Maria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side. No,
30:22
Speaker 1: said Samuel Whiskers. Make it properly, Anna Maria, with bread crumbs,
30:29
Speaker 1: places butter and dough, replied Anna Maria. The two rats
30:35
Speaker 1: consulted together for a few minutes, and then went away.
30:40
Speaker 1: Samuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot and
30:43
Speaker 1: went boldly down the front staircase to the dairy to
30:46
Speaker 1: get the butter. He did not meet anybody. He made
30:51
Speaker 1: a second journey for the rolling pin. He pushed it
30:55
Speaker 1: in front of him with his paws like a brewer's man,
30:58
Speaker 1: trundling a varrow. He could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking,
31:03
Speaker 1: but they were too busy lighting the candle to look
31:05
Speaker 1: into the chest. They did not see him. Anna Maria
31:11
Speaker 1: went down by way of skirting board and a window
31:14
Speaker 1: shutter to the kitchen to steal the dough. She borrowed
31:18
Speaker 1: a small saucer and scooped up the dough with her paws.
31:23
Speaker 1: She did not observe Moppet. While tom Kitten was left
31:28
Speaker 1: alone under the floor of the attic, he wriggled about
31:31
Speaker 1: and tried to mew for help, but his mouth was
31:35
Speaker 1: full of soota and cobwebs, and he was tied up
31:38
Speaker 1: in such very tight knots. He could not make anybody
31:41
Speaker 1: hear him, except a spider who came out of a
31:46
Speaker 1: crack in the ceiling and examined the knots critically from
31:49
Speaker 1: a safe distance. It was a judge of knots because
31:54
Speaker 1: it had a habit of tying up unfortunate blue bottles.
31:58
Speaker 1: It did not offer to assist tim. Tom Kitten wriggled
32:03
Speaker 1: and squirmed until he was quite exhausted. Presently, the rats
32:08
Speaker 1: came back and set to work to make him into
32:11
Speaker 1: a dumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then
32:15
Speaker 1: they rolled him in the dough. Will not the string
32:19
Speaker 1: be very indigestible, Anna Maria, inquired Samuel Whiskers. Anna Maria
32:26
Speaker 1: said she thought that it was of no consequence, but
32:30
Speaker 1: she wished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still
32:33
Speaker 1: as it disarranged the pastry. She laid hold of his ears.
32:39
Speaker 1: Tom Kitten bit and spit and mewed and wriggled, and
32:43
Speaker 1: the rolling pin went rowly poly roly, roly, poly roly.
32:48
Speaker 1: The rats each held an end his tail is sticking out.
32:54
Speaker 1: Who did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria? I fetched
32:58
Speaker 1: as much as I could carry, replied Anna Maria. I
33:03
Speaker 1: do not think, said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a
33:06
Speaker 1: look at Tom Kitten. I do not think it will
33:10
Speaker 1: be a good pudding. It smells sooty. Anna Maria was
33:15
Speaker 1: about to argue the point, when all at once there
33:18
Speaker 1: began to be other sounds up above, the rasping noise
33:22
Speaker 1: of a sow and the noise of a little dog
33:25
Speaker 1: scratching and yelping. The rats dropped the rolling pin and
33:31
Speaker 1: listened attentively. We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria. Let
33:36
Speaker 1: us collect our property and other people's and depart at once.
33:42
Speaker 1: I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding,
33:46
Speaker 1: but I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible.
33:50
Speaker 1: Whatever you may urge to the contrary, come away at
33:54
Speaker 1: once and help me to tie up some mutton bones
33:56
Speaker 1: in a counterpane, said Anna Amelia. I have got half
34:01
Speaker 1: a smoked ham hidden in the chimney. So it happened
34:05
Speaker 1: that by the time John Joyner had got the plank up,
34:08
Speaker 1: there was nobody here under the floor except the rolling
34:11
Speaker 1: pin and tom kitten in a very dirty dumpling. But
34:17
Speaker 1: there was a strong smell of rats, and John Joyner
34:20
Speaker 1: spent the rest of the morning sniffing and whining and
34:23
Speaker 1: wagging his tail and going round and round with his
34:27
Speaker 1: head in the hole like a gimblet. Then he nailed
34:30
Speaker 1: the plank down again and put his tools in his
34:33
Speaker 1: bag and came downstairs. The cat family had quite recovered.
34:39
Speaker 1: They invited him to stay to dinner. The dumpling had
34:43
Speaker 1: been peeled off tom kitten and made separately into a
34:47
Speaker 1: bag pudding with currants in it. To hide the smoods.
34:52
Speaker 1: They had been obliged to put tom kitten into a
34:54
Speaker 1: hot bath to get the butter off. John Joyna smelt
34:59
Speaker 1: the pudding, but he regretted that he had not time
35:02
Speaker 1: to stay to dinner because he had just finished making
35:05
Speaker 1: a wheelbarrow for Miss Potter, and she had ordered two hencoops.
35:11
Speaker 1: And when I was going to the post late in
35:13
Speaker 1: the afternoon, I looked up the land from the corner
35:16
Speaker 1: and I saw mister Samuel Whiskers and his wife on
35:19
Speaker 1: the run with big bundles on a little wheelbarrow which
35:23
Speaker 1: looked very much like mine. They were just turning in
35:28
Speaker 1: at the gate to the barn of farmer Potatoes. Samuel
35:32
Speaker 1: Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was
35:36
Speaker 1: still arguing in shrill tones. She seemed to know her
35:41
Speaker 1: way and she seemed to have a quantity of luggage.
35:46
Speaker 1: I am sure I never gave her leave to borrow
35:49
Speaker 1: my wheelbarrow. They went into the barn and hauled their
35:53
Speaker 1: parcels with a bit of string to the top of
35:56
Speaker 1: the hay mow. After that there were no more rats
36:01
Speaker 1: for a long time at Tabitha Twitches. As for Farmer Potatoes,
36:07
Speaker 1: he has been driven nearly distracted. There are rats and
36:11
Speaker 1: rats and rats in his barn. They eat up the
36:14
Speaker 1: chicken food, and steal the oats and bran, and make
36:17
Speaker 1: holes in their meal bags. And they are all descended
36:21
Speaker 1: from mister and missus Samuel Whiskers children and grandchildren and
36:27
Speaker 1: great great grand children. There is no end to them.
36:33
Speaker 1: Market and mittens have grown up into very good rat catches.
36:38
Speaker 1: They go out rat catching in the village and they
36:41
Speaker 1: find plenty of employment. They charge so much a dozen
36:45
Speaker 1: and earn their living very comfortably. They hung up the
36:50
Speaker 1: rat's tails in a row on the barn door to
36:53
Speaker 1: show how many they have caught, dozens and dozens of them.
36:58
Speaker 1: But Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat.
37:02
Speaker 1: He never does face anything that is bigger than a mouse.
37:09
Speaker 1: Angel the roly poly pudding.
37:13
Speaker 5: The story of Miss Moppett. This is a pussy called
37:17
Speaker 5: miss Moppet. She thinks she has heard a mouse. This
37:23
Speaker 5: is the mouse peeping out behind the cupboard and making
37:26
Speaker 5: fun of miss Moppett. He is not afraid of a kitten.
37:31
Speaker 5: This is miss Moppett jumping just too late. She misses
37:35
Speaker 5: the mouse and hits her own head. She thinks it
37:38
Speaker 5: is a very hard cupboard. The mouse watches Miss Moppett
37:43
Speaker 5: from the top of the cupboard. Miss Moppett ties up
37:46
Speaker 5: her head in a duster and sits before the fire.
37:50
Speaker 5: The mouse thinks she is looking very ill. He comes
37:54
Speaker 5: sliding down the bell pull. Miss Moppett looks worse and worse.
38:00
Speaker 5: The mouse comes a little nearer. Miss Moppett holds her
38:04
Speaker 5: poor head in her paws and looks at him through
38:06
Speaker 5: a hole in the duster. The mouse comes very close,
38:12
Speaker 5: and then all of a sudden, Miss Muppett jumps upon
38:15
Speaker 5: the mouse. And because the mouse has teased Miss Moppet,
38:19
Speaker 5: miss Moppett thinks she will tease the mouse, which is
38:23
Speaker 5: not at all nice of miss Moppet. She ties him
38:27
Speaker 5: up in the duster and tosses it about like a ball.
38:31
Speaker 5: But she forgot about that hole in the duster, and
38:34
Speaker 5: when she untied it there was no mouse. He had
38:38
Speaker 5: wriggled out and run away. And he is dancing a
38:41
Speaker 5: jig on top of the cupboard. And of the Story
38:46
Speaker 5: of Miss Moppett by Beatrix Potter.
38:49
Speaker 6: The Story of a fierce bad Rabbit. This is a
38:54
Speaker 6: fierce bad rabbit. Look at his savage whiskers and his
38:58
Speaker 6: claws and is turned up tail. This is a nice,
39:02
Speaker 6: gentle rabbit. His mother has given him a carrot. The
39:07
Speaker 6: bad rabbit would like some carrot. He doesn't say please.
39:11
Speaker 6: He takes it and scratches the good rabbit very badly.
39:16
Speaker 6: The good rabbit creeps away and hides in a hole.
39:19
Speaker 6: It feels sad. This is a man with a gun.
39:24
Speaker 6: He sees something sitting on a bench. He thinks it
39:27
Speaker 6: is a very funny bird. He keeps creeping up behind
39:32
Speaker 6: the trees, and then he shoots bang. This is what happens.
39:36
Speaker 6: But this is all he finds on the bench. When
39:39
Speaker 6: he rushes up with his gun, the good rabbit peeps
39:42
Speaker 6: out of his hole and sees the bad rabbit tearing
39:46
Speaker 6: past without any tail or whiskers. The end of the
39:52
Speaker 6: story of the fierce bad rabbit.
39:55
Speaker 7: The Tailor of Blouster by Beatrix Potter. In the time
39:59
Speaker 7: of lords and periwigs and full skirted coats with flowered lappets,
40:03
Speaker 7: when gentlemen wore ruffles and gold laced waistcoats of pederssoy
40:06
Speaker 7: and taffeta, the lived a tailor and Gloucester. He sat
40:10
Speaker 7: in the window of a little shop in Westcote Street,
40:13
Speaker 7: cross legged on a table from morning till dark. All
40:17
Speaker 7: day long, while the light lasted, he sewed and snippeted,
40:21
Speaker 7: piecing out his satin and pompadour and lutestring. Stuffs had
40:25
Speaker 7: strange names and were very expensive in the days of
40:28
Speaker 7: the Tailor of Gloucester. But although he sewed fine silk
40:32
Speaker 7: for his neighbors, he himself was very very poor, A
40:36
Speaker 7: little old man in spectacles, with a pinched face, old
40:41
Speaker 7: crooked fingers and a suit of threadbare clothes. He cut
40:46
Speaker 7: his coats without waist according to his embroidered cloth. They
40:50
Speaker 7: were very small ends and snippets that lay about upon
40:53
Speaker 7: the table, two narrow breads for knout, except waistcoats for mice,
40:58
Speaker 7: said the tailor. One bitter cold day near Christmas time,
41:03
Speaker 7: the tailor began to make a coat, a coat of
41:06
Speaker 7: cherry colored corded silk, embroidered with pansies and roses, and
41:10
Speaker 7: a cream colored satin whiskered trimmed with gauze and green
41:13
Speaker 7: worsted chineel for the mare of Gloucester. The tailor worked
41:18
Speaker 7: and worked, and he talked to himself. He measured the silk,
41:22
Speaker 7: and turned it round and round, and trimmed it into
41:25
Speaker 7: shape with his shears. The table was all littered with
41:28
Speaker 7: cherry colored snippets, no bread, the tall and cut on
41:33
Speaker 7: the cross. It's now bread, the tall tippets for mice,
41:36
Speaker 7: and ribbons for mobs, and for mice, said the tailor
41:39
Speaker 7: of Gloucester. When the snowplakes came down against the small
41:43
Speaker 7: leaded window panes and shut out the light, the tailor
41:46
Speaker 7: had done his day's work. All the silk and satin
41:49
Speaker 7: they cut out upon the table. There were twelve pieces
41:53
Speaker 7: for the coat, and four pieces for the waistcoat, and
41:57
Speaker 7: there were pocket flaps, and cuffs and buttons all in order.
42:01
Speaker 7: For the lining of the coat there was fine yellow taffeta,
42:04
Speaker 7: and for the buttonholes of the waistcoat there was cherry
42:06
Speaker 7: colored twist. And everything was ready to sew together in
42:10
Speaker 7: the morning, all measured and sufficient, except that there was
42:14
Speaker 7: wanting just one single skein of cherry colored twisted silk.
42:20
Speaker 7: Tailor came out of his shop at dark, for he
42:22
Speaker 7: did not sleep there at nights. He fastened the window
42:25
Speaker 7: and locked the door, and took away the key. No
42:28
Speaker 7: one lived there at night but little brown mice, and
42:31
Speaker 7: they run in and out without any keys. For behind
42:34
Speaker 7: the wooden winscots of all the old houses in Gloucester
42:37
Speaker 7: dour little mouse staircases and secret trap doors, and the
42:42
Speaker 7: mice run from house to house through those long, narrow passages.
42:46
Speaker 7: They can run all over the town without going into
42:48
Speaker 7: the streets. But the tailor came out of his shop
42:52
Speaker 7: and shuffled home through the snow. He can lived quite
42:56
Speaker 7: near by in College Court, next to the doorway to
42:59
Speaker 7: College Green, And although it was not a big house,
43:02
Speaker 7: the tailor was so poor he only rented the kitchen.
43:07
Speaker 7: He lived alone with his cat. It was called Simpkin.
43:11
Speaker 7: Now all day long, while the tailor was out at work,
43:14
Speaker 7: Simpkin kept house by himself, and he was also fond
43:18
Speaker 7: of the mice. Though we gave him no satin for coats, mum,
43:22
Speaker 7: said the cat. When the tailor opened the door, ah
43:26
Speaker 7: the tailor replied, simkin, we shall make our fortune, but
43:31
Speaker 7: I am worn to a raveling. Take this groat, which
43:35
Speaker 7: is our last fourpence, and simkin, take a china pipkin,
43:39
Speaker 7: buy a penneth of bread, a penneth of milk, and
43:43
Speaker 7: a penneth of sausages. And oh, Simpkin, with the last
43:47
Speaker 7: penny of our fourpence, buy me one penneth of cherry
43:50
Speaker 7: colored silk, But do not lose the last penny of
43:54
Speaker 7: the sorpans Simpkin, or I am undone and want a
43:56
Speaker 7: thread paper, for I have no more twist. Then Simpkin
44:00
Speaker 7: again said ahm, and took the groat and the pipkin
44:04
Speaker 7: and went out into the dark. The tailor was very
44:09
Speaker 7: tired and beginning to be ill. He sat down by
44:11
Speaker 7: the hearth and talked to himself about that wonderful coat.
44:17
Speaker 8: I shall make my fortune to be cut bias. The
44:23
Speaker 8: Mayor of Gloucester is to be married on Christmas Day
44:25
Speaker 8: in the morning, and he's ordered a coat and an
44:28
Speaker 8: embroidered voistcoat to be lined with the yellow taffeta and
44:31
Speaker 8: the taftas of this there is no more left over.
44:34
Speaker 7: In snippets that will serve to make tippets for mice.
44:38
Speaker 7: Then the tailor started for suddenly interrupting him from the
44:42
Speaker 7: dresser at the other side of the kitchen came a
44:44
Speaker 7: number of little noises.
44:46
Speaker 3: Tip tup, tip tup, tip up.
44:49
Speaker 7: Now what can that be? Said the tailor of Gloucester,
44:53
Speaker 7: jumping up from his chair. The dresser was covered with
44:56
Speaker 7: crockery and pipkins, willow pattern plates, and teacups and mugs.
45:01
Speaker 7: The tailor crossed the kitchen and stood quite still beside
45:04
Speaker 7: the dresser, listening and peering through his spectacles. Again, from
45:08
Speaker 7: under a tea cup came those funny little noises.
45:11
Speaker 3: Tip tap tip tap tick tub dep.
45:16
Speaker 7: This is very peculiar, said the tailor of Bluster, and
45:19
Speaker 7: he lifted at the tea cup, which was upside down.
45:23
Speaker 7: Art stepped a little live lady mouse and made a
45:26
Speaker 7: curtsey to the tailor. Then she hopped away down off
45:29
Speaker 7: the dresser and under the wainscirt. The tailor sat down
45:32
Speaker 7: again by the fire, warming his poor cold hands and
45:36
Speaker 7: mumbling to himself. Horstcats cut out from peach colored satin,
45:41
Speaker 7: tamba stitch and rose buds in beautiful floss silk. Oh,
45:46
Speaker 7: was I wise to entrust my last fourpence to Simpkin
45:50
Speaker 7: One and twenty button holes of cherry colored twist. But
45:54
Speaker 7: all at once from the dresser there came other little noises.
45:57
Speaker 3: Tdap dip, dup t dip.
46:02
Speaker 7: This is passing extraordinary, said the tailor of Gloucester, and
46:06
Speaker 7: turned over another teacup, which was upside down. Out stepped
46:10
Speaker 7: a little gentleman mouse made a bow to the tailor,
46:14
Speaker 7: And then from all over the dresser came a chorus
46:16
Speaker 7: of little tappings, all sounding together and answering one another,
46:20
Speaker 7: like watch beetles in an old worm eaten windows.
46:23
Speaker 3: Shutter, tip up, tip tup, tip tup, dep and.
46:29
Speaker 7: Out from under tea cups, and from under bowls and
46:32
Speaker 7: basins stepped other and more little mice, who hopped away
46:35
Speaker 7: down off the dresser and under the windskirt. The tailor
46:39
Speaker 7: sat down close to the fire, lamenting oh. One and
46:44
Speaker 7: twenty button holes of cherry colored silk to be finished
46:49
Speaker 7: by noon of Saturday, and this is Tuesday evening. Was
46:54
Speaker 7: it right to let loose those mice? Undoubtedly the property
46:58
Speaker 7: of Simpkins, Oh Lak, I am undone, for I have
47:03
Speaker 7: no more twist. The little mice came out again and
47:07
Speaker 7: listened to the tailor. They took notice of the pattern
47:10
Speaker 7: of that wonderful coat. They listened to one another about
47:13
Speaker 7: the taffert lining, and about little mouse tippets, and then
47:18
Speaker 7: all at once they all ran away together down the
47:20
Speaker 7: passage behind the wainscoat, squeaking and calling to one another
47:23
Speaker 7: as they ran from house to house, and not one
47:27
Speaker 7: mouse was left in the tailor's kitchen when Simpkin came
47:29
Speaker 7: back with the pipkin of milk. Simpkin opened the door
47:33
Speaker 7: and bounced in with an angry wow, like a cat
47:37
Speaker 7: that is vexed, for he hated the snow, and there
47:40
Speaker 7: was snow in his ears and snow in his collar
47:43
Speaker 7: at the back of his neck. He put down the
47:45
Speaker 7: loaf and the sausages upon the dresser and sniffed. Simpkin
47:50
Speaker 7: said the tailor, where's my twist? But Simpkin sat down
47:55
Speaker 7: the pipper and milk upon the dresser and looked suspiciously
47:58
Speaker 7: at the tea cups. He wanted his supper of little
48:01
Speaker 7: fat mouse. Simpkin said the tailor, where is my twist?
48:07
Speaker 7: But Simpkin had a little parcel privately in the teapot,
48:10
Speaker 7: and spit and growled at the tailor. And if Simpkin
48:13
Speaker 7: had been able to talk, he would have asked, where
48:16
Speaker 7: is my mouse? Alack I am undone, said the tailor
48:21
Speaker 7: of Gloucester, and went sadly to bed. All that night
48:26
Speaker 7: long Simpkin hunted and searched through the kitchen, peeping into
48:29
Speaker 7: cupboards and under the wainskirt, and into the teapot we'd
48:32
Speaker 7: hidden that twist, But still he never found a mouse.
48:37
Speaker 7: Whenever the tailor muttered and talked in his sleep, Simpkin
48:40
Speaker 7: went craw and made strange, horrid noises, as cats do
48:45
Speaker 7: at night. For the poor old tailor was very eel
48:50
Speaker 7: with a fever, tossing and turning in his forecoast bed,
48:54
Speaker 7: and still in his dreams he mumbled, ho more twist,
48:59
Speaker 7: no more twist. All that day he was ill, and
49:02
Speaker 7: the next day and the next, And what should become
49:06
Speaker 7: of the cherry colored coat in the tailor's shop in
49:09
Speaker 7: Westcote Street, The embroidered silk and satin they cut out
49:12
Speaker 7: upon the table one and twenty button holes, And who
49:15
Speaker 7: should come to sow them? When the window was barred
49:18
Speaker 7: and the door was locked, But that does not hinder
49:21
Speaker 7: the little brown mice. They run in and out without
49:24
Speaker 7: any keys through all the old houses in Gloucester. Out
49:29
Speaker 7: of doors. The market folks went trudging through the snow
49:31
Speaker 7: to buy their geese and turkeys, and to bake their
49:33
Speaker 7: Christmas pies. But there'd be no Christmas dinner for sinking.
49:37
Speaker 7: And the poor old tailor of Gloucester. The tailor lay
49:41
Speaker 7: ill for three days and nights. And when it was
49:44
Speaker 7: Christmas Eve and very late at night, the moon climbed
49:48
Speaker 7: up over the roofs and chimneys and looked down over
49:50
Speaker 7: the gateway into College Court. There were no lights in
49:53
Speaker 7: the windows, nor any sound in the houses. All the
49:57
Speaker 7: streets of Gloucester were fast asleep under the snow. And
50:02
Speaker 7: still Simpkin wanted his mice, and he mewed as he
50:05
Speaker 7: stood beside the four post bed. But it is in
50:09
Speaker 7: the old story that all the beasts can talk in
50:12
Speaker 7: the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the morning,
50:15
Speaker 7: though there are very few folk that can hear them
50:18
Speaker 7: or know what it is that they say. When the
50:22
Speaker 7: cathedral clock stuck twelve, there was an answer, like an
50:25
Speaker 7: echo of the chimes, and Simpkin heard it, and came
50:28
Speaker 7: out of the tailor's door and wandered about in the snow.
50:33
Speaker 7: From all the roofs and gables and old wooden houses
50:35
Speaker 7: in Gloucester came a thousand merry voices, seeing the old
50:38
Speaker 7: Christmas rhymes, all the old songs that ever I heard of,
50:43
Speaker 7: and some that I don't know, like Whittington's bells. First
50:47
Speaker 7: and loudest, the cocks cried out, Dame, get up and
50:52
Speaker 7: bake your pies. Oh dilly, dilly, dilly, sighed Simpkin. And
50:57
Speaker 7: now in a garret there were lights and sounds of dancing,
51:00
Speaker 7: and cats came from over the way.
51:02
Speaker 3: Hey, little little the cat the.
51:04
Speaker 7: Fiddle, All the cats in Gloucester except me, said Simpkin.
51:09
Speaker 7: Under the wooden eaves, the starlings and sparrows sang of
51:12
Speaker 7: Christmas pies. The jack doors woke up in the cathedral tower,
51:17
Speaker 7: and although it was the middle of the night, the
51:19
Speaker 7: throstles and robins sang. The air was quite full of
51:22
Speaker 7: little twittering tunes. But it was all rather provoking to
51:27
Speaker 7: poor hungry Simpkin particularly, he was vexed with some little
51:32
Speaker 7: shrill voices from behind a wooden lattice. I think they
51:35
Speaker 7: were bats, because they always have very small voices, especially
51:39
Speaker 7: in a black frost, when they talk in their sleep.
51:42
Speaker 7: Like the tailor of Gloucester. They said something mysterious that
51:46
Speaker 7: sounded like bus quoth the blue fly, hum quoth the bee.
51:51
Speaker 7: Buzz and hum, they cry, and so do we. And
51:54
Speaker 7: Simpkin went away, shaking his ears as if he had
51:57
Speaker 7: a bee in his bonnet. From the tailor's shopping westcat
52:01
Speaker 7: came a glow of light, and when Simpkin crept up
52:04
Speaker 7: to peep in at the window, twas full of candles.
52:07
Speaker 7: There was a snippeting of scissors and snappeting of thread,
52:10
Speaker 7: and little mouse voices sang loudly and gaily four and
52:14
Speaker 7: twenty tailors went to catch a snail.
52:16
Speaker 9: Best man amongst them, dost not touch her tail? She
52:20
Speaker 9: put out her horns like a little kind of cove.
52:23
Speaker 9: Run tailors run, or shall have you all in now? Then,
52:27
Speaker 9: without a pause, little voice sus went on again, Sif
52:32
Speaker 9: my ladies oat mlk gone, my lady's flower, put it
52:35
Speaker 9: in her chestnut. Let it stander now, interrupted Simpkin, and
52:41
Speaker 9: he scratched at the door, but the key was under
52:43
Speaker 9: the tailor's pillow, and he could not get in. The
52:46
Speaker 9: little mice only laughed and tried another tune.
52:50
Speaker 7: Three little mice set down to spin. Pussy passed by,
52:54
Speaker 7: and she peeped in. What are you at, my little
52:56
Speaker 7: fine men making coats for gentlemen? Will I come in
53:00
Speaker 7: and cut off your threads? Oh no, miss Pussy, you'd
53:03
Speaker 7: bite off our heads, cried simpkin. Here you'll dear nitty,
53:11
Speaker 7: answered the little mice.
53:12
Speaker 10: Here, little dickitty bobbity pet merchants of London, they wear
53:16
Speaker 10: scarlet soak in the collar.
53:18
Speaker 7: And gold in the hem. So merrily marchreth the merchantmen.
53:22
Speaker 7: They clicked their thimbles to march the time, but none
53:25
Speaker 7: of the songs, please Simpkin. A sniff commwed at the
53:27
Speaker 7: door of the shop.
53:29
Speaker 10: And then I bought a pickin and a popkin, a
53:31
Speaker 10: slipkin under stopkin, all for one farthing.
53:35
Speaker 7: Hand upon the kitchen dresser added the rude little mice.
53:39
Speaker 3: Ah trash scratch.
53:42
Speaker 7: Scuffled Simpkin on the window sill, while the little mice
53:45
Speaker 7: inside sprang to their feet, and all began to shout
53:48
Speaker 7: at once and little twittering voices. No b twist, no
53:51
Speaker 7: go twist, and they barred at the window shutters and
53:54
Speaker 7: shut out Simpkin. But still through the nicks in the
53:57
Speaker 7: shutters he could hear the click of slimbles and the
54:00
Speaker 7: mouse voices singing, no mo twist, No mo twist. Simpkin
54:05
Speaker 7: came away from the shop and went home, considering in
54:08
Speaker 7: his mind. He found the poor old tailor, without fever,
54:12
Speaker 7: sleeping peacefully. Then Simpkin went on tiptoe and took a
54:16
Speaker 7: little parcel of silk out of the teapot and looked
54:19
Speaker 7: at it in the moonlight, and he felt quite ashamed
54:22
Speaker 7: of his badness compared with those good little mice. When
54:26
Speaker 7: the tailor awoke in the morning, the first thing which
54:29
Speaker 7: he saw upon the patchwork quilk was a skein of
54:31
Speaker 7: jelly colored twisted silk, And beside his bed stood the
54:35
Speaker 7: repentant Simpkin.
54:37
Speaker 2: A lack.
54:38
Speaker 7: I am onto a raveling, said the tailor of Gloucester.
54:41
Speaker 3: But I have my twist.
54:44
Speaker 7: The sun was shining on the snow, and the tailor
54:46
Speaker 7: got up and dressed and came out into the street,
54:48
Speaker 7: with Simpkin running before him. The starlings whistled on the
54:52
Speaker 7: chimney stacks, and the throstles and robins sang, but they
54:55
Speaker 7: sang their own little noises, not the words they had
54:58
Speaker 7: sung in the night. A lack, said the tailor. I
55:03
Speaker 7: haven't my twist, but no more strength nor time than
55:06
Speaker 7: will serve to make me one single button hole. For
55:09
Speaker 7: this is Christmas Day in the morning. The Mare of
55:12
Speaker 7: Gloucester should be married by noon. And where is his
55:15
Speaker 7: cherry colored coat? He unlocked the door of the little
55:19
Speaker 7: shop in Westcot Street, and Simkin ran in like a
55:21
Speaker 7: cat that expects something. But there was no one there,
55:25
Speaker 7: not even one little brown mouse. The boards were swept clean,
55:30
Speaker 7: the little ends of thread and little silk snippets were
55:32
Speaker 7: all tidied away and gone from off the floor. But
55:36
Speaker 7: upon the table, oh joy, the tailor gave a shout.
55:41
Speaker 7: There where he had left plain cuttings of silk, there
55:44
Speaker 7: lay the most beautifulest coat, an embroidered satin waistcoat that
55:48
Speaker 7: were ever worn by a mare of Gloucester. There were
55:52
Speaker 7: roses and pansies upon the facing of the coat, and
55:55
Speaker 7: the waistcoat was worked with poppies and corn flowers. Everything
55:59
Speaker 7: was finished except just one single cherry colored buttonhole. And
56:04
Speaker 7: where that button hole was wanting there was pinned a
56:06
Speaker 7: scrap of paper with these words in little tiny weeny writing,
56:12
Speaker 7: no more twist. And from then began the luck of
56:16
Speaker 7: the tailor of Gloucester. He grew quite stout, and he
56:20
Speaker 7: grew quite rich. He made the most wonderful waistcoats for
56:23
Speaker 7: all the merchants of Gloucester, and for all the fine
56:26
Speaker 7: gentlemen of the country round. Never was seen such ruffles,
56:30
Speaker 7: or such embroidered cuffs and lappets. But his button holes
56:34
Speaker 7: were the greatest triumph of all. The stitches of those
56:37
Speaker 7: buttonholes were so neat, so neat, I wonder how they
56:42
Speaker 7: could be stitched by an old man in spectacles, with
56:45
Speaker 7: crooked old fingers and the tailor's thimble. The stitches of
56:49
Speaker 7: those button holes were so small, so small, they looked
56:54
Speaker 7: as say, had been made by little mice.
56:58
Speaker 11: The end the Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter.
57:04
Speaker 11: One morning, a little rabbit sat on a bank. He
57:07
Speaker 11: pricked his ears and listened to the trit trot, trit
57:10
Speaker 11: trot of a pony. A gig was coming along the road.
57:15
Speaker 11: It was driven by mister mc gregor, and beside him
57:17
Speaker 11: sat Missus mc gregor, in her best bonnet. As soon
57:21
Speaker 11: as they had passed, Little Benjamin Bunny slid down into
57:24
Speaker 11: the road and set off with a hop, skip and
57:27
Speaker 11: a jump to call upon his relations who lived in
57:30
Speaker 11: the wood at the back of mister McGregor's garden. That
57:33
Speaker 11: wood was full of rabbit holes, and in the neatest,
57:36
Speaker 11: sandiest hole of all lived Benjamin's aunt and his cousins Flopsy, Mopsy,
57:41
Speaker 11: Cotton Tail and Peter. Old missus Rabbit was a widow.
57:45
Speaker 11: She earned her living by knitting rabbit wool mittens and muffeties.
57:49
Speaker 11: I once bought a pair at a bazaar. She also
57:52
Speaker 11: sold herbs and rosemary tea, and rabbit tobacco, which is
57:56
Speaker 11: what we call lavender. Little Benjamin did not very much
58:00
Speaker 11: on to see his aunt. He came round the back
58:02
Speaker 11: of the fir tree and nearly tumbled upon the top
58:05
Speaker 11: of his cousin Peter. Peter was sitting by himself. He
58:08
Speaker 11: looked poorly and was dressed in a red cotton pocket handkerchief.
58:13
Speaker 11: Peter said Little Benjamin in a whisper, who has got
58:16
Speaker 11: your clothes? Peter replied the scarecrow in mister McGregor's garden
58:22
Speaker 11: and described how he'd been chased about the garden and
58:24
Speaker 11: had dropped his shoes and coat. Little Benjamin sat down
58:28
Speaker 11: beside his cousin and assured him that mister McGregor had
58:31
Speaker 11: gone out in a gig, and Missus McGregor also certainly
58:34
Speaker 11: for the day, because she was wearing her best bonnet.
58:38
Speaker 11: Peter said he hoped that.
58:39
Speaker 12: It would rain.
58:40
Speaker 11: At this point, Old Missus Rabbit's voice was heard inside
58:43
Speaker 11: the rabbit hole, calling cottontail, cotton Tail, fetch some more
58:48
Speaker 11: camer mile. Peter said he thought he might feel better
58:51
Speaker 11: if he went for a walk. They went away hand
58:54
Speaker 11: in hand and got upon the flat top of the
58:56
Speaker 11: wall at the bottom of the wood. From here they
58:59
Speaker 11: looked down into mister McGregor's garden. Peter's coat and shoes
59:03
Speaker 11: were plainly to be seen upon the scarecrow, topped with
59:06
Speaker 11: an old Tamo shanter of mister McGregor's. Little Benjamin said
59:10
Speaker 11: it spoils people's clothes to squeeze under a gate. The
59:13
Speaker 11: proper way to get in is to climb down a
59:15
Speaker 11: pear tree. Peter fell down head first, but it was
59:19
Speaker 11: of no consequence, as the bed below was newly raked
59:21
Speaker 11: and quite soft. It had been sown with lettuces. They
59:26
Speaker 11: left a great many odd little footmarks all over the bed,
59:29
Speaker 11: especially little Benjamin, who was wearing clogs. Little Benjamin said
59:34
Speaker 11: that the first thing to be done was to get
59:35
Speaker 11: back Peter's clothes in order that they might be able
59:38
Speaker 11: to use the pocket handkerchief. They took them off the scarecrow.
59:42
Speaker 11: They had been rained during the night. There was water
59:45
Speaker 11: in the shoes, and the coat was somewhat shrunk. Benjamin
59:49
Speaker 11: tried on the tam O shanter, but it was too
59:51
Speaker 11: big for him. Then he suggested that they should fill
59:54
Speaker 11: the pocket handkerchief with onions as a little present for
59:56
Speaker 11: his aunt. Peter did not seem to be enjoying himse
1:00:00
Speaker 11: he kept hearing noises. Benjamin, on the contrary, was perfectly
1:00:04
Speaker 11: at home and yet at let us sleep. He said
1:00:07
Speaker 11: that he was in the habit of coming to the
1:00:09
Speaker 11: garden with his father to get lettuces for their Sunday dinner.
1:00:12
Speaker 11: The name of little Benjamin's papa was old mister Benjamin Bunny.
1:00:16
Speaker 11: The lettuces certainly were very fine. Peter did not eat anything.
1:00:21
Speaker 11: He said he should like to go home. Presently, he
1:00:23
Speaker 11: dropped half the onions. Little Benjamin said that it was
1:00:27
Speaker 11: not possible to get back up the pear tree with
1:00:29
Speaker 11: a load of vegetables. He led the way boldly towards
1:00:32
Speaker 11: the other end of the garden. They went along a
1:00:34
Speaker 11: little walk and planks under a sunny red brick wall.
1:00:38
Speaker 11: The mice sat on their doorsteps, cracking cherry stones. They
1:00:41
Speaker 11: winked at Peter Rabbit and little Benjamin bunny. Presently Peter
1:00:45
Speaker 11: let the pocket handkerchief go again. They got amongst flower
1:00:48
Speaker 11: pots and frames and tubs. Peter heard noises worse than ever.
1:00:53
Speaker 11: His eyes were as big as lollipops. He was a
1:00:55
Speaker 11: step or two in front of his cousin when he
1:00:57
Speaker 11: suddenly stopped. This is those little rabbits saw around that corner.
1:01:02
Speaker 11: Little Benjamin took one look, and then in half a
1:01:06
Speaker 11: minute less than no time, he hid himself and Peter
1:01:08
Speaker 11: and the onions underneath a large blanket. The cat got
1:01:12
Speaker 11: up and stretched herself and came and sniffed at the basket.
1:01:17
Speaker 11: Perhaps she liked the smell of onions. Anyway, she sat
1:01:20
Speaker 11: down upon the top of the basket. She sat there
1:01:24
Speaker 11: for five hours. I cannot draw you a picture of
1:01:28
Speaker 11: Peter and Benjamin underneath the basket because it was quite dark,
1:01:31
Speaker 11: and because the smell of onions was fearful, it made
1:01:34
Speaker 11: Peter Rabbit and little Benjamin cry. The sun got round
1:01:38
Speaker 11: behind the wood, and it was quite late in the afternoon,
1:01:41
Speaker 11: but still the cat sat upon the basket at length.
1:01:45
Speaker 11: There was atter, pitter patter, and some bits of mortar
1:01:48
Speaker 11: fell from the wall above. The cat looked up and
1:01:51
Speaker 11: saw old mister Benjamin Bunny prancing along the top of
1:01:54
Speaker 11: the wall of the upper terrace. He was smoking a
1:01:57
Speaker 11: pipe of rabbit tobacco and had a little switch hand.
1:02:01
Speaker 11: He was looking for his son. Old mister Bunny had
1:02:05
Speaker 11: no opinion whatever of cats. He took a tremendous jump
1:02:08
Speaker 11: off the top of the wall on to the top
1:02:09
Speaker 11: of the cat and cuffed it off the basket and
1:02:12
Speaker 11: kicked it into the greenhouse, scratching off a handful of fur.
1:02:16
Speaker 11: The cat was too much surprised to scratch back. When
1:02:19
Speaker 11: old mister Bunny had driven the cat into the greenhouse,
1:02:22
Speaker 11: he locked the door. Then he came back to the
1:02:24
Speaker 11: basket and took out his son Benjamin by the ears
1:02:27
Speaker 11: and whipped him with the little switch. Then he took
1:02:30
Speaker 11: out his nephew Peter. Then he took out the handkerchief
1:02:33
Speaker 11: of onions and marched out of the garden. When mister
1:02:36
Speaker 11: McGregor returned about half an hour later, he observed several
1:02:40
Speaker 11: things which perplexed him. It looked as though some person
1:02:43
Speaker 11: had been walking all over the garden in a pair
1:02:45
Speaker 11: of clogs, only the footmarks were too ridiculously little. Also,
1:02:51
Speaker 11: he could not understand how the cat could have managed
1:02:53
Speaker 11: to shut herself up inside the greenhouse, locking the door
1:02:57
Speaker 11: upon the outside. When Peter got home, his mother forgave
1:03:00
Speaker 11: him because she was so glad to see that he
1:03:02
Speaker 11: had found his shoes and coat, cottontail, and Peter folded
1:03:06
Speaker 11: up the pocket handkerchief, and old Missus Rabbits strung up
1:03:09
Speaker 11: the onions and hung them from the kitchen ceiling.
1:03:15
Speaker 6: Jemima Puddle Duck a farmyard tail for Ralph and Betsy.
1:03:21
Speaker 6: What a funny side it is to see a brood
1:03:23
Speaker 6: of ducklings with a hen. Listen to the story of
1:03:26
Speaker 6: Jemima puddle Duck, who was annoyed because the farmer's wife
1:03:31
Speaker 6: would not let her hatch her own eggs. Her sister
1:03:35
Speaker 6: in law, Missus Burbeca puddle Duck, was perfectly willing to
1:03:38
Speaker 6: leave the hatchling to someone else. I have not the
1:03:42
Speaker 6: patience to sit on a nest for twenty eight days,
1:03:45
Speaker 6: and no more have you, Jemima. You would let them
1:03:48
Speaker 6: go cold, you know you would. I wish to hatch
1:03:51
Speaker 6: my own eggs. I will hatch them by myself. Quack,
1:03:54
Speaker 6: Jemima puddle duck. She tried to hide her eggs, but
1:03:58
Speaker 6: they were always found and carerried off. Jemima puddle Duck
1:04:02
Speaker 6: became quite desperate. She determined to make a nest right
1:04:06
Speaker 6: away from the farm. She set off on a fine
1:04:09
Speaker 6: spring afternoon along the cart road that leads over the hill.
1:04:13
Speaker 6: She was wearing a shawl and a poke bonnet. When
1:04:16
Speaker 6: she reached the top of the hill, she saw a
1:04:19
Speaker 6: wood in the distance. She thought that it looked a
1:04:22
Speaker 6: safe quiet spot. Jemima puddle Duck was not much in
1:04:25
Speaker 6: the habit of flying. She ran downhill a few yards,
1:04:29
Speaker 6: flapping her shawl, and then she jumped off into the air.
1:04:32
Speaker 6: She flew beautifully. When she had got a good start,
1:04:36
Speaker 6: she skimmed along over the tree tops until she saw
1:04:39
Speaker 6: an open place in the middle of the wood where
1:04:42
Speaker 6: the trees and brushwood had been cleared. Jemima alighted rather
1:04:46
Speaker 6: heavily and began to waddle about in search of a
1:04:49
Speaker 6: convenient dry nesting place. She rather fancied a tree stump
1:04:53
Speaker 6: amongst the tall foxgloves, but seated upon the stump, she
1:04:58
Speaker 6: was startled to find an elegantly dressed gentlemen reading a newspaper.
1:05:02
Speaker 6: He had black prick ears and sandy colored whiskers. Quack,
1:05:07
Speaker 6: said Jemima, puddle duck with her head and her bonnet
1:05:10
Speaker 6: on the one side.
1:05:11
Speaker 12: Quack.
1:05:13
Speaker 6: The gentleman raised his eyes above the newspaper and looked
1:05:16
Speaker 6: curiously at Jemima. Madam, Have you lost your way? Said he.
1:05:22
Speaker 6: He had a long bushy tail, which he was sitting upon,
1:05:25
Speaker 6: as the stump was somewhat damp. Jemima thought him mighty
1:05:29
Speaker 6: civil and handsome. She explained that she had not lost
1:05:33
Speaker 6: her way, but she was trying to find a convenient
1:05:35
Speaker 6: dry nesting place. Ah is that so? Indeed, said the
1:05:40
Speaker 6: gentleman with the sandy whiskers, Looking curiously at Jemima. He
1:05:44
Speaker 6: folded up the newspaper and put it in his coattail pocket.
1:05:48
Speaker 6: Jemima complained of the superfluous hen. Indeed, how interesting I
1:05:54
Speaker 6: wish I could meet with that fowl, I would teach
1:05:57
Speaker 6: it to mind its own business. But as to there
1:06:01
Speaker 6: is no difficulty. I have a sack full of feathers
1:06:04
Speaker 6: in my wood shed.
1:06:05
Speaker 12: No, my dear.
1:06:06
Speaker 6: Madam, you will be in nobody's way. You may sit
1:06:09
Speaker 6: there as long as you like, said the bushy long
1:06:12
Speaker 6: tailed gentleman. He led the way to a very retired,
1:06:16
Speaker 6: dismal looking house amongst the foxgloves. He was built of
1:06:20
Speaker 6: faggots and turf, and there were two broken pails, one
1:06:24
Speaker 6: on top of another by way of a chimney. This
1:06:27
Speaker 6: is my summer residence. You would not find my earth
1:06:31
Speaker 6: my winter house so convenient, said the hospitable gentleman. Here
1:06:36
Speaker 6: was a tumble down shed at the back of a
1:06:38
Speaker 6: house made of old soap boxes. The gentleman opened the
1:06:42
Speaker 6: door and showed Jemima in. The shed was almost quite
1:06:46
Speaker 6: full of feathers. It was almost suffocating, but it was
1:06:49
Speaker 6: comfortable and very soft. Jemima puddle Duck was rather surprised
1:06:54
Speaker 6: to find such a vast quantity of feathers, but it
1:06:57
Speaker 6: was very comfortable, and she met a nest without any
1:06:59
Speaker 6: trouble at all. When she came out, the sandy whiskered
1:07:03
Speaker 6: gentleman was sitting on a log reading the newspaper. At
1:07:06
Speaker 6: least he had spread it out, but he was looking
1:07:08
Speaker 6: over the top of it. He was so polite that
1:07:11
Speaker 6: he seemed almost sorry to let Jemima go home for
1:07:14
Speaker 6: the night. He promised to take great care of her
1:07:17
Speaker 6: nest until she came back again the next day. He
1:07:21
Speaker 6: said he loved eggs and ducklings. He should be proud
1:07:24
Speaker 6: to see a fine nest in his woodshed. Jemima Puddle
1:07:28
Speaker 6: duck came every afternoon. She laid nine eggs in the nest.
1:07:32
Speaker 6: They were greeny white, and very large. The foxy gentleman
1:07:36
Speaker 6: admired them immensely. He used to turn them over and
1:07:40
Speaker 6: count them when Jemima was not there. At last, Jemima
1:07:44
Speaker 6: told him that she intended to begin to sit the
1:07:46
Speaker 6: next day. And I will bring a bag of corn
1:07:49
Speaker 6: with me, so that I need never leave my nest
1:07:51
Speaker 6: until the eggs are hatched. They might catch cold, said
1:07:55
Speaker 6: the conscientious Jemima. Madam, I beg of you not to
1:07:59
Speaker 6: trouble yourself with it. I will provide you oats. But
1:08:02
Speaker 6: before you commence your tedious sitting, I intend to give
1:08:06
Speaker 6: you a treat. Let us have a dinner party all
1:08:08
Speaker 6: to ourselves. May I ask you to bring up some
1:08:12
Speaker 6: herbs from the farm garden to make a savory omelet,
1:08:15
Speaker 6: sage and thyme and mint, and two onions and some parsley.
1:08:19
Speaker 6: I will provide lard for the stuff. Lard for the omelet,
1:08:24
Speaker 6: said the hospitable gentleman with the sandy whiskers. Jemima puddle
1:08:28
Speaker 6: Duck was a simpleton. Not even the mention of sage
1:08:31
Speaker 6: and onions made her suspicious. She went round the farm
1:08:34
Speaker 6: garden nibbling off snippets of all the different sorts of
1:08:37
Speaker 6: herbs that are used for stuffing a roast duck. And
1:08:40
Speaker 6: she waddled in the kitchen and got two onions out
1:08:43
Speaker 6: of a basket. The collie dog Kep met her, coming out.
1:08:47
Speaker 6: What are you doing with those onions? Where do you
1:08:50
Speaker 6: go ever afternoon? By yourself, Jemima puddle Duck. Jemma was
1:08:54
Speaker 6: brother in awe of the collie. She told him the
1:08:56
Speaker 6: whole story. The collie listened with his wise head on
1:09:00
Speaker 6: one side. He grinned when she described the polite gentleman
1:09:03
Speaker 6: with the sandy whiskers. He asked several questions about the
1:09:06
Speaker 6: wood and the exact position of the house and shed.
1:09:10
Speaker 6: Then he went out and trotted down the village. He
1:09:12
Speaker 6: went to look for the two foxhound puppies. They were
1:09:15
Speaker 6: out at walk with the butcher. Jemima puddle Duck went
1:09:19
Speaker 6: up the cart road for the last time on a
1:09:21
Speaker 6: sunny afternoon. She was rather burdened with bunches of herbs
1:09:25
Speaker 6: and two onions in a bag. She flew over the
1:09:28
Speaker 6: wood and alighted opposite the house of the bushy long
1:09:31
Speaker 6: tailed gentleman. He was sitting on a log. He sniffed
1:09:35
Speaker 6: the air and kept glancing uneasily round the wood. When
1:09:38
Speaker 6: Jemima alighted, he quite jumped. Come into the house, as
1:09:42
Speaker 6: soon as you have looked at your eggs, give me
1:09:44
Speaker 6: the herbs for the omelet be sharp. He was rather abrupt.
1:09:48
Speaker 6: Jemima puddle Duck had never heard him speak like that.
1:09:51
Speaker 6: She felt surprised and uncomfortable. While she was inside, she
1:09:55
Speaker 6: heard pattering of feet around the back of the shed.
1:09:59
Speaker 6: Someone with a big black black notes sniffed at the
1:10:01
Speaker 6: bottom of the door and then locked it. Jemima became
1:10:04
Speaker 6: much alarmed. A moment afterward, their were most awful noises
1:10:09
Speaker 6: barking baying, growls and howls, squealing and groans, and nothing
1:10:15
Speaker 6: more was ever seen of that foxy whiskered gentleman. Presently,
1:10:19
Speaker 6: kep opened the door of the shed and let out
1:10:22
Speaker 6: Jemima puddle Duck. Unfortunately, the puppies rushed in and gobbled
1:10:26
Speaker 6: up all the eggs before he could stop them. He
1:10:29
Speaker 6: had a bite on his ear, and both the puppies
1:10:31
Speaker 6: were limping. Jemima Puddle Duck was escorted home in tears
1:10:35
Speaker 6: on account of those eggs. She laid some more in June,
1:10:38
Speaker 6: and she was permitted to keep them herself, but only
1:10:41
Speaker 6: four of them hatched. Jemima puddluck said it was because
1:10:44
Speaker 6: of her nerves, but she had always been a bad sitter.
1:10:51
Speaker 6: The end of the Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck.
1:10:56
Speaker 13: Once upon a time there was a frog called mister
1:11:00
Speaker 13: Jeremy Fisher. He lived in a little damp house amongst
1:11:04
Speaker 13: the buttercups at the edge of a pond. The water
1:11:09
Speaker 13: was all slippy, sloppy in the larder and in the
1:11:12
Speaker 13: back passage, but mister Jeremy liked getting his feet wet.
1:11:17
Speaker 13: Nobody ever scolded him, and he never caught a cold.
1:11:22
Speaker 13: He was quite pleased when he looked out and saw
1:11:25
Speaker 13: large drops of rain splashing in the pond.
1:11:29
Speaker 12: I will get some worms and go fishing and catch
1:11:33
Speaker 12: a dish of minnows for my.
1:11:34
Speaker 13: Dinner, said mister Jeremy fisher. If I catch more than
1:11:40
Speaker 13: five fish, I will invite my friends mister Alderman, Ptolemy Tortoise,
1:11:45
Speaker 13: and Sir Isaac Newton. The Aldermen, however, eat salad. Mister
1:11:52
Speaker 13: Jeremy put on a macintosh and a pair of shiny goloshes.
1:11:56
Speaker 13: He took his rod and basket and set off with
1:11:59
Speaker 13: enough dormous hops to the place where he kept his boat.
1:12:03
Speaker 13: The boat was round and green, and very like the
1:12:07
Speaker 13: other lily leaves. It was tied to a water plant
1:12:11
Speaker 13: in the middle of the pond. Mister Jeremy took a
1:12:15
Speaker 13: reed pole and pushed the boat out into open water.
1:12:19
Speaker 12: I know a good place for minnows.
1:12:22
Speaker 13: Said mister Jeremy fisher. Mister Jeremy stuck his pole into
1:12:26
Speaker 13: the mud and fastened the boat to it. Then he
1:12:30
Speaker 13: settled himself cross legged and arranged his fishing tackle. He
1:12:35
Speaker 13: had the dearest little red float. His rod was a
1:12:39
Speaker 13: tough stalk of grass. His line was a fine, long
1:12:43
Speaker 13: white horsehair, and he tied a little wriggling worm at
1:12:48
Speaker 13: the end. The rain trickled down his back, and for
1:12:52
Speaker 13: nearly an hour he stared at the float.
1:12:56
Speaker 12: This is getting tiresome. I think I should like some.
1:13:00
Speaker 13: Un said mister Jeremy Fisher. He punted back again amongst
1:13:05
Speaker 13: the water plants and took some lunch out of his basket.
1:13:10
Speaker 12: I will eat a butterfly sandwich and wait till the
1:13:14
Speaker 12: shower is over, said mister Jeremy Fisher.
1:13:19
Speaker 13: A great big water beetle came up underneath the lily
1:13:22
Speaker 13: leaf and tweaked the toe of one of his galoshes.
1:13:27
Speaker 13: Mister Jeremy crossed his legs up shorter out of reach,
1:13:31
Speaker 13: and went on eating his sandwich. Once or twice something
1:13:36
Speaker 13: moved about with a rustle and a splash amongst the
1:13:39
Speaker 13: rushes at the side of the pond. I trust that
1:13:43
Speaker 13: is not a rat, said mister Jeremy Fisher.
1:13:47
Speaker 12: I think I had better get away from here.
1:13:50
Speaker 13: Mister Jeremy shoved the boat out again a little way
1:13:53
Speaker 13: and dropped in the bait. There was a bite almost
1:13:57
Speaker 13: directly the float gave a tremendous.
1:13:59
Speaker 12: Bobbit amno amnno, I have him by the nose.
1:14:05
Speaker 13: Cried mister Jeremy Fisher, jerking up his rod. But what
1:14:09
Speaker 13: a horrible surprise. Instead of a smooth, fat minnow, mister
1:14:16
Speaker 13: Jeremy landed little jack sharp, the stickleback covered with spines.
1:14:24
Speaker 13: The stickleback floundered about the boat, pricking and snapping until
1:14:28
Speaker 13: he was quite out of breath. Then he jumped back
1:14:31
Speaker 13: into the water. And a shoal of other little fishes
1:14:35
Speaker 13: put their heads out and laughed at mister Jeremy Fisher.
1:14:40
Speaker 13: And while mister Jeremy sat disconsolately on the edge of
1:14:44
Speaker 13: his boat, sucking his sore fingers and peering down into
1:14:47
Speaker 13: the water, a much worse thing happened, A really frightful
1:14:53
Speaker 13: thing it would have been if mister Jeremy had not
1:14:56
Speaker 13: been wearing a macintosh. A great, big, enormous trout came
1:15:03
Speaker 13: up ker fluff with a splash, and it seized mister
1:15:08
Speaker 13: Jeremy with a snap ah ah ah, And then it
1:15:14
Speaker 13: turned and dived down to the bottom of the pond.
1:15:18
Speaker 13: But the trout was so displeased with the taste of
1:15:21
Speaker 13: the macintosh that in less than half a minute it
1:15:25
Speaker 13: spat him out again, and the only thing it swallowed
1:15:29
Speaker 13: was mister Jeremy's galoshes. Mister Jeremy bounced up to the
1:15:34
Speaker 13: surface of the water like a cork and the bubbles
1:15:37
Speaker 13: out of a soda water bottle, and he swam with
1:15:40
Speaker 13: all his might to the edge of the pond. He
1:15:44
Speaker 13: scrambled out on the first bank he came to, and
1:15:47
Speaker 13: he hopped home across the meadow with his macintosh all
1:15:51
Speaker 13: in tatters. What a mercy that was not a pike,
1:15:56
Speaker 13: said mister Jeremy fisher. I have lost my rod and back,
1:16:00
Speaker 13: but it does not much matter, for I'm sure I
1:16:03
Speaker 13: should never have dared to go fishing again. He put
1:16:08
Speaker 13: some sticking plaster on his fingers, and his friends both
1:16:11
Speaker 13: came to dinner. He could not offer them fish, but
1:16:15
Speaker 13: he had something else in his larder. Sir Isaac Newton
1:16:20
Speaker 13: wore his black and gold waistcoat, and mister Alderman Ptolemy
1:16:24
Speaker 13: Tortoise brought a salad with him in a string bag,
1:16:28
Speaker 13: and instead of a nice dish of minnows, they had
1:16:31
Speaker 13: a roasted grasshopper with ladybird sauce, which frogs consider a
1:16:36
Speaker 13: beautiful treat. But I think it must have been nasty.
1:16:42
Speaker 14: The Tale of Mister Todd for William Francis of Ulva.
1:16:51
Speaker 14: I have made many books about well behaved people. Now,
1:16:56
Speaker 14: for a change, I am going to make a story
1:16:59
Speaker 14: about two disagreeable people called Tommy Brock and mister Todd.
1:17:08
Speaker 14: Nobody could call mister Tod nice. The rabbits could not
1:17:13
Speaker 14: bear him. They could smell him half a mile off.
1:17:18
Speaker 14: He was of a wandering habit, and he had foxy whiskers.
1:17:23
Speaker 14: They never knew where he would be next. One day
1:17:29
Speaker 14: he was living in a stickhouse in the coppice or grove,
1:17:33
Speaker 14: causing terror to the family of old mister Benjamin Bouncer.
1:17:39
Speaker 14: Next day he moved into a pollard willow near the lake,
1:17:43
Speaker 14: frightening the wild ducks and the water rats. In winter
1:17:49
Speaker 14: and early spring, he might generally be found in an
1:17:53
Speaker 14: earth amongst the rocks at the top of bull Banks
1:17:56
Speaker 14: under Oatmeal Crag. He had half a dozen houses, but
1:18:02
Speaker 14: he was seldom at home. The houses were not always
1:18:08
Speaker 14: empty when mister Todd moved out, because sometimes Tommy Brock
1:18:12
Speaker 14: moved in without asking leave. Tommy Brock was a short,
1:18:19
Speaker 14: briskly fat, waddling person with a grin he grinned all
1:18:24
Speaker 14: over his face. He was not nice in his habits.
1:18:29
Speaker 14: He ate wasp nests and frogs and worms, and he
1:18:33
Speaker 14: waddled about by moonlight digging things up. His clothes were
1:18:39
Speaker 14: very dirty, and as he slept in the daytime, he
1:18:43
Speaker 14: always went to bed in his boots, and the bed
1:18:47
Speaker 14: which he went to bed in was generally mister Todd's.
1:18:52
Speaker 14: Now Tommy Brock did occasionally eat rabbit pie, but it
1:18:57
Speaker 14: was only very little young ones occasionally when other food
1:19:01
Speaker 14: was really scarce. He was friendly with old mister Bouncer.
1:19:07
Speaker 14: They agreed in disliking the wicked Otters and mister Todd.
1:19:12
Speaker 14: They often talked over that painful subject. Old mister Bouncer
1:19:19
Speaker 14: was stricken in years. He sat in the spring sunshine
1:19:23
Speaker 14: outside the burrow in a muffler, smoking a pipe of
1:19:28
Speaker 14: rabbit tobacco. He lived with his son Benjamin Bunny and
1:19:33
Speaker 14: his daughter in law, Flopsy, who had a young family.
1:19:38
Speaker 14: Old mister Bouncer was in charge of the family that
1:19:41
Speaker 14: afternoon because Benjamin and Flopsy had gone out. The little
1:19:46
Speaker 14: rabbit babies were just old enough to open their blue
1:19:50
Speaker 14: eyes and kick. They lay in a fluffy bed of
1:19:54
Speaker 14: rabbit wool and hay in a shallow burrow separated from
1:19:58
Speaker 14: the main rabbit hole. To tell the truth, Old mister
1:20:02
Speaker 14: Bouncer had forgotten them. He sat in the sun and
1:20:06
Speaker 14: conversed cordially with Tommy Brock, who was passing through the
1:20:10
Speaker 14: wood with a sack and a little spud which he
1:20:12
Speaker 14: used for digging, and some mole traps. He complained bitterly
1:20:17
Speaker 14: about the scarcity of pheasants eggs and accused mister Todd
1:20:21
Speaker 14: of poaching them, and the otters had cleared off all
1:20:25
Speaker 14: the frogs while he was asleep in winter. I have
1:20:29
Speaker 14: not had a good square meal for a fortnight. I'm
1:20:33
Speaker 14: living on pig nuts. I shall have to turn vegetarian
1:20:37
Speaker 14: and eat my own tail, said Tommy Brock. It was
1:20:42
Speaker 14: not much of a joke, but it tickled Old mister
1:20:45
Speaker 14: Bouncer because Tommy Brock was so fat and stumpy and grinning.
1:20:51
Speaker 14: So Old Mister Bouncer laughed and pressed Tommy Brock to
1:20:55
Speaker 14: come inside to taste the slice of seed cake and
1:20:58
Speaker 14: a glass of my daughter Flopsy's cowslip wine. Tommy Brock
1:21:04
Speaker 14: squeezed himself into the rabbit hole with alacrity. Then old
1:21:09
Speaker 14: mister Bouncer smoked another pipe and gave Tommy Brock a
1:21:12
Speaker 14: cabbage leaf cigar, which was so very strong that it
1:21:16
Speaker 14: made Tommy Brock a grin more than ever, and the
1:21:20
Speaker 14: smoke filled the burrow. Old mister Bouncer coughed and laughed,
1:21:25
Speaker 14: and Tommy Brock puffed and grinned, and mister Bouncer laughed
1:21:29
Speaker 14: and coughed and shut his eyes because of the cabbage smoke.
1:21:35
Speaker 14: When Flopsy and Benjamin came back, Old mister Bouncer woke
1:21:39
Speaker 14: up Tommy Brock and all the young rabbits had disappeared.
1:21:45
Speaker 14: Mister Bouncer would not confess that he had admitted anybody
1:21:49
Speaker 14: into the rabbit hole, but the smell of badger was undeniable,
1:21:55
Speaker 14: and there were round, heavy footmarks in the sand. He
1:21:59
Speaker 14: was in disgrace. Flopsy wrung her ears and slapped him.
1:22:04
Speaker 14: Benjamin Bunny set off at once after Tommy Brock. It
1:22:11
Speaker 14: was not much difficulty in tracking him. He had left
1:22:13
Speaker 14: his footmark and gone slowly up the winding footpath through
1:22:17
Speaker 14: the wood where he had rooted up the moss and
1:22:20
Speaker 14: wood sorrel. There he had dug quite a deep hole
1:22:25
Speaker 14: for dog Darnell, and had set a mole trap. A
1:22:29
Speaker 14: little stream crossed the way. Benjamin skipped lightly over dry foot.
1:22:35
Speaker 14: The badger's heavy steps showed plainly in the mud.
1:22:42
Speaker 6: The path led.
1:22:42
Speaker 14: To a part of the thicket where the trees had
1:22:45
Speaker 14: been cleared. There were leafy oak stumps and a sea
1:22:49
Speaker 14: of blue hyacinths, with a smell that made Benjamin stop.
1:22:53
Speaker 14: Was not the smell of flowers. Mister Todd's stickhouse was
1:22:59
Speaker 14: before for him, and for once mister Todd was at home.
1:23:05
Speaker 14: There was not only a foxy flavor. In proof of it,
1:23:09
Speaker 14: there was smoke coming out of the broken pail that
1:23:12
Speaker 14: served as a chimney. Benjamin Bunnies sat up, staring. His
1:23:19
Speaker 14: whiskers twitched. Inside the stickhouse, somebody dropped a plate and
1:23:24
Speaker 14: said something. Benjamin stumped his foot and bolted. He never
1:23:30
Speaker 14: stopped till he came to the other side of the wood.
1:23:34
Speaker 14: Apparently Tommy Brock had turned the same way. Upon the
1:23:39
Speaker 14: top of the wall, there were again the marks of
1:23:42
Speaker 14: a badger, and some ravelings of a sack had caught
1:23:45
Speaker 14: on a brier. Benjamin climbed over the wall into a meadow.
1:23:53
Speaker 14: He found another mole trap, newly set. He was still
1:23:57
Speaker 14: upon the track of Tommy. It was getting late in
1:24:03
Speaker 14: the afternoon. Other rabbits were coming out to enjoy the
1:24:07
Speaker 14: evening air. One of them, in a blue coat by himself,
1:24:12
Speaker 14: was busily hunting for dandelions. Cousin Peter, Peter Rabbit. Peter Rabbit, shouted,
1:24:18
Speaker 14: Benjamin Bunny. The blue coated rabbits sat up with pricked ears.
1:24:25
Speaker 14: Whatever is the matter, Cousin Benjamin. Is it a cat
1:24:28
Speaker 14: or John Stote ferret? No, no, no, He's bagged my family,
1:24:34
Speaker 14: Tommy Brock in a sack. Have you seen him? Tommy Brock?
1:24:39
Speaker 14: How many cousin Benjamin, seven, cousin Peter, and all of
1:24:44
Speaker 14: them twins. Did he come this way? Please tell me quick? Yes, yes,
1:24:50
Speaker 14: not ten minutes since he said they were caterpillars. I
1:24:55
Speaker 14: did think they were kicking rather hard for caterpillars. Which way?
1:25:00
Speaker 14: Which way has he gone? Cousin Peter, He had a
1:25:04
Speaker 14: sack with something live in it. I watched him set
1:25:07
Speaker 14: a mole trap. Let me use my mind, Cousin Benjamin,
1:25:12
Speaker 14: tell me from the beginning. Benjamin did so. My uncle
1:25:18
Speaker 14: Bouncer has displayed a lamentable want of discretion for his years,
1:25:23
Speaker 14: said Peter, reflectively. But there are two hopeful circumstances. Your
1:25:28
Speaker 14: family is alive and kicking, and Tommy Brock has had refreshments.
1:25:34
Speaker 14: He will probably go to sleep and keep them for breakfast.
1:25:38
Speaker 14: Which way, cousin Benjamin, compose yourself. I know very well
1:25:44
Speaker 14: which way, because mister Todd was at home in this stickhouse.
1:25:48
Speaker 14: He has gone to mister Todd's other house at the
1:25:51
Speaker 14: top of bull Banks. I partly know because he offered
1:25:55
Speaker 14: to leave any message at sister Cottontails. He said he
1:25:59
Speaker 14: would be in passing. Cottontail had married a black rabbit
1:26:05
Speaker 14: and gone to live on the hill. Peter hid his
1:26:09
Speaker 14: dandelions and accompanied the afflicted parent, who is all of
1:26:13
Speaker 14: a wider. They crossed several fields and began to climb
1:26:18
Speaker 14: the hill. The tracks of Tommy Brock were plainly to
1:26:22
Speaker 14: be seen. He seemed to have put down the sack
1:26:26
Speaker 14: every dozen yards to rest. He must be very puffed.
1:26:32
Speaker 14: We are close behind him by the scent. What a
1:26:35
Speaker 14: nasty person, said Peter. The sunshine was still warm and
1:26:42
Speaker 14: slanting on the hill pastures. Halfway up. Cottontail was sitting
1:26:47
Speaker 14: in her doorway with four or five half grown little
1:26:50
Speaker 14: rabbits playing about. Her one black and the others brown.
1:26:56
Speaker 14: Cottontail had seen Tommy Brock passing in the distance. Asked
1:27:00
Speaker 14: whether her husband was at home. She replied that Tommy
1:27:04
Speaker 14: Brock had rested twice while she watched him. He had
1:27:08
Speaker 14: nodded and pointed to the sack and seemed doubled up
1:27:12
Speaker 14: with laughing. Come away, Peter, he will be cooking them.
1:27:16
Speaker 14: Come quicker, said Benjamin Bunny. They climbed up and up.
1:27:22
Speaker 14: He was at home. I saw his black ears peeping
1:27:25
Speaker 14: out of the hole. They lived too near the rocks
1:27:29
Speaker 14: to quarrel with their neighbors. Come on, cousin, Benjamin. When
1:27:35
Speaker 14: they came near the wood at the top of bull Banks,
1:27:38
Speaker 14: they went cautiously. The trees grew amongst heaped up rocks,
1:27:44
Speaker 14: and there beneath the crag mister Todd had made one
1:27:47
Speaker 14: of his homes. It was at the top of a
1:27:49
Speaker 14: steep bank. The rocks and bushes overhung it. The rabbits
1:27:54
Speaker 14: crept up, carefully, listening and peeping. The house was something
1:28:00
Speaker 14: between a cave, a prison, and a tumble down pig sty.
1:28:05
Speaker 14: There was a strong door which was shut and locked.
1:28:10
Speaker 14: The setting sun made the window panes glow like red flame.
1:28:14
Speaker 14: But the kitchen fire was not a light. It was
1:28:19
Speaker 14: neatly laid with dry sticks, as the rabbits could see
1:28:22
Speaker 14: when they peeped through the window. Benjamin sighed with relief.
1:28:30
Speaker 14: But there were preparations upon the kitchen table which made
1:28:34
Speaker 14: him shudder. There was an immense empty pie dish of
1:28:39
Speaker 14: blue willow pattern, and a large carving knife and fork
1:28:43
Speaker 14: and a chopper. At the other end of the table
1:28:47
Speaker 14: was a partly unfolded tablecloth, a plate, a tumbler, a
1:28:52
Speaker 14: knife and fork, salt, cellar, mustard, and a chair. In short,
1:29:00
Speaker 14: preparations for one person's supper. No person was to be seen,
1:29:07
Speaker 14: and no young rabbits. The kitchen was empty and silent.
1:29:12
Speaker 14: The clock had run down. Peter and Benjamin flattened their
1:29:17
Speaker 14: noses against the window and stared into the dusk. Then
1:29:23
Speaker 14: they scrambled round the rocks to the other side of
1:29:26
Speaker 14: the house. It was damp and smelly and overgrown with
1:29:31
Speaker 14: thorns and briars. The rabbits shivered in their shoes. Oh
1:29:38
Speaker 14: my poor rabbit babies, what a dreadful place. I shall
1:29:44
Speaker 14: never see them again, sighed Benjamin. They crept up to
1:29:50
Speaker 14: the bedroom window. It was closed and bolted like the kitchen,
1:29:55
Speaker 14: but there were signs that the window had been recently opened.
1:30:00
Speaker 14: Cobwebs were disturbed, and there were fresh, dirty footmarks upon
1:30:04
Speaker 14: the window sill. The room inside was so dark that
1:30:09
Speaker 14: at first they could make out nothing, But they could
1:30:13
Speaker 14: hear a noise, a slow, deep, regular snoring grunt, And
1:30:22
Speaker 14: as their eyes became accustomed to the darkness, they perceived
1:30:27
Speaker 14: that somebody was asleep on mister Todd's bed, curled up
1:30:32
Speaker 14: under the blanket. He has gone to bed in his boots,
1:30:38
Speaker 14: whispered Peter. Benjamin, who is all of a wider pulled
1:30:44
Speaker 14: Peter off the windowsill. Tommy Brock's snores continued, grunty and regular,
1:30:52
Speaker 14: from mister Todd's bed. Nothing could be seen of the
1:30:57
Speaker 14: young family. The sun had set, an owl began to
1:31:04
Speaker 14: hoot in the wood. There were many unpleasant things lying
1:31:09
Speaker 14: about that had much better have been buried, rabbit bones
1:31:15
Speaker 14: and skulls, and chicken legs and other horrors. It was
1:31:20
Speaker 14: a shocking place, and very dark. They went back to
1:31:27
Speaker 14: the front of the house and tried in every way
1:31:30
Speaker 14: to move the bolt of the kitchen window. They tried
1:31:34
Speaker 14: to push up a rusty nail between the window sashes,
1:31:39
Speaker 14: but it was of no use, especially without light. They
1:31:46
Speaker 14: sat side by side outside the window, whispering and listening.
1:31:53
Speaker 14: In half an hour the moon rose over the wood.
1:31:56
Speaker 14: It shone full and clear and cold on the house,
1:32:01
Speaker 14: amongst the rocks and inn at the kitchen window, but
1:32:06
Speaker 14: alas no little rabbit babies were to be seen. The
1:32:13
Speaker 14: moonbeams twinkled on the carving knife and the pie dish,
1:32:16
Speaker 14: and made a path of brightness across the dirty floor.
1:32:23
Speaker 14: A light showed a little door in a wall beside
1:32:26
Speaker 14: the kitchen fireplace, a little iron door belonging to a
1:32:31
Speaker 14: brick oven of that old fashioned sort that used to
1:32:35
Speaker 14: be heated with fagots of wood. And presently at the
1:32:40
Speaker 14: same moment, Peter and Benjamin noticed that whenever they shook
1:32:45
Speaker 14: the window, the little door opposite shook in answer. The
1:32:51
Speaker 14: young family were alive, shut up in the oven. Benjamin
1:32:57
Speaker 14: was so excited that it was a mercy he did
1:33:01
Speaker 14: not awake Tommy Brock, whose snores continued solemnly in mister
1:33:06
Speaker 14: Todd's bed. But there really was not very much comfort
1:33:11
Speaker 14: in the discovery. They could not open the window, and
1:33:15
Speaker 14: although the young family was alive, the little rabbits were
1:33:19
Speaker 14: quite incapable of letting themselves out. They were not old
1:33:24
Speaker 14: enough to crawl. After much whispering, Peter and Benjamin decided
1:33:30
Speaker 14: to dig a tunnel. They began to burrow a yard
1:33:35
Speaker 14: or two lower down the bank. They hoped they might
1:33:39
Speaker 14: be able to work between the large stones under the house.
1:33:44
Speaker 14: The kitchen floor was so dirty that it was impossible
1:33:47
Speaker 14: to say whether it was made of earth or flags.
1:33:54
Speaker 14: They dug and dug for hours. They could not tunnel
1:33:58
Speaker 14: straight on account of stone, but by the end of
1:34:02
Speaker 14: the night they were under the kitchen floor. Benjamin was
1:34:07
Speaker 14: on his back scratching upwards. Peter's claws were worn down.
1:34:13
Speaker 14: He was outside the tunnel shuffling sand away. He called
1:34:19
Speaker 14: out that it was morning sunrise, and that the jays
1:34:22
Speaker 14: were making a noise down below in the woods. Benjamin
1:34:29
Speaker 14: Bunny came out of the dark tunnel, shaking the sand
1:34:32
Speaker 14: from his ears. He cleaned his face with his paws.
1:34:38
Speaker 14: Every minute the sun shone warmer. On the top of
1:34:41
Speaker 14: the hill in the valley there was a sea of
1:34:45
Speaker 14: white mist, with golden tops of trees showing through. Again
1:34:52
Speaker 14: from the fields down below. In the mist, there came
1:34:56
Speaker 14: the angry cry of a jay followed by the sharp,
1:35:00
Speaker 14: yelping bark of a fox. Then those two rabbits lost
1:35:07
Speaker 14: their heads completely. They did the most foolish thing that
1:35:11
Speaker 14: they could have done. They rushed into their short new
1:35:15
Speaker 14: tunnel and hid themselves at the top end of it,
1:35:19
Speaker 14: under mister Todd's kitchen floor. Mister Todd was coming up
1:35:27
Speaker 14: bow Banks, and he was in the very worst of tempers.
1:35:33
Speaker 14: First he had been upset by breaking the plate. It
1:35:37
Speaker 14: was his own fault, but it was a china plate,
1:35:40
Speaker 14: the last of the dinner service that had belonged to
1:35:44
Speaker 14: his grandmother, Old Vixen Todd. Then the midges had been
1:35:50
Speaker 14: very bad and he had failed to catch a hen
1:35:53
Speaker 14: pheasant on her nest, and it had contained only five eggs,
1:35:59
Speaker 14: two of them. At mister Todd had had an unsatisfactory
1:36:04
Speaker 14: night as usual, when out of humor, he determined to
1:36:11
Speaker 14: move house. First he tried the pollard willow, but it
1:36:16
Speaker 14: was damp and the otters had left the dead fish
1:36:19
Speaker 14: near it. Mister Todd likes nobody's leavings but his own.
1:36:27
Speaker 14: He made his way up the hill. His temper was
1:36:30
Speaker 14: not improved by noticing unmistakable marks of a badger. No
1:36:36
Speaker 14: one else grubs up the moss so wantonly as Tommy Brock.
1:36:42
Speaker 14: Mister Todd slapped his stick upon the earth, infumed, he
1:36:47
Speaker 14: guessed where Tommy Brock had gone to. He was further
1:36:51
Speaker 14: annoyed by the jaybird, which followed him persistently. It flew
1:36:57
Speaker 14: from tree to tree and scolded, warning every rabbit within
1:37:02
Speaker 14: hearing that either a cat or a fox was coming
1:37:06
Speaker 14: up the plantation. Once, when it flew screaming over his head,
1:37:12
Speaker 14: mister Todd snapped at it and barked. He approached his
1:37:18
Speaker 14: house very carefully with a large rusty key. He sniffed,
1:37:23
Speaker 14: and his whiskers bristled. The house was locked up, but
1:37:28
Speaker 14: mister Todd had his doubts whether it was empty. He
1:37:33
Speaker 14: turned the rusty key in the lock, and the rabbits
1:37:36
Speaker 14: below could hear it. Mister Todd opened the door cautiously
1:37:42
Speaker 14: and went in. The sight that met mister Todd's eyes.
1:37:48
Speaker 14: In mister Todd's kitchen made mister Tod furious. There was
1:37:53
Speaker 14: mister Tod's chair, and mister Todd's pie dish, and his
1:37:58
Speaker 14: knife and fork, and mustard and salt cellar, and his
1:38:02
Speaker 14: tablecloth that he had left folded up in the dresser,
1:38:07
Speaker 14: all out for supper or breakfast, without doubt for that
1:38:12
Speaker 14: odious Tommy Brock. There was a smell of fresh earth
1:38:19
Speaker 14: and dirty badger, which fortunately overpowered all smell of rabbit.
1:38:26
Speaker 14: But what absorbed mister Todd's attention was a noise, a deep, slow,
1:38:34
Speaker 14: regular snoring, grunting noise, coming from his own bed. He
1:38:43
Speaker 14: peeped through the hinges of the half open bedroom door.
1:38:47
Speaker 14: Then he turned and came out of the house in
1:38:50
Speaker 14: a hurry. His whiskers bristled and his coat collar stood
1:38:55
Speaker 14: on end with rage. For the next twenty minutes, mister
1:39:01
Speaker 14: Todd kept creeping cautiously into the house and retreating hurriedly
1:39:06
Speaker 14: out again. By degrees, he ventured further in, right into
1:39:13
Speaker 14: the bedroom. When he was outside the house, he scratched
1:39:17
Speaker 14: up the earth with fury, But when he was inside
1:39:21
Speaker 14: he did not like the look of Tommy Brock's teeth.
1:39:28
Speaker 14: He was lying on his back with his mouth open,
1:39:31
Speaker 14: grinning from ear to ear. He snored peacefully and regularly,
1:39:37
Speaker 14: but one eye was not perfectly shut. Mister Todd came
1:39:43
Speaker 14: in and out of the bedroom twice. He brought in
1:39:47
Speaker 14: his walking stick and once he brought in the coal scuttle,
1:39:52
Speaker 14: but he thought better of it and took them away.
1:39:57
Speaker 14: When he came back after removing the coal scuttle, Tommy
1:40:00
Speaker 14: Brock was lying a little more sideways. But he seems
1:40:04
Speaker 14: even sounders asleep. He was an incurably indolent person. He
1:40:11
Speaker 14: was not in the least afraid of mister Todd. He
1:40:15
Speaker 14: was simply too lazy and comfortable to move. Mister Todd
1:40:22
Speaker 14: came back yet again into the bedroom with a clothes line.
1:40:26
Speaker 14: He stood a minute watching Tommy Brock and listened attentively
1:40:30
Speaker 14: to the snores. They were very loud, indeed, but seemed
1:40:35
Speaker 14: quite natural. Mister Todd turned his back towards the bed
1:40:41
Speaker 14: and undid the window. It creaked. He turned around with
1:40:46
Speaker 14: a jump. Tommy Brock, who had opened one eye, shut
1:40:52
Speaker 14: it hastily. The snores continued. Mister Todd's seatings were peculiar
1:41:01
Speaker 14: and rather difficult because the bed was between the window
1:41:06
Speaker 14: and the door of the bedroom. He opened the window
1:41:11
Speaker 14: a little way and pushed out the greater part of
1:41:14
Speaker 14: the clothes line onto the window sill. The rest of
1:41:18
Speaker 14: the line, with a hook at the end, remained in
1:41:21
Speaker 14: his hand. Tommy Brock snored conscientiously. Mister Todd stood and
1:41:30
Speaker 14: looked at him for a minute, then he left the
1:41:33
Speaker 14: room again. Tommy Brock opened both eyes and looked at
1:41:38
Speaker 14: the rope and grinned. There was a noise outside the window.
1:41:43
Speaker 14: Tommy Brock shut his eyes in a hurry. Mister Todd
1:41:48
Speaker 14: had gone out at the front door and round to
1:41:51
Speaker 14: the back of the house. On the way he stumbled
1:41:55
Speaker 14: over the rabbit burrow. If he had had any idea
1:41:59
Speaker 14: who is inside it, he would have pulled them out quickly.
1:42:05
Speaker 14: His foot went through the tunnel, nearly upon the top
1:42:08
Speaker 14: of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin, but fortunately he thought that
1:42:13
Speaker 14: it was some more of Tommy Brock's work. He looked
1:42:18
Speaker 14: upon the coil of line from the sill, listened for
1:42:22
Speaker 14: a moment, and then tied the rope to a tree.
1:42:27
Speaker 14: Tommy Brock watched him with one eye through the window.
1:42:30
Speaker 14: He was puzzled. Mister Todd fetched a large, heavy pail
1:42:36
Speaker 14: full of water from the spring and staggered with it
1:42:39
Speaker 14: through the kitchen into his bedroom. Tommy Brock snored industriously
1:42:46
Speaker 14: with rather a snort. Mister Todd put down the pail
1:42:50
Speaker 14: beside the bed, took up the end of the rope
1:42:54
Speaker 14: with the hook, hesitated and looked at Tommy Brock. The
1:43:01
Speaker 14: snores were almost apoplectic, but the grin was not quite
1:43:07
Speaker 14: so big. Mister Todd gingerly mounted a chair by the
1:43:13
Speaker 14: head of the bedstead. His legs were dangerously near to
1:43:16
Speaker 14: Tommy Brock's teeth. He reached up and put the end
1:43:22
Speaker 14: of the rope with the hook over the head of
1:43:25
Speaker 14: the tester bed, where the curtains ought to hang. Mister
1:43:30
Speaker 14: Todd's curtains were folded up and put away, owing to
1:43:34
Speaker 14: the house being unoccupied, so was the counterpane. Time Brock
1:43:40
Speaker 14: was covered with a blanket. Only mister Todd, standing on
1:43:45
Speaker 14: the unsteady chair, looked down upon him attentively. He really
1:43:51
Speaker 14: was a first prize sound sleeper. It seemed as though
1:43:57
Speaker 14: nothing would waken him, not even the flapping rope across
1:44:00
Speaker 14: the bed. Mister Todd descended safely from the chair and
1:44:05
Speaker 14: endeavored to get up again. With the pail of water.
1:44:09
Speaker 14: He intended to hang it from the hook dangling over
1:44:12
Speaker 14: the head of Tommy Brock in order to make a
1:44:15
Speaker 14: sort of shower bath worked by a string through the window,
1:44:21
Speaker 14: but naturally being a thin legged person. Though vindictive and
1:44:26
Speaker 14: sandy whiskered, he was quite unable to lift the heavy
1:44:30
Speaker 14: weight to the level of the hook and rope. He
1:44:35
Speaker 14: very nearly overbalanced himself. The snores became more and more apoplectic.
1:44:44
Speaker 14: One of Tommy Brock's hind legs twitched under the blanket,
1:44:49
Speaker 14: but he still slept on peacefully. Mister Tod and the
1:44:55
Speaker 14: pail descended from the chair without accident. After considerable thought,
1:45:01
Speaker 14: he emptied the water into a wash basin and jug.
1:45:05
Speaker 14: The empty pail was not too heavy for him. He
1:45:08
Speaker 14: slung it up, wobbling over the head of Tommy Brock.
1:45:13
Speaker 14: Surely there never was such a sleeper. Mister Todd got
1:45:18
Speaker 14: up and down, down and up on the chair. As
1:45:22
Speaker 14: he could not lift the whole pail full of water
1:45:25
Speaker 14: at once, he fetched a milk jug and ladled quarts
1:45:30
Speaker 14: of water into the pail by degrees. The pail got
1:45:35
Speaker 14: fuller and fuller, and swung like a pendulum. Occasionally a
1:45:40
Speaker 14: drop splashed over, but still Tommy Brock stored regularly and
1:45:45
Speaker 14: never moved except in one eye. At last, mister Todd's
1:45:53
Speaker 14: preparations were complete. The pail was full of water. The
1:45:58
Speaker 14: rope was tightly strained over the top of the bed
1:46:02
Speaker 14: and across the windowsill to the tree outside. It will
1:46:07
Speaker 14: make a great mess in my bedroom, but I could
1:46:10
Speaker 14: never sleep in that bed again without a spring cleaning
1:46:14
Speaker 14: of some sort, said mister Todd. Mister Todd took a
1:46:20
Speaker 14: last look at the badger and softly left the room.
1:46:24
Speaker 14: He went out of the house, shutting the front door.
1:46:28
Speaker 14: The rabbits heard his footsteps over the tunnel. He ran
1:46:33
Speaker 14: round behind the house, intending to undo the rope in
1:46:37
Speaker 14: order to let fall the pail full of water upon
1:46:41
Speaker 14: Tommy Brock. I will wake him up with an unpleasant surprise,
1:46:48
Speaker 14: said mister Todd. The moment he had gone, Tommy Brock
1:46:53
Speaker 14: got up in a hurry. He rolled mister Todd's dressing
1:46:57
Speaker 14: gown into a bundle, put it in the bed beneath
1:47:01
Speaker 14: the pail of water instead of himself, and left the room,
1:47:04
Speaker 14: also grinning immensely. He went into the kitchen, lighted the fire,
1:47:11
Speaker 14: and boiled the kettle. For the moment, he did not
1:47:14
Speaker 14: trouble himself to cook the baby rabbits. When mister Todd
1:47:20
Speaker 14: got to the tree, he found that the weight and
1:47:23
Speaker 14: strain had dragged the knots so tight it was past untying.
1:47:27
Speaker 14: He was obliged to gnaw with his teeth. He chewed
1:47:32
Speaker 14: and gnawed for more than twenty minutes. At last the
1:47:36
Speaker 14: rope gave way with a sudden jerk that had nearly
1:47:39
Speaker 14: pulled his teeth out and quite knocked him over backwards.
1:47:45
Speaker 14: Inside the house there was a great crash and splash,
1:47:48
Speaker 14: and the noise of a pail rolling over and over,
1:47:54
Speaker 14: but no screams. Mister Tod was mystified. He sat quite
1:48:02
Speaker 14: still and listened attentively. Then he peeped in at the window.
1:48:08
Speaker 14: The water was dripping from the bed. The pail had
1:48:11
Speaker 14: rolled into a corner. In the middle of the bed.
1:48:16
Speaker 14: Under the blanket was a wet something much flattened in
1:48:21
Speaker 14: the middle where the pail had caught it as it
1:48:24
Speaker 14: were across the tummy. Its head was covered by the
1:48:28
Speaker 14: wet blanket, and it was not snoring any longer. There
1:48:36
Speaker 14: was nothing stirring, no sound except the drip, drop, drop
1:48:42
Speaker 14: drip of water trickling from the mattress. Mister Todd watched
1:48:49
Speaker 14: it for half an hour. His eyes glistened. Then he
1:48:54
Speaker 14: cut a caper and became so bold that he even
1:48:58
Speaker 14: tapped at the window, but the bundle never moved. Yes,
1:49:05
Speaker 14: there was no doubt about it. It had turned out
1:49:09
Speaker 14: even better than he had planned. The pail had hit
1:49:13
Speaker 14: poor old Tommy Brock and killed him dead. I will
1:49:20
Speaker 14: bury that nasty person in the hole which he has dug.
1:49:24
Speaker 14: I will bring my bedding out and dry it in
1:49:27
Speaker 14: the sun, said mister Todd. I will wash the tablecloth
1:49:33
Speaker 14: and spread it on the grass in the sun to bleach.
1:49:36
Speaker 14: And the blanket must be hung up in the wind.
1:49:39
Speaker 14: And the bed must be thoroughly disinfected and aired with
1:49:42
Speaker 14: a warming pan and warmed with a hot water bottle.
1:49:47
Speaker 14: I will get soft soap and monkey soap, and all
1:49:51
Speaker 14: sorts of soap and soda, and scrubbing brushes, and persian
1:49:56
Speaker 14: powder and carbolic to remove the smell. I must have
1:50:01
Speaker 14: a disinfecting Perhaps I may have to burn sulfur. He
1:50:06
Speaker 14: hurried round the house to get a shovel from the kitchen. First,
1:50:10
Speaker 14: I will arrange the hole. Then I will drag out
1:50:13
Speaker 14: that person in the blanket. He opened the door. Tommy
1:50:19
Speaker 14: Brock was sitting at mister Todd's kitchen table, pouring out
1:50:23
Speaker 14: tea from mister Todd's teapot into mister Todd's tea cup.
1:50:29
Speaker 14: He was quite dry himself and grinning, and he threw
1:50:32
Speaker 14: the cup of scalding tea all over mister Todd. Then
1:50:38
Speaker 14: mister Todd rushed upon Tommy Brock, and Tommy Brock grappled
1:50:42
Speaker 14: with mister Todd against the broken crockery, and there was
1:50:46
Speaker 14: a terrific battle all over the kitchen.
1:50:51
Speaker 13: To the rabbits.
1:50:52
Speaker 14: Underneath, it sounded as if the floor would give way
1:50:56
Speaker 14: at each crash of falling furniture. They crept out of
1:51:02
Speaker 14: their tunnel and hung about amongst the rocks and bushes,
1:51:06
Speaker 14: listening anxiously. Inside the house, the racket was fearful. The
1:51:13
Speaker 14: rabbit bunnies in the oven woke up trembling. Perhaps it
1:51:16
Speaker 14: was fortunate they were shut up inside. Everything was upset
1:51:22
Speaker 14: except the kitchen table, and everything was broken except the
1:51:27
Speaker 14: mantlepiece and the kitchen fender. The crockery was smashed to atoms.
1:51:36
Speaker 14: The chairs were broken in the window, and the clock
1:51:39
Speaker 14: fell with a crash. There were handfuls of mister Todd's
1:51:45
Speaker 14: sandy whiskers. The vases fell off the mantelpiece, the canisters
1:51:51
Speaker 14: fell off the shelf, the kettle fell off the hob.
1:51:56
Speaker 14: Tommy Brock put his foot in a jar of raspberry jam,
1:52:01
Speaker 14: and the boiling water out of the kettle fell upon
1:52:04
Speaker 14: the tail of mister Todd. When the kettle fell, Tommy Brock,
1:52:09
Speaker 14: who was still grinning, happened to be uppermost, and he
1:52:13
Speaker 14: rolled mister Todd over and over like a log out
1:52:17
Speaker 14: at the door. Then the snarling and worrying went on outside,
1:52:23
Speaker 14: and they rolled over the bank and downhill, bumping over
1:52:27
Speaker 14: the rocks. There will never be any love lost between
1:52:33
Speaker 14: Tommy Brock and mister Todd. As soon as the coast
1:52:39
Speaker 14: was clear, Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny came out of
1:52:44
Speaker 14: the bushes. Now for it, Run in, cousin, Benjamin, run
1:52:48
Speaker 14: in and get them. While I watched the door. But
1:52:52
Speaker 14: Benjamin was frightened. Oh no, they are coming back. No
1:52:57
Speaker 14: they are not. Yes they are what dreadful bad language.
1:53:02
Speaker 14: I think they have fallen down the stone quarry. Still
1:53:07
Speaker 14: Benjamin hesitated, and Peter kept pushing him in. Be quick,
1:53:13
Speaker 14: it's all right. Shut the oven door, cousin Benjamin, so
1:53:16
Speaker 14: that he won't miss them. Decidedly, there were lively doings
1:53:22
Speaker 14: in mister Todd's kitchen at home in the rabbit hole,
1:53:27
Speaker 14: things had not been quite comfortable. After quarreling at supper,
1:53:32
Speaker 14: Flopsy and old mister Bouncer had passed the sleepless night
1:53:36
Speaker 14: and quarreled again at breakfast. Old mister Bouncer could no
1:53:41
Speaker 14: longer deny that he had invited company into the rabbit hole,
1:53:45
Speaker 14: but he refused to reply to the questions and reproaches
1:53:49
Speaker 14: of Flopsy. The day passed heavily. Old mister Bouncer, very sulky,
1:53:58
Speaker 14: was huddled up in a corner, barricaded with a chair.
1:54:03
Speaker 14: Flopsy had taken away his pipe and hid in the tobacco.
1:54:08
Speaker 14: She had been having a complete turnout in spring cleaning
1:54:11
Speaker 14: to relieve her feelings. She had just finished. Old mister Bouncer,
1:54:17
Speaker 14: behind his chair, was wondering anxiously what she would do next.
1:54:25
Speaker 14: In mister Todd's kitchen, amidst the wreckage, Benjamin Bunny picked
1:54:29
Speaker 14: his way to the oven nervously through a thick cloud
1:54:34
Speaker 14: of dust. He opened the oven door, felt inside, and
1:54:38
Speaker 14: found something warm and wriggling. He lifted it out carefully
1:54:43
Speaker 14: and rejoined Peter Rabbit. I've got them, Can we get away?
1:54:48
Speaker 6: Shall we hide?
1:54:49
Speaker 14: Cousin Peter. Peter pricked his ears. Distant sounds of fighting
1:54:53
Speaker 14: still echoed in the wood. Five minutes afterwards, two breathless
1:54:58
Speaker 14: rabbits came scudd away from bull banks, half carrying, half
1:55:03
Speaker 14: dragging a sack between them, bumpety bump over the grass.
1:55:08
Speaker 14: They reached home safely and burst into the rabbit hole.
1:55:12
Speaker 14: Great was old mister Bouncer's relief and Flopsy's joy. When
1:55:17
Speaker 14: Peter and Benjamin arrived in Triumph with the young family.
1:55:21
Speaker 14: The rabbit babies were rather tumbled and very hungry. They
1:55:25
Speaker 14: were fed and put to bed. They soon recovered a
1:55:30
Speaker 14: new long pipe, and a fresh supply of rabbit tobacco
1:55:34
Speaker 14: was presented to mister Bouncer. He was rather upon his dignity,
1:55:40
Speaker 14: but he accepted. Old mister Bouncer was forgiven, and they
1:55:45
Speaker 14: all had dinner. Then Peter and Benjamin told their story,
1:55:50
Speaker 14: but they had not waited long enough to be able
1:55:53
Speaker 14: to tell the end of the battle between Tommy Brock
1:55:57
Speaker 14: and mister Todd.
1:55:59
Speaker 15: Once there was a little girl called Lucy who lived
1:56:03
Speaker 15: at a farm called Little Town. She was a good
1:56:05
Speaker 15: little girl, only she was always losing her pocket handkerchiefs.
1:56:10
Speaker 15: One day Lucy came into the farmyard crying. Oh she
1:56:13
Speaker 15: did cry, so, I've lost my pocket hankin, three hankins
1:56:18
Speaker 15: and a penny. Have you seen them, tabby kitten. The
1:56:22
Speaker 15: kitten went on washing her white paws. So Lucy asked
1:56:26
Speaker 15: a speckled hen, Sally, Henny, penny, have you found three
1:56:30
Speaker 15: pocket hankins? But the speckled hen ran into the barn, clucking,
1:56:34
Speaker 15: I go barefoot, barefoot, barefoot. And then Lucy asked cock Robin,
1:56:39
Speaker 15: sitting on a twig. Cock Robin looked sideways at Lucy
1:56:43
Speaker 15: with his bright black eye, and he flew over a
1:56:45
Speaker 15: stile and away. Lucy climbed upon the stile and looked
1:56:50
Speaker 15: up at the hill behind little Town, a hale that
1:56:53
Speaker 15: goes up up into the clouds as though it had
1:56:56
Speaker 15: no top, and a great way up the hillside. She
1:57:00
Speaker 15: thought she saw some white things spread upon the grass.
1:57:04
Speaker 15: Lucy scrambled up the hill as fast as her stout
1:57:06
Speaker 15: legs would carry her. She ran along a steep pathway
1:57:11
Speaker 15: up and up until little Town was right away down below.
1:57:14
Speaker 15: She could have dropped the pebble down the chimney. Presently,
1:57:18
Speaker 15: she came to a spring bubbling out from the hillside.
1:57:22
Speaker 15: Some one had stood a tin can upon a stone
1:57:24
Speaker 15: to catch the water, but the water was already running over,
1:57:28
Speaker 15: for the can was no bigger than an age cup.
1:57:31
Speaker 15: And where the sand upon the path was wet, there
1:57:33
Speaker 15: were footmarks of a very small person. Lucy ran on
1:57:37
Speaker 15: and on the path ended under a big rock. The
1:57:42
Speaker 15: grass was short and green, and there were clothes props
1:57:45
Speaker 15: cut from bracken stems with lines of plaited rushes, and
1:57:49
Speaker 15: a heap of tiny clothes pins, but no pocket handkerchiefs.
1:57:53
Speaker 15: There was something else, a door straight into the hill,
1:57:57
Speaker 15: and inside someone was singing lily white and clean. Oh
1:58:03
Speaker 15: was little frills between, Oh, smooth and hot red rusty
1:58:08
Speaker 15: spot never here be seen. O. Lucy knocked once twice
1:58:15
Speaker 15: and interrupted the song. A little frightened voice called out,
1:58:19
Speaker 15: who's that? Lucy opened the door, and what do you think?
1:58:23
Speaker 15: There was inside the hill a nice clean kitchen with
1:58:28
Speaker 15: a flagged floor and wooden beams, just like any other
1:58:31
Speaker 15: farm kitchen, Only the ceiling was so low that Lucy's
1:58:35
Speaker 15: head nearly touched it, and the pots and pans were small,
1:58:39
Speaker 15: and so was everything. There was a nice, hot, singey smell,
1:58:45
Speaker 15: and at the table with an iron in her hand
1:58:48
Speaker 15: stood a very stout, short person staring anxiously at Lucy.
1:58:53
Speaker 15: Her print gown was tucked up, and she was wearing
1:58:56
Speaker 15: a large apron over her striped petticoat. Her little black
1:59:00
Speaker 15: nose went sniffle, sniffle, snuffle, and her eyes went twinkle twinkle.
1:59:05
Speaker 15: And underneath her cap, where Lucy had yellow curls, that
1:59:09
Speaker 15: little person had prickles. Who are you, said Lucy? Have
1:59:14
Speaker 15: you seen my pocket hankins. The little person made a
1:59:18
Speaker 15: Bob Curtsey. Oh yes, if you please'm. My name is
1:59:21
Speaker 15: missus Tiggywinkle. Oh yes, if you please 'em. I'm an
1:59:25
Speaker 15: excellent clean starcher. And she took something out of a
1:59:30
Speaker 15: clothes basket and spread it on the ironing blanket. What's
1:59:34
Speaker 15: that thing, said Lucy. That's not my pocket Hankin. Oh no,
1:59:39
Speaker 15: if you please'm, that's a little scarlet waistcoat belonging to
1:59:42
Speaker 15: cock Robin. And she ironed it and folded it and
1:59:46
Speaker 15: put it on one side. Then she took something else
1:59:50
Speaker 15: off a clothes horse. That isn't my penny, said Lucy,
1:59:54
Speaker 15: Oh no, if you please em, that's a damask tablecloth
1:59:58
Speaker 15: belonging to Jenny Wren. Look how it stained with currant wine.
2:00:02
Speaker 15: It's very bad to wash, said Missus Tiggywinkle. Missus Tiggywinkle's
2:00:08
Speaker 15: nose went sniffle, sniffle, sniffle, and her eyes went twinkle twinkle,
2:00:12
Speaker 15: and she fetched another hot iron from the fire. There's
2:00:17
Speaker 15: one of my pocket hankins, cried Lucy. And there's my penny.
2:00:22
Speaker 15: Missus Tiggywinkle ironed it and goffered it and shook out
2:00:25
Speaker 15: the frills. Oh that is lovely, said Lucy. And what
2:00:30
Speaker 15: are those ye long yellow things with fingers like gloves.
2:00:34
Speaker 15: Oh that's a pair of stockings belonging to Sally Henny Penny.
2:00:38
Speaker 15: Look how she's worn the heels that was scratching in
2:00:40
Speaker 15: the yard. She'll very soon go barefoot, said Missus Tiggywinkle.
2:00:49
Speaker 15: Why there's another hanker, sniff But it isn't mine. It's red.
2:00:54
Speaker 15: Oh no, if you please em that one belongs to
2:00:57
Speaker 15: old missus Rabbit. And it did so small male of onions.
2:01:01
Speaker 15: I've had to wash it separately. I can't get out
2:01:03
Speaker 15: the smell. There's another one of mine, said Lucy. What
2:01:09
Speaker 15: are those funny little white things? That's a pair of
2:01:12
Speaker 15: mint as belonging to Tabby Kitten. I only have to
2:01:15
Speaker 15: iron them. She washes them herself. There's my last pocket handkin,
2:01:20
Speaker 15: said Lucy. And what are you dipping into the basin
2:01:24
Speaker 15: of starch? Their little Dicky's shirt fronts belonging to Tom Titmouse,
2:01:30
Speaker 15: most terrible particular, said Missus Tigiwinkle. Now I've finished my ironing,
2:01:35
Speaker 15: I'm going to air some clothes. What are these dear
2:01:40
Speaker 15: soft fluffy things, said Lucy. Oh, those are willy coates
2:01:44
Speaker 15: belonging to the little lambs of Skagel. Will their jackets
2:01:48
Speaker 15: take off? Asked Lucy. Oh, yes, if you please em
2:01:52
Speaker 15: Look at the sheep mark on the shoulder. And here's
2:01:55
Speaker 15: one mark for gatescarth and three that come from littletown.
2:01:59
Speaker 15: They're always more washing, said Missus Tigwinkle, and she hung
2:02:04
Speaker 15: up all sorts and sizes of clothes, small brown coats
2:02:08
Speaker 15: of mice, and one velvety black moleskin waistcoat, and a
2:02:12
Speaker 15: red tailcoat with no tail belonging to Squirrel Nutkin, and
2:02:17
Speaker 15: a very much shrunk blue jacket belonged to Peter Rabbit,
2:02:20
Speaker 15: and a petticoat not marked that had gone lost in
2:02:23
Speaker 15: the washing, and at last the basket was empty. Then
2:02:32
Speaker 15: Missus Tigwinkle made tea, a cup for herself and a
2:02:35
Speaker 15: cup for Lucy. They sat before the fire on a
2:02:38
Speaker 15: bench and looked sideways at one another. Missus Tiggwinkle's hand
2:02:41
Speaker 15: holding the tea cup was very very brown and very
2:02:45
Speaker 15: very wrinkly with soap SuDS, and all through her gown
2:02:49
Speaker 15: and her cap there were hairpins sticking wrong and out,
2:02:53
Speaker 15: so that Lucy didn't like to sit too near her.
2:02:57
Speaker 15: When they had finished teeth, they tied up the clothes bundles,
2:03:00
Speaker 15: and Lucy's pocket handkerchiefs were folded up inside her clean
2:03:04
Speaker 15: penny and fastened with a silvery safety pin. And then
2:03:08
Speaker 15: they made up the fire with turf and came out
2:03:11
Speaker 15: and locked the door and hid the key under the
2:03:14
Speaker 15: door sill. Then away down the hill trotted Lucy and
2:03:18
Speaker 15: Missus Tiggywinkle with the bundle of clothes. All the way
2:03:22
Speaker 15: down the path, little animals came out of the fern
2:03:25
Speaker 15: to meet them. The very first they met were Peter
2:03:29
Speaker 15: Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, and she gave them their nice
2:03:33
Speaker 15: clean clothes, and all the little animals and birds were
2:03:35
Speaker 15: so very much obliged to dear missus Tiggywinkle, so that
2:03:41
Speaker 15: at the bottom of the hill, when they came to
2:03:43
Speaker 15: the stile, there was nothing left to carry except Lucy's
2:03:46
Speaker 15: one little bundle. Lucy scrambled up the stile with the
2:03:50
Speaker 15: bundle in her hand, and then she turned to say
2:03:52
Speaker 15: good night and to thank the washerwoman. But what a
2:03:56
Speaker 15: very odd thing Missus Tiggywinkle had not weighed, either for
2:04:00
Speaker 15: thanks or for the washing bill. She was running, running,
2:04:04
Speaker 15: running up the hill. And where was her white frilled cap,
2:04:08
Speaker 15: and her shawl, and her gown and her petticoat? And
2:04:14
Speaker 15: how small she had grown? And how brown and covered
2:04:18
Speaker 15: with prickles. Why Missus Tiggywinkle was nothing but a hedgehog.
2:04:26
Speaker 15: Now some people say that little Lucy had been asleep
2:04:28
Speaker 15: upon the style, But then how could she have found
2:04:32
Speaker 15: three clean pocket handkins and a penny pinned with a
2:04:35
Speaker 15: silver safety pin. And besides, I have seen that door
2:04:39
Speaker 15: into the back of the hill called catbells. And besides,
2:04:43
Speaker 15: I am very well acquainted with dear missus Tiggywinkle. The
2:04:48
Speaker 15: Tale of Missus Tittlemouse by Beatrix Potter. Once upon a
2:04:56
Speaker 15: time there was a wood mouse, and her name was
2:04:59
Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse. She lived in a bank under a hedge,
2:05:04
Speaker 15: such a funny house. There were yards and yards of
2:05:07
Speaker 15: sandy passages leading to storerooms, and nut cellars and seat cellars.
2:05:12
Speaker 15: All amongst the roots of the hedge. There was a kitchen,
2:05:16
Speaker 15: a parlor, a pantry, and a larder. Also there is
2:05:20
Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse's bedroom, where she slept in a little box.
2:05:25
Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse was a most terribly tidy, particular little mouse,
2:05:29
Speaker 15: always sweeping and dusting the soft sandy floors. Sometimes a
2:05:34
Speaker 15: beetle lost its way in the passages. Shoe shoe, little
2:05:37
Speaker 15: dirty feet, said Missus tittlemouse, clattering her dust pan. And
2:05:43
Speaker 15: one day a little old woman ran up and down
2:05:45
Speaker 15: in a red spotty cloak. Your house is on fire,
2:05:49
Speaker 15: mother ladybird, Fly away home to your children. Another day,
2:05:57
Speaker 15: a big fat spider came in to shelter from the rain. Beg,
2:06:01
Speaker 15: pardon is this not miss Muffetts. Go away, you bowl
2:06:06
Speaker 15: bad spider, leaving ends of cobweb all over my nice
2:06:10
Speaker 15: clean house. She bundled the spider out at a window.
2:06:15
Speaker 15: He let himself down the hedge with a long, thin
2:06:17
Speaker 15: bit of string. Missus Tittlemouse went on her way to
2:06:21
Speaker 15: a distant storeroom to fetch cherry stones and thistle down
2:06:25
Speaker 15: seed for supper. All along the passage she sniffed and
2:06:29
Speaker 15: looked at the floor. I smell a smell of honey?
2:06:35
Speaker 15: Is it the cowslips outside in the hedge? Am?
2:06:39
Speaker 12: I sure?
2:06:39
Speaker 15: I can see the marks of little dirty feet. Suddenly
2:06:44
Speaker 15: round the corner she met Babbity Bumble. Ziz biz biz,
2:06:48
Speaker 15: said the bumblebee. Missus Tittlemouse looked at her severely. She
2:06:54
Speaker 15: wished she had a broom. Good day, Babbity Bumble. I
2:06:59
Speaker 15: should be glad to buy some beeswax? But what are
2:07:02
Speaker 15: you doing down here? Why do you always come in
2:07:05
Speaker 15: at the window and say ziz biz biz. Missus Tittlemouse
2:07:09
Speaker 15: began to get cross. Ziz whiz whiz, replied Babbity Bumble
2:07:14
Speaker 15: in a peevish squeak. She sidled down a passage and
2:07:18
Speaker 15: disappeared into a storeroom which had been used for acorns.
2:07:22
Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse had eaten the acorns before Christmas. The storeroom
2:07:26
Speaker 15: ought to have been empty, but it was full of untidy,
2:07:30
Speaker 15: dry moss. Missus Tittlemouse began to pull out the moss.
2:07:35
Speaker 15: Three or four other bees put their heads out and
2:07:37
Speaker 15: buzzed fiercely. I am not in the habit of letting lodgings.
2:07:41
Speaker 15: This is an intrusion, said Missus Tittlemouse. I will have
2:07:45
Speaker 15: them turned out. Buzz buzz buzz. I wonder who would
2:07:50
Speaker 15: help me? Biz whiz whiz. I'll not have mister Jackson.
2:07:55
Speaker 15: He never wipes his feet. Missus Tittlemos decided to leave
2:08:00
Speaker 15: the bees till after dinner. When she got back to
2:08:03
Speaker 15: the parlor, she heard some one coughing in a fat voice,
2:08:06
Speaker 15: and there sat mister Jackson himself. He was sitting all
2:08:10
Speaker 15: over a small rocking chair, twiddling his thumbs and smiling
2:08:14
Speaker 15: with his feet on the fender. He lived in a
2:08:17
Speaker 15: drain below the hedge, in a very dirty, wet ditch.
2:08:22
Speaker 15: How do you do, mister Jackson, dearing me, you have
2:08:26
Speaker 15: got very wet Thank you, thank ye, thank you, Missus Tittlemouse.
2:08:29
Speaker 15: I'll sit awhile and dry myself, said mister Jackson. He
2:08:33
Speaker 15: sat and smiled, and the water dripped off his coat tails.
2:08:36
Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse went round with a mop. He sat such
2:08:41
Speaker 15: a while that he had to be asked if he
2:08:42
Speaker 15: would take some dinner. First, she offered him cherry stones.
2:08:47
Speaker 15: Thank you, thank you, missus tittlemouse. No teeth, no teeth,
2:08:51
Speaker 15: no teeth, said mister Jackson. He opened his mouth most
2:08:55
Speaker 15: unnecessarily wide. He certainly had not a tooth in his head.
2:09:00
Speaker 15: Then she offered him thistle down seed. Tittly, wittily, wittily, poof,
2:09:06
Speaker 15: poof puff, said mister Jackson. He blew the thistle down
2:09:09
Speaker 15: all over the room. Think you think you thank you,
2:09:12
Speaker 15: missus tittlemouse. Now what I really really should like would
2:09:16
Speaker 15: be a little dish of honey. I am afraid I
2:09:20
Speaker 15: have not got any, mister Jackson, said Missus Tittlemouse. Tittly, wittily, wittily,
2:09:25
Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse said the smiling mister Jackson. I can smell it.
2:09:30
Speaker 15: That is why I came to call. Mister Jackson rose
2:09:34
Speaker 15: ponderously from the table and began to look into the cupboards.
2:09:38
Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse followed him with a dishcloth to wipe his large,
2:09:41
Speaker 15: wet footmarks off the parlor floor. When he had convinced
2:09:45
Speaker 15: himself there was no honey in the cupboards, he began
2:09:48
Speaker 15: to walk down the passage. Indeed, indeed, you will stick fast,
2:09:52
Speaker 15: mister Jackson. Tittly wittily wittily, missus tittlemouse. First he squeezed
2:09:58
Speaker 15: into the pantry, tittly, wittly wittily, no honey, no honey,
2:10:03
Speaker 15: missus tittlemose. There were three creepy crawley people hiding in
2:10:08
Speaker 15: the plate rack. Two of them got away, but the
2:10:10
Speaker 15: littlest one he caught. Then he squeezed into the larder.
2:10:15
Speaker 15: Miss Butterfly was tasting the sugar, but she flew away
2:10:18
Speaker 15: out the window. Tittly, wittily whittly, missus tittlemouse, you seem
2:10:23
Speaker 15: to have plenty of visitors, and without any invitation, said
2:10:27
Speaker 15: Missus Thomasina Tittlemouse. They went along the sandy passage tittly wittily,
2:10:36
Speaker 15: buzz whiz whiz. He met Babbitty round a corner and
2:10:39
Speaker 15: snapped her up and put her down again. I do
2:10:42
Speaker 15: not like bumblebees. They are all over the bristles, said
2:10:45
Speaker 15: mister Jackson, wiping his mouth with his coat sleeve. Get
2:10:49
Speaker 15: out your nasty old toad, shrieked babbity bumble I shall
2:10:53
Speaker 15: go distracted, scolded missus Tittlemouse. She shut herself up in
2:10:57
Speaker 15: the nut cellar while mister Jackson pulled out bee's nest.
2:11:00
Speaker 15: She seemed to have no objection to stings. When missus
2:11:05
Speaker 15: Tittlemouse ventured to come out, everybody had gone away, But
2:11:08
Speaker 15: the untidiness was something dreadful. Never did I see such
2:11:12
Speaker 15: a mess, smears of honey and moss and thistledown and
2:11:16
Speaker 15: marks of big and little dirty feet all over my
2:11:19
Speaker 15: nice clean house. She gathered up the moss and the
2:11:23
Speaker 15: remains of the beeswax. Then she went out and fetched
2:11:26
Speaker 15: some twigs to partly close up the front door. I
2:11:29
Speaker 15: will make it too small for mister Jackson. She fetched
2:11:33
Speaker 15: soft soap and flannel, and a new scrubbing brush from
2:11:36
Speaker 15: the storeroom. She was too tired to do any more.
2:11:40
Speaker 15: First she fell asleep in her chair, and then she
2:11:42
Speaker 15: went to bed. Will it ever be tidy again? Said
2:11:46
Speaker 15: poor missus tittlemouse. Next morning she got up very early
2:11:51
Speaker 15: and began a spring cleaning, which lasted a fortnight. She
2:11:54
Speaker 15: swept and scrubbed and dusted. She rubbed up the furniture
2:11:57
Speaker 15: with beeswax, and polished her little tins spoons. When it
2:12:03
Speaker 15: was all beautifully neat and clean, she gave a party
2:12:06
Speaker 15: to five other little mice without mister Jackson. He smelt
2:12:10
Speaker 15: the party and came up the bank, but he could
2:12:12
Speaker 15: not squeeze in at the door, so they handed him
2:12:16
Speaker 15: out an acorn cupful of honey dew through the window,
2:12:20
Speaker 15: and he was not at all offended. He sat outside
2:12:23
Speaker 15: in the sun and said, tiddly wittly witty, your very
2:12:27
Speaker 15: good health, missus tittlemouse. The end the tale of Missus.
2:12:34
Speaker 16: Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and
2:12:37
Speaker 16: their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. They lived
2:12:44
Speaker 16: with their mother in a sand bank underneath the root
2:12:47
Speaker 16: of a very big fir tree. Now, my DearS, said
2:12:51
Speaker 16: old missus Rabbit. One morning, you may go into the
2:12:55
Speaker 16: fields or down the lane, but don't go into mister
2:12:58
Speaker 16: McGregor's garden. Had an accident there he was put in
2:13:02
Speaker 16: a pie by missus mc gregor. Now run along and
2:13:06
Speaker 16: don't get into mischief. I am going out. Then old
2:13:11
Speaker 16: missus Rabbit took a basket and her umbrella and went
2:13:14
Speaker 16: through the wood to the baker's. She bought a loaf
2:13:17
Speaker 16: of brown bread and five currant buns. Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail,
2:13:23
Speaker 16: who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to
2:13:26
Speaker 16: gather blackberries. But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straightway
2:13:30
Speaker 16: to mister McGregor's garden and squeezed under the gate. First
2:13:36
Speaker 16: he ate some lettuces and some french beans, and then
2:13:39
Speaker 16: he ate some radishes, and then, feeling rather sick, he
2:13:44
Speaker 16: went to look for some parsley, but round the end
2:13:47
Speaker 16: of a cucumber frame. Whom should he meet but mister
2:13:50
Speaker 16: mc gregor. Mister mc gregor was on his hands and
2:13:54
Speaker 16: knees planting out young cabbages. But he jumped up and
2:13:57
Speaker 16: ran after Peter, waving a rake and calling out stop thief.
2:14:02
Speaker 16: Peter was most dreadfully frightened. He rushed all over the garden,
2:14:06
Speaker 16: for he had forgotten the way back to the gate.
2:14:10
Speaker 16: He lost one of his shoes among the cabbages, and
2:14:13
Speaker 16: the other shoe amongst the potatoes. After losing them, he
2:14:17
Speaker 16: ran on four legs and went faster, so that I
2:14:19
Speaker 16: think he might have got away altogether if he had
2:14:22
Speaker 16: not unfortunately, run into a gooseberry net and got caught
2:14:26
Speaker 16: by the large buttons on his jacket. It was a
2:14:30
Speaker 16: blue jacket with brass buttons. Quite new. Peter gave himself
2:14:36
Speaker 16: up for lost and shed big tears, but his sobs
2:14:39
Speaker 16: were overheard by some friendly sparrows, who flew to him
2:14:42
Speaker 16: in great excitement and implored him to exert himself. Mister
2:14:47
Speaker 16: mac gregor came up with a sieve which he intended
2:14:50
Speaker 16: to pop upon the top of Peter, but Peter wriggled
2:14:53
Speaker 16: out just in time, leaving his jacket behind him, and
2:14:57
Speaker 16: rushed into the tool shed and jumped into a can.
2:15:00
Speaker 16: It would have been a beautiful thing to hide in
2:15:02
Speaker 16: if it had not had so much water in it.
2:15:06
Speaker 16: Mister MacGregor was quite sure that Peter was somewhere in
2:15:09
Speaker 16: the duel shed, perhaps hidden underneath a flower pot. He
2:15:13
Speaker 16: began to turn them over, carefully looking under each. Presently
2:15:18
Speaker 16: Peter sneezed, could you Mister MacGregor was after him in
2:15:22
Speaker 16: no time and tried to put his foot upon Peter,
2:15:26
Speaker 16: who jumped out of a window, upsetting three plants. The
2:15:30
Speaker 16: window was too small for mister MacGregor, and he was
2:15:32
Speaker 16: tired of running after Peter. He went back to his work.
2:15:37
Speaker 16: Peter sat down to rest. He was out of breath
2:15:40
Speaker 16: and trembling with fright, and he had not the least
2:15:43
Speaker 16: idea which way to go. Also, he was very damp
2:15:47
Speaker 16: with sitting in that can. After a time he began
2:15:51
Speaker 16: to wander about, going lippity lippity, not very fast, and
2:15:56
Speaker 16: looking all around. He found a door in a wall,
2:16:00
Speaker 16: but it was locked, and there was no room for
2:16:02
Speaker 16: a fat little rabbit to squeeze underneath. An old mouse
2:16:06
Speaker 16: was running in and out over the stone doorstep, carrying
2:16:09
Speaker 16: peas and beans to her family in the wood. Peter
2:16:13
Speaker 16: asked her the way to the gate, but she had
2:16:15
Speaker 16: such a large pea in her mouth that she could
2:16:17
Speaker 16: not answer. She only shook her head at him. Peter
2:16:21
Speaker 16: began to cry. Then he tried to find his way
2:16:25
Speaker 16: straight across the garden, but he became more and more puzzled.
2:16:30
Speaker 16: Presently he came to a pond where mister MacGregor filled
2:16:32
Speaker 16: his water cans. A white cat was staring at some goldfish.
2:16:37
Speaker 16: She sat very very still, but now and then the
2:16:41
Speaker 16: tip of her tail twitched as if it were alive.
2:16:45
Speaker 16: Peter thought it best to go away without speaking to her.
2:16:48
Speaker 16: He had heard about cats from his cousin, Little Benjamin Bunny.
2:16:54
Speaker 16: He went back towards the tool shed, but suddenly, quite
2:16:57
Speaker 16: close to him, he heard the noise of a hoe. Oh, scritch, scratch, scratch, scritch.
2:17:07
Speaker 16: Peter scuttered underneath the bushes, but presently, as nothing happened,
2:17:11
Speaker 16: he came out and climbed upon a wheelbarrow and peeped over.
2:17:16
Speaker 16: The first thing he saw was mister MacGregor, howing onions.
2:17:20
Speaker 16: His back was turned towards Peter, and beyond him was
2:17:23
Speaker 16: the gate. Peter got down very quietly off the wheelbarrow
2:17:27
Speaker 16: and started running as fast as he could go along
2:17:30
Speaker 16: a straight walk behind some black currant bushes. Mister MacGregor
2:17:35
Speaker 16: caught sight of him at the corner, but Peter did
2:17:37
Speaker 16: not care. He slipped underneath the gate and was safe
2:17:40
Speaker 16: at last. In the wood outside the garden, mister MacGregor
2:17:44
Speaker 16: hung up the little jacket and the shoes for a
2:17:47
Speaker 16: scarecrow to frighten the blackbirds. Peter never stopped running or
2:17:52
Speaker 16: looked behind him till he got home to the big
2:17:54
Speaker 16: fir tree. He was so tired that he flopped down
2:17:58
Speaker 16: upon the nice soft sild on the floor of the
2:18:01
Speaker 16: rabbit hole and shut his eyes. His mother was busy cooking.
2:18:07
Speaker 16: She wondered what he had done with his clothes. It
2:18:10
Speaker 16: was the second little jacket and pair of shoes that
2:18:12
Speaker 16: Peter had lost in a fortnight. I am sorry to
2:18:17
Speaker 16: say that Peter was not very well. During the evening.
2:18:21
Speaker 16: His mother put him to bed and made some camomeal tea,
2:18:25
Speaker 16: and she gave a dose of it to Peter one
2:18:28
Speaker 16: tablespoonful to be taken at bedtime. But Flopsy, Mopsy and
2:18:34
Speaker 16: Cottontail had bread and milk and blackberries for supper. The
2:18:40
Speaker 16: end of Peter Rabbit.
2:18:43
Speaker 17: The tail of Pigling Bland. Once upon a time there
2:18:50
Speaker 17: was an old pig called on Petty Toes. She had
2:18:54
Speaker 17: aid of a family four little girl pigs called cross Patch,
2:18:58
Speaker 17: Suck Suck, Yaki Yawkin, Spot, and four little boy pigs
2:19:03
Speaker 17: called Alexander, Pigling Bland, Chinchin, and Stumpy Stumpy. It had
2:19:09
Speaker 17: an accident to his tail. The eight little pigs had
2:19:13
Speaker 17: very fine appetites. Yes, yes, yes, they eat, and indeed
2:19:19
Speaker 17: they do eat, said on Petty Toes, looking at her
2:19:23
Speaker 17: family with pride. Suddenly there were fearful squeals. Alexander had
2:19:29
Speaker 17: squeezed inside the hoops of the pig trough and stuck
2:19:33
Speaker 17: on Petty Tooes, and I dragged him out by the
2:19:36
Speaker 17: hind legs. Chinchin was already in disgrace. It was washing day,
2:19:42
Speaker 17: and he had eaten a piece of soap. And presently
2:19:45
Speaker 17: in a basket of clean clothes, we found another dirty
2:19:49
Speaker 17: little pig. Chut tut tut, whichever is this grunted on
2:19:55
Speaker 17: Petty Toes. Now, all the pig family are pink or
2:20:00
Speaker 17: pink with black spots. But this little pig child was
2:20:03
Speaker 17: smutty black all over. When they had been popped into
2:20:07
Speaker 17: a tub, it proved to be yok yok. I went
2:20:11
Speaker 17: into the garden. There I found cross patch and suck
2:20:15
Speaker 17: suck rooting up carrots. I whipped them myself and led
2:20:19
Speaker 17: them out by the ears. Cross Patch tried to bite me,
2:20:24
Speaker 17: Aunt Petty toes On Petty Toes, you are a worthy person,
2:20:29
Speaker 17: but your family is not well brought up. Every one
2:20:33
Speaker 17: of them has been in mischief except Spot and pigling Bland. Yes, yes,
2:20:39
Speaker 17: sighed on Petty Toes, and they drink bucketfuls of milk.
2:20:44
Speaker 17: I shall have to get another cow. Good little Spot
2:20:47
Speaker 17: shall stay at home to do the housework, but the
2:20:50
Speaker 17: others must go. Four little boy pigs and four little
2:20:53
Speaker 17: girl pigs are too many altogether. Yes, yes, yes, said
2:20:58
Speaker 17: Aunt Petty toes. There will be more to eat without them.
2:21:03
Speaker 17: So Chin Chin and Suck Suck went away in a wheelbarrow,
2:21:07
Speaker 17: and Stumpy Yok Yok and cross Patch rode away in
2:21:11
Speaker 17: a cart. And the other two little boy pigs, Pigling
2:21:15
Speaker 17: Bland and Alexander, went to market. We brushed their coats,
2:21:20
Speaker 17: we curled their tails, and washed their little faces, and
2:21:24
Speaker 17: wished them goodbye in the yard on Petty Tooes wiped
2:21:29
Speaker 17: her eyes with a large pocket handkerchief. Then she wiped
2:21:34
Speaker 17: Pigling Bland's nose and shed tears. Then she wiped Alexander's
2:21:40
Speaker 17: nose and shed tears. Then she passed the handkerchief to
2:21:44
Speaker 17: spot on Petty Toe's side, and grunted and addressed those
2:21:49
Speaker 17: little pigs as follows Now Pigling Bland, Sun, Pigling Bland,
2:21:56
Speaker 17: you must go to market, take your brother Alexander by
2:21:59
Speaker 17: the head, and mine your Sunday clothes, and remember to
2:22:03
Speaker 17: blow your nose. On Petty Toes passed round the handkerchief again.
2:22:10
Speaker 17: Beware of traps, hen roos, bacon and eggs. Always walk
2:22:16
Speaker 17: upon your hind legs. Piggling Bland, who was a sedate
2:22:21
Speaker 17: little pig, looked solemnly at his mother. A tear trickled
2:22:25
Speaker 17: down his cheek. On petty Toes turned to the other. Now, son, Alexander,
2:22:33
Speaker 17: take the hand. Wee wee wee, giggled Alexander, take the
2:22:38
Speaker 17: hand of your brother, Pigling Bland. You must go to
2:22:42
Speaker 17: the market. Mind wee wee wee, interrupted Alexander again, you
2:22:49
Speaker 17: put me out, said on petty toes. Observe sign posts
2:22:53
Speaker 17: and milestones, do not gobble herring bones. And remember, said
2:22:58
Speaker 17: I impressively, if you once crossed the county boundary, you
2:23:03
Speaker 17: cannot come back. Alexander, you are not attending. Here are
2:23:08
Speaker 17: two licenses permitting two pigs to go to market in Lancashire. Attend, Alexander.
2:23:15
Speaker 17: I have had no end of trouble in getting these
2:23:17
Speaker 17: papers from the policemen. Pigling Bland listened gravely. Alexander was
2:23:24
Speaker 17: hopelessly volatile. I pinned the papers for safety inside their
2:23:30
Speaker 17: waistcoat pockets on petty tooes, gave to each a little
2:23:35
Speaker 17: bundle and eight conversation peppermints with appropriate moral sentiments, and
2:23:40
Speaker 17: screws of paper. Then they started Pigling Bland and Alexander
2:23:46
Speaker 17: trotted along steadily for a mile, at least Pigling Bland did.
2:23:52
Speaker 17: Alexander made the road half as long again. By skipping
2:23:56
Speaker 17: from side to side. He danced about and pinned his brother, singing,
2:24:02
Speaker 17: this pig went to the market, this pig stayed at home.
2:24:05
Speaker 17: This pig had a bit of meat. Let's see what
2:24:08
Speaker 17: they have given us for dinner. Pigling, Pigling Bland, and
2:24:12
Speaker 17: Alexander sat down and untied their bundles. Alexander gobbled up
2:24:19
Speaker 17: his dinner in no time. He had already eaten all
2:24:22
Speaker 17: his own peppermints. Give me one of yours, please, Pigling,
2:24:28
Speaker 17: But I wish to preserve them for emergencies, said Pigling
2:24:31
Speaker 17: Bland doubtfully. Alexander went into squeals of laughter. Then he
2:24:37
Speaker 17: pricked Piggling with the pin that had fastened his pig paper,
2:24:41
Speaker 17: And when Pigling slapped him, he dropped the pin and
2:24:45
Speaker 17: tried to take Pigling's pin, and the papers got mixed up.
2:24:49
Speaker 17: Pigling Bland reproved Alexander, but presently they made it up
2:24:55
Speaker 17: again and trotted away together, singing, Tom Tom, the pipers
2:25:00
Speaker 17: sun stole a pig, and away he ran. But all
2:25:02
Speaker 17: the tune that he could play. Was over the hills
2:25:04
Speaker 17: and far away. What's that, young sirs, stole a pig?
2:25:11
Speaker 17: Where are your licenses? Said the policeman. They had nearly
2:25:15
Speaker 17: run against him. Around a corner. Pigling Bland pulled out
2:25:19
Speaker 17: his paper. Alexander, after fumbling, handed over something scrumply two
2:25:27
Speaker 17: two and a half ounce conversation, sweety's at three farthings.
2:25:32
Speaker 17: What's this? This ain't a license. Alexander's nose lengthened visibly.
2:25:39
Speaker 17: He had lost it. I had one, indeed I had,
2:25:43
Speaker 17: mister policeman. It's not likely they let you start without.
2:25:49
Speaker 17: I am passing the farm. You may walk with me.
2:25:53
Speaker 17: Can I come back to inquired Pigling Bland. I see
2:25:58
Speaker 17: no reason, young sir. Your paper is all right. Pigling
2:26:02
Speaker 17: Bland did not like going on alone, and it was
2:26:05
Speaker 17: beginning to rain. But it is unwise to argue with
2:26:09
Speaker 17: the police. He gave his brother a peppermint and watched
2:26:13
Speaker 17: him out of sight. To conclude the adventures of Alexander,
2:26:19
Speaker 17: the policeman sauntered up to the house about tea time,
2:26:22
Speaker 17: followed by a damp, subdued little pig. I disposed of
2:26:27
Speaker 17: Alexander in the neighborhood. He did fairly well. When he
2:26:30
Speaker 17: had settled down, Pigling Bland went on alone. Dejectedly. He
2:26:38
Speaker 17: came to crossroads and a sign post to market Town,
2:26:43
Speaker 17: five miles over the hills, four miles to Pettyito's farm
2:26:50
Speaker 17: three miles. Pigling Bland was shocked. There was little hope
2:26:56
Speaker 17: of sleeping in market Town, and tomorrow was the hiring fair.
2:27:01
Speaker 17: It was deplorable to think how much time had been
2:27:03
Speaker 17: wasted by the frivolity of Alexander. He glanced wistfully along
2:27:09
Speaker 17: the road towards the hills, and then set off, walking
2:27:14
Speaker 17: obediently the other way, buttoning up his coat against the rain.
2:27:19
Speaker 17: He had never wanted to go, and the idea of
2:27:22
Speaker 17: standing all by himself in a crowded market to be
2:27:26
Speaker 17: stared at, pushed and hired by some big strange farmer
2:27:31
Speaker 17: was very disagreeable. I wish I could have a little
2:27:37
Speaker 17: garden and grow potatoes, said Pigling Bland. He put his
2:27:42
Speaker 17: cold hand in his pocket and felt his paper. He
2:27:47
Speaker 17: put his other hand in his other pocket and felt
2:27:50
Speaker 17: another paper. Alexander's Pigling squealed, then ran back frantically, hoping
2:27:57
Speaker 17: to overtake Alexander and the policeman, and he took a
2:28:03
Speaker 17: wrong turn, several wrong turns, and was quite lost. It
2:28:10
Speaker 17: grew dark, the wind whistled, the trees creaked and groaned.
2:28:16
Speaker 17: Piggling Bland became frightened and.
2:28:18
Speaker 18: Cried, wee, wee wee, I can't find my way home.
2:28:24
Speaker 18: After an hour's wandering, he got out of the wood.
2:28:28
Speaker 18: The moon shone through the clouds, and Pigling Bland saw
2:28:32
Speaker 18: a country that was new to him. The road crossed
2:28:37
Speaker 18: a moor. Below was a wide valley with a river
2:28:41
Speaker 18: twinkling in the moonlight, and beyond, in misty distance, lay
2:28:47
Speaker 18: the hills. He saw a small wooden hut, made his
2:28:51
Speaker 18: way to it and crept inside. I am afraid it
2:28:56
Speaker 18: is a hen house.
2:28:58
Speaker 17: But what can I do? Said Piggling Bland, Wet and
2:29:03
Speaker 17: cold and quite tired out. Bacon and eggs. Bacon and
2:29:08
Speaker 17: eggs clucked a hen on a perch, trap trap trap cackle, cackle, cackle,
2:29:15
Speaker 17: scolded the disturbed cockrel to market, to market. Chickeny jig
2:29:23
Speaker 17: clucked a broody white hen roosting next to him. Piggling Bland,
2:29:28
Speaker 17: much alarmed, determined to leave at daybreak. In the meantime,
2:29:33
Speaker 17: he and the hens fell asleep. In less than an
2:29:36
Speaker 17: hour they were all awakened. The owner, mister Peter Thomas Piperson,
2:29:43
Speaker 17: came with a lantern and a hamper to catch six
2:29:46
Speaker 17: bowls to take to market in the morning. He grabbed
2:29:50
Speaker 17: the white hen roosting next to the cock. Then his
2:29:54
Speaker 17: eye fell upon Pigling Bland, squeezed up in a corner.
2:29:58
Speaker 17: He made a singular remark, HALLO, here's another. Seize Piggling
2:30:04
Speaker 17: by the scruff of the neck and dropped him into
2:30:07
Speaker 17: the hamper. Then he dropped in five more dirty, kicking,
2:30:12
Speaker 17: cackling hens upon the top of Pigling Bland. The hamper,
2:30:19
Speaker 17: containing six fowls and a young pig, was no light weight.
2:30:24
Speaker 17: It was taken downhill unsteadily with jerks. Pigling, although nearly
2:30:30
Speaker 17: scratched to pieces, contrived to hide the papers and peppermints
2:30:34
Speaker 17: inside his clothes. At last, the hamper was bumped down
2:30:39
Speaker 17: upon a kitchen floor, the lid was opened and Pigling
2:30:43
Speaker 17: was lifted out. He looked up, blinking and saw an
2:30:47
Speaker 17: offensively ugly elderly man grinning from ear to ear. This
2:30:54
Speaker 17: one's come of himself, whatever, said mister Piperson, turning Piggling's
2:31:00
Speaker 17: pockets inside out. He pushed the hamper into a corner,
2:31:05
Speaker 17: threw a sack over it to keep the hens quiet,
2:31:08
Speaker 17: put a pot on the fire, and unlaced his boots.
2:31:12
Speaker 17: Pigling Bland drew forward a copy stool and sat on
2:31:16
Speaker 17: the edge of it, shyly, warming his hands. Mister Piperson
2:31:21
Speaker 17: pulled off a boot and threw it against the wainscot.
2:31:24
Speaker 17: At the further end of the kitchen, there was a
2:31:27
Speaker 17: smothered noise. Shut up, said mister Piperson. Piggling Bland warmed
2:31:33
Speaker 17: his hands and eyed him. Mister Piperson pulled off the
2:31:38
Speaker 17: other boot and flung it after the first. There was
2:31:42
Speaker 17: again a curious noise. Be quiet, will ye, said mister Piperson.
2:31:49
Speaker 17: Piggling Bland sat on the very edge of the copy stool.
2:31:54
Speaker 17: Mister Piperson fetched meal from a chest and made porridge
2:31:59
Speaker 17: its seas to Pigling that something at the further end
2:32:02
Speaker 17: of the kitchen was taking a suppressed interest in the cooking,
2:32:06
Speaker 17: but he was too hungry to be troubled by noises.
2:32:11
Speaker 17: Mister Piperson poured out three platefuls for himself for Pigling,
2:32:17
Speaker 17: and a third. After glaring at Pigling, he put away
2:32:22
Speaker 17: with much scuffling and locked up Pigling bland Ada's supper Discreetly.
2:32:30
Speaker 17: After supper, mister Piperson consulted an almanac and felt Pigling's ribs.
2:32:37
Speaker 17: It was too late in the season for curing bacon,
2:32:40
Speaker 17: and he grudged his meal. Besides, the hens had seen
2:32:45
Speaker 17: this pig He looked at the small remains of a
2:32:50
Speaker 17: flitch side of bacon, and then looked undecidedly at Pigling.
2:32:56
Speaker 17: He may sleep on the rug, said mister Peter Thomas Piperson.
2:33:02
Speaker 17: Pigling Bland slept like a top. In the morning, mister
2:33:06
Speaker 17: Piperson made more porridge. The weather was warmer. He looked
2:33:12
Speaker 17: how much meal was left in the chest and seemed dissatisfied.
2:33:17
Speaker 17: You'll likely be moving on again, said he to Pigling Bland.
2:33:23
Speaker 17: Before Pigling could reply, a neighbor who was giving mister
2:33:28
Speaker 17: Piperson in the hands a lift, whistled from the gate.
2:33:33
Speaker 17: Mister Piperson hurried out with the hamper, enjoining Pigling to
2:33:37
Speaker 17: shut the door behind him and not meddle with naught
2:33:41
Speaker 17: or I'll come back and skin ye, said mister Piperson.
2:33:48
Speaker 17: It crossed Pigling's mind that if he had asked for
2:33:52
Speaker 17: a lift too, he might still have been in time
2:33:55
Speaker 17: for market, but he distrusted Peter Thomas. After finishing breakfast
2:34:02
Speaker 17: at his leisure, Pigling had a look round the cottage.
2:34:06
Speaker 17: Everything was locked up. He found some potato peelings in
2:34:10
Speaker 17: a bucket in the back kitchen. Piggling ate the peel
2:34:14
Speaker 17: and washed up the porridge plates in the bucket. He
2:34:17
Speaker 17: sang while he worked tom with his pipe. Made such
2:34:21
Speaker 17: a noise he called up of the girls and boys,
2:34:24
Speaker 17: and they all ran to hear in play over the
2:34:27
Speaker 17: hills and far away. Suddenly, a little smothered voice chimed
2:34:33
Speaker 17: in over the hills in a great way off the wind.
2:34:37
Speaker 17: Sh I'll blow my top not off. Piggling Bland put
2:34:42
Speaker 17: down a plate which she was wiping, and listened. After
2:34:47
Speaker 17: a long pause, Piggling went on tiptoe and peep round
2:34:51
Speaker 17: the door into the front kitchen. There was nobody there.
2:34:56
Speaker 17: After another pause, Piggling approached the door the lock cupboard
2:35:01
Speaker 17: and snuffed at the keyhole. It was quite quiet. After
2:35:07
Speaker 17: another long pause, Piggling pushed a peppermint under the door.
2:35:12
Speaker 17: It was sucked in immediately. In the course of the day,
2:35:16
Speaker 17: Piggling pushed in all his remaining six peppermints. When mister
2:35:22
Speaker 17: Piperson returned, he found Piglings sitting before the fire. He
2:35:27
Speaker 17: had brushed up the hearth and put on the pot
2:35:30
Speaker 17: to boil. The meal was not get it able. Mister
2:35:35
Speaker 17: Piperson was very affable. He slapped Piggling on the back,
2:35:40
Speaker 17: made lots of porridge, and forgot to lock the meal chest.
2:35:44
Speaker 17: He did lock the cupboard door, but without properly shutting it.
2:35:49
Speaker 17: He went to bed early and told Piggling upon no
2:35:52
Speaker 17: account to disturb him. Next day, before twelve o'clock, Piggling
2:35:58
Speaker 17: Bland sat by the fire, eating his supper all at once.
2:36:05
Speaker 17: At his elbow, a little voice spoke, my name is Pickwick.
2:36:11
Speaker 17: Make me more porridge please. Pigling Bland jumped and looked round.
2:36:19
Speaker 17: A perfectly lovely little black Berkshire pig stood smiling beside him.
2:36:26
Speaker 17: She had twinkly little screwed up eyes, a double chin,
2:36:30
Speaker 17: and a short turned up nose. She pointed at Pigling's plate.
2:36:36
Speaker 17: He hastily gave it to her. And fled to the
2:36:39
Speaker 17: meal chest. How did you come here, asked pigling Bland. Stolen,
2:36:46
Speaker 17: replied Pigwig, with her mouth full, Pigling helped himself to
2:36:51
Speaker 17: meal without scruple. What for bacon hams, replied pigwigs cheerful.
2:37:02
Speaker 17: Why on earth don't you run away? Exclaimed the horrified Pigling.
2:37:08
Speaker 17: I shall after supper, said Pigwig. Decidedly. Pigling Bland made
2:37:16
Speaker 17: more porridge and watched her shyly. She finished a second plate,
2:37:21
Speaker 17: got up and looked about her as though she were
2:37:24
Speaker 17: going to start. You can't go in the dark, said
2:37:28
Speaker 17: pigling Bland. Pigwig looked anxious. Do you know your way
2:37:34
Speaker 17: by daylight?
2:37:37
Speaker 19: I know we can see this little white house from
2:37:39
Speaker 19: the hills across the river. Which way are you going,
2:37:43
Speaker 19: mister pig.
2:37:46
Speaker 17: To market? I have two pig papers. I might take
2:37:50
Speaker 17: you to the bridge, if you have no objection, said Pigling,
2:37:54
Speaker 17: much confused and sitting on the edge of his copy stool.
2:37:59
Speaker 17: Pigwig's gratitude was such and she asked so many questions
2:38:03
Speaker 17: that it became embarrassing to pigling Bland. He was obliged
2:38:09
Speaker 17: to shut his eyes and pretend to sleep. She became quiet,
2:38:14
Speaker 17: and there was a smell of peppermint. I thought you
2:38:18
Speaker 17: would eaten them, said Pigling, waking suddenly, only the corners,
2:38:24
Speaker 17: replied Pigwig, studying the sentiments with much interest by the firelight.
2:38:30
Speaker 17: I wish you wouldn't. He might smell them through the ceiling,
2:38:34
Speaker 17: said the alarm Pigling. Pigwig put back the sticky peppermints
2:38:39
Speaker 17: into her pocket, sing something she demanded. I am sorry,
2:38:46
Speaker 17: I have a toothache, said Pigling, much dismayed. Then I
2:38:52
Speaker 17: will sing, replied Pigwig.
2:38:56
Speaker 19: You will not mind if I say iddy to ditty.
2:38:59
Speaker 19: I've forgotten some of the words.
2:39:05
Speaker 17: Piggling Bland made no objection. He sat with his eyes
2:39:09
Speaker 17: half shut and watched her. She wagged her head and
2:39:14
Speaker 17: rocked about, clapping time and singing in a sweet, little
2:39:18
Speaker 17: grunty voice. A funny old mother pig lived in a sty,
2:39:24
Speaker 17: and three little piggies had she titty to ditty the
2:39:30
Speaker 17: ditty umph um um, and the little piggy said wee weee.
2:39:37
Speaker 17: She sang successfully through three or four verses, only at
2:39:41
Speaker 17: every verse her head nodded a little lower, and her
2:39:45
Speaker 17: little twinkly eyes closed up. Those three little piggies.
2:39:50
Speaker 19: Grew piggy and lean and lean. It might very well be,
2:39:56
Speaker 19: for somehow they couldn't say hmmm, And they would and
2:40:00
Speaker 19: say wee wee wee.
2:40:03
Speaker 17: But somehow they couldn't say. Pigwig's head bob lower and
2:40:10
Speaker 17: lower until she rolled over a little round ball, fast
2:40:15
Speaker 17: asleep on the hearth rug. Pigling bland on tiptoe, covered
2:40:21
Speaker 17: her up with a Nannie mcasser. He was afraid to
2:40:26
Speaker 17: go to sleep himself. For the rest of the night,
2:40:29
Speaker 17: he sat listening to the chirping of the crickets and
2:40:32
Speaker 17: to the snores of mister Piperson overhead. Early in the morning,
2:40:38
Speaker 17: between dark and daylight, Pigling tied up his little bundle
2:40:42
Speaker 17: and woke up Pigwig. She was excited and half frightened.
2:40:49
Speaker 20: But it's dark.
2:40:50
Speaker 17: How can we find our way? The cock has crowed.
2:40:55
Speaker 17: We must start before the hens come out, they might
2:40:58
Speaker 17: shout to mister Piperson. Pigwigs sat down again and commenced
2:41:05
Speaker 17: to cry, come away, Pigwig, we can see when we
2:41:09
Speaker 17: get used to it.
2:41:11
Speaker 3: Come.
2:41:11
Speaker 17: I can hear them clucking. Pigglin had never said shut
2:41:16
Speaker 17: to a hen in his life being peaceable. Also, he
2:41:21
Speaker 17: remembered the hamper. He opened the house door quietly and
2:41:27
Speaker 17: shut it after them. There was no garden. The neighborhood
2:41:31
Speaker 17: of mister Piperson's was all scratched up by fowls. They
2:41:36
Speaker 17: slipped away, hand in hand across an untiny field to
2:41:40
Speaker 17: the road. Tom Tom, the Piper's son, stole a pig,
2:41:44
Speaker 17: and away he ran. But all the tune that he
2:41:47
Speaker 17: could play was over the hills and far away. Come Pigwig.
2:41:53
Speaker 17: We must get to the bridge before folks are stirring.
2:41:58
Speaker 17: Why do he want to go to the market at, Pigling,
2:42:01
Speaker 17: inquired Pigwig. The sun rose while they were crossing the moor,
2:42:07
Speaker 17: a dazzling of light over the tops of the hills.
2:42:11
Speaker 17: The sunshine crept down the slopes into the peaceful green valleys.
2:42:17
Speaker 17: Were little white cottages nestled in gardens and orchids. That's
2:42:23
Speaker 17: wes Morland, said Pigwig. She dropped Pigling's hand and commenced
2:42:28
Speaker 17: to dance, singing. Presently, I don't want I want to
2:42:35
Speaker 17: grow potatoes. Have a peppermint, said Pigwig. Pigling Blan refused
2:42:43
Speaker 17: quite crossly. Does your poor toothy hurt, inquired Pigwig. Pigling
2:42:52
Speaker 17: Bland grunted. Pigwig ate the peppermin herself and followed the
2:42:57
Speaker 17: opposite side of the road. Pigwig, keep under the wall.
2:43:02
Speaker 17: There's a man plowing. Pigwig crossed over. They hurried down
2:43:08
Speaker 17: the hill toward the county boundary. Suddenly Pigling stopped. He
2:43:16
Speaker 17: heard wheels slowly jogging up the road. Below them came
2:43:21
Speaker 17: a tradesman's cart. The reins flapped on the horse's back.
2:43:26
Speaker 17: The grocer was reading a newspaper. Take that peppermint out
2:43:31
Speaker 17: of your mouth, Pigwig, we may have to run. Don't
2:43:35
Speaker 17: say one word. Leave it to me. And in sight
2:43:38
Speaker 17: of the bridge, said poor Pigling, nearly crying. He began
2:43:44
Speaker 17: to walk frightfully lame, holding Pigwig's arm. The grocer, intent
2:43:51
Speaker 17: upon his newspaper, might have passed them if his horse
2:43:55
Speaker 17: had not shied and snorted. He pulled the cart crossways
2:44:00
Speaker 17: and held down his whip. Hello, where are you going
2:44:03
Speaker 17: to Piggling Bland stared at him vacantly. Are you deaf?
2:44:09
Speaker 17: Are you going to market? Piggling nodded slowly. I thought
2:44:14
Speaker 17: as much it was yesterday. Show me your license. Piggling
2:44:20
Speaker 17: stared at the off hind shoe of the grocer's horse,
2:44:24
Speaker 17: which had picked up a stone. The grocer flicked his
2:44:28
Speaker 17: whip papers pig License. Piggling fumbled in all his pockets
2:44:34
Speaker 17: and handed up the papers. The grocer read them, but
2:44:38
Speaker 17: still seemed dissatisfied. This here, pig is a young lady.
2:44:43
Speaker 17: Is her name Alexander? Pigwig opened her mouth and shut
2:44:49
Speaker 17: it again. Pigling coughed asthmatically. The grocer ran his finger
2:44:55
Speaker 17: down the advertisement column of his newspaper, loss stolen or
2:45:01
Speaker 17: strayed ten s reward. He looked suspiciously at Pigwig. Then
2:45:11
Speaker 17: he stood up in the trap and whistled for the plowman.
2:45:16
Speaker 17: You wait here, Will I drive on and speak to him,
2:45:19
Speaker 17: said the grocer, gathering up the reins. He knew that
2:45:23
Speaker 17: pigs are slippery, but surely such a very lame pig
2:45:28
Speaker 17: could never run. Not yet, Pigwig, He will look back.
2:45:34
Speaker 17: The grocer did so. He saw the two pigs stalk
2:45:37
Speaker 17: still in the middle of the road. Then he looked
2:45:41
Speaker 17: over at his horse's heels. It was lame also. The
2:45:46
Speaker 17: stone took some time to knock out. After he got
2:45:49
Speaker 17: to the plowman. Now pigwig, now said Pigling Bland. Never
2:45:56
Speaker 17: did any pigs run as these pigs ran. They they
2:46:00
Speaker 17: raced and squealed and pelted down the long white hill
2:46:03
Speaker 17: towards the bridge. Little fat Pigwig's petticoats fluttered and her
2:46:09
Speaker 17: feet went pitter patter, pitter, as she bounded and jumped.
2:46:13
Speaker 17: They ran, and they ran, and they ran down the
2:46:16
Speaker 17: hill and across a short cut on level green turf
2:46:19
Speaker 17: at the bottom, between pebble beds and rushes. They came
2:46:24
Speaker 17: to the river. They came to the bridge. They crossed
2:46:27
Speaker 17: it hand in hand. Then over the hills, and far
2:46:31
Speaker 17: away she danced with Pigling Bland.
2:46:35
Speaker 20: The tail of squirrel Netkin a story for Norah. This
2:46:40
Speaker 20: is a tail about a tail, a tail that belonged
2:46:44
Speaker 20: to a little red squirrel. In his name was Nutkin.
2:46:49
Speaker 20: He had a brother called Twinkleberry, and a great many cousins.
2:46:53
Speaker 20: They lived in a wood at the edge of a lake.
2:46:56
Speaker 20: In the middle of the lake there is an island
2:46:59
Speaker 20: covered which trees and nuts and bushes, And amongst those
2:47:03
Speaker 20: trees stands a hollow oak tree, which is the house
2:47:07
Speaker 20: of an owl who is called old Brown one autumn,
2:47:12
Speaker 20: when the nuts were ripe and the leaves on the
2:47:15
Speaker 20: hazel bushes were golden and green. Nutkin and Twinkleberry and
2:47:20
Speaker 20: all the other little squirrels came out of the wood
2:47:23
Speaker 20: and down to the edge of the lake. They made
2:47:26
Speaker 20: little rafts out of twigs, and they paddled away over
2:47:30
Speaker 20: the water to Owl Island to gather nuts. Each squirrel
2:47:35
Speaker 20: had a little sack and a large ore, and spread
2:47:39
Speaker 20: out his tail for a sail. They also took with
2:47:42
Speaker 20: them an offering of three fat mice as a present
2:47:46
Speaker 20: for Old Brown, and put them down upon his doorstep.
2:47:51
Speaker 20: Then Twinkleberry and the other little squirrels each made a
2:47:55
Speaker 20: low bow and said politely, old mister Brown, will you
2:48:00
Speaker 20: favor us with permission to gather nuts upon your island.
2:48:04
Speaker 20: But Nutkin was excessively impertinent in his manners. He bobbed
2:48:09
Speaker 20: up and down like a little red cherry, singing, riddle me,
2:48:13
Speaker 20: riddle me, rot tot toat a littley man in a
2:48:16
Speaker 20: red red coat, a staff in his hand and a
2:48:20
Speaker 20: stone in his throat. If you'll tell me this riddle,
2:48:23
Speaker 20: I'll give you a groat. Now this riddle is as
2:48:27
Speaker 20: old as the hills mister Brown paid no attention whatever
2:48:31
Speaker 20: to Nutkin. He shut his eyes obstinately and went to sleep.
2:48:36
Speaker 20: The squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts and sailed
2:48:40
Speaker 20: home in the evening. But next morning they all came
2:48:43
Speaker 20: back again to Owl Island, and Twinkleberry and the others
2:48:47
Speaker 20: brought a fine fat mole and laid it on the
2:48:51
Speaker 20: stone in front of old Brown's doorway, and said, mister Brown,
2:48:56
Speaker 20: will you favor us with your gracious permission to gather
2:48:59
Speaker 20: some more nuts. But Nutkin, who had no respect, began
2:49:03
Speaker 20: to dance up and down, tickling old mister Brown with
2:49:06
Speaker 20: a nettle and singing, old mister b riddle me ree,
2:49:11
Speaker 20: hitty pity within the wall, hitty pity without the wall.
2:49:15
Speaker 20: If you touch hitty pity, hitty pity will bite you.
2:49:19
Speaker 20: Mister Brown woke up suddenly and carried the mole into
2:49:22
Speaker 20: his house. He shut the door in Nutkin's face. Presently,
2:49:27
Speaker 20: a little thread of blue smoke from a wood fire
2:49:31
Speaker 20: came up from the top of the tree, and Nutkin
2:49:34
Speaker 20: peeped through the keyhole and sang, a house full, a
2:49:38
Speaker 20: hole full, and you cannot gather a bowlful. The squirrels
2:49:43
Speaker 20: searched for nuts all over the island and filled their
2:49:46
Speaker 20: little sacks. But Nutkin gathered oak apples, yellow and scarlet,
2:49:52
Speaker 20: and sat upon a beech stump, playing marbles and watching
2:49:56
Speaker 20: the door of old mister Brown. On the third day,
2:50:00
Speaker 20: the squirrels got up very early and went fishing. They
2:50:03
Speaker 20: caught seven fat minnows. As a present for Old Brown,
2:50:07
Speaker 20: they paddled over the lake and landed under a crooked
2:50:11
Speaker 20: chestnut tree on Owl Island. Twinkleberry and six other little
2:50:17
Speaker 20: squirrels each carried a fat minnow. But Nutkin, who had
2:50:21
Speaker 20: no nice manners, brought no present at all. He ran
2:50:25
Speaker 20: in front singing. The man in the wilderness said to me,
2:50:29
Speaker 20: how may strawberries grow in the sea? I answered him
2:50:33
Speaker 20: as I thought good, as many red herrings as grow
2:50:36
Speaker 20: in the wood. But old mister Brown took no interest
2:50:40
Speaker 20: in riddles, not even when the answer was provided for him.
2:50:45
Speaker 20: On the fourth day, the squirrels brought a present of
2:50:48
Speaker 20: six fat beetles, which were as good as plums in
2:50:52
Speaker 20: plum pudding, for Old Brown. Each beetle was wrapped up
2:50:56
Speaker 20: carefully in a dock leaf, fastened with a pine needle pin.
2:51:01
Speaker 20: But Nutkins sang as rudely as ever Old mister b
2:51:06
Speaker 20: riddle me rie, flower of England, fruit of Spain, met
2:51:10
Speaker 20: together in a shower of rain, put in a bag
2:51:13
Speaker 20: tied round with a string. If you'll tell me this riddle,
2:51:17
Speaker 20: I'll give you a ring, which was ridiculous of Nutkin
2:51:22
Speaker 20: because he had not got any ring to give to
2:51:25
Speaker 20: Old Brown. The other squirrels hunted up and down the
2:51:28
Speaker 20: nut bushes, but Nutkin gathered Robin's pincushions off a briar
2:51:33
Speaker 20: bush and stuck them full of pine needle pins. On
2:51:38
Speaker 20: the fifth day, the squirrels brought a present of wild honey.
2:51:42
Speaker 20: It was so sweet and sticky that they licked their
2:51:45
Speaker 20: fingers as they put it down upon the stone. They
2:51:48
Speaker 20: had stolen it out of a bumble bees ness on
2:51:51
Speaker 20: the tippitty top of the hill. But Nutkins skipped up
2:51:54
Speaker 20: and down, singing, humma bum buzz buzz, humma bum buzz.
2:52:00
Speaker 20: All I went over tipple tine, I met a flock
2:52:03
Speaker 20: of bonny swine, some yellow nackt some yellow backed. They
2:52:09
Speaker 20: were the very bonniest swine that ear went over the
2:52:13
Speaker 20: tipple tine. Old mister Brown turned up his eyes in
2:52:17
Speaker 20: disgust at the impertinence of Nutkin, but he ate up
2:52:22
Speaker 20: the honey. The squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts,
2:52:26
Speaker 20: but Nutkins sat upon a big flat rock and played
2:52:30
Speaker 20: nine pins with a crab, apple and green fir cones.
2:52:34
Speaker 20: On the sixth day, which was Saturday, the squirrels came
2:52:38
Speaker 20: again for the last time. They brought a new laid
2:52:41
Speaker 20: egg in a little rush basket as a last parting
2:52:45
Speaker 20: present for Old Brown. But Nutkin ran in front, laughing
2:52:49
Speaker 20: and shouting, Humpty Dumpty lies in the beck with a
2:52:53
Speaker 20: white counterpane round his neck. Forty doctors and forty rights
2:52:57
Speaker 20: cannot put Humpty Dumpty too rights. Now old mister Brown
2:53:02
Speaker 20: took an interest in eggs. He opened one eye and
2:53:05
Speaker 20: shut it again, but still he did not speak. Nutkin
2:53:10
Speaker 20: became more and more impertinent. Old mister b Old, mister
2:53:15
Speaker 20: b hiccamore hackamore on the King's kitchen door. All the
2:53:19
Speaker 20: King's horses and all the king's men couldn't drive hiccamore
2:53:23
Speaker 20: hackamore off the King's kitchen door. Nutkin danced up and
2:53:28
Speaker 20: down like a sunbeam, but still Old Brown said nothing
2:53:32
Speaker 20: at all. Nutkin began again. Arthur o'bower has broken his band.
2:53:38
Speaker 20: He comes roaring up the land. The King of Scots,
2:53:41
Speaker 20: with all his power, cannot turn Arthur off the bower.
2:53:46
Speaker 20: Nutkin made a whirring noise to round like the wind,
2:53:50
Speaker 20: and he took a running jump right on to the
2:53:52
Speaker 20: head of Old Brown. Then all at once there was
2:53:55
Speaker 20: a flutterment, and a scufflement, and a loud squeak. The
2:54:00
Speaker 20: other squirrels scuttered away into the bushes. When they came back,
2:54:05
Speaker 20: very cautiously, peeping round the tree, there was Old Brown
2:54:09
Speaker 20: sitting on his door step, quite still, with his eyes closed,
2:54:14
Speaker 20: as if nothing had happened. But Nutkin was in his
2:54:19
Speaker 20: waistcoat pocket. This looks like the end of the story,
2:54:23
Speaker 20: but it isn't. Old Brown carried Nutkin into his house
2:54:27
Speaker 20: and held em up by the tail, intending to skin him.
2:54:31
Speaker 20: But Nutkin pulled so very hard that his tail broke
2:54:34
Speaker 20: in two, and he dashed up the staircase and escaped
2:54:38
Speaker 20: out of the attic window. And to this day, if
2:54:42
Speaker 20: you meet Nutkin up a tree and ask him a riddle,
2:54:46
Speaker 20: he will throw sticks at you and stamp his feet
2:54:49
Speaker 20: and scold and shout.
2:54:51
Speaker 3: Ccuck a co co co co co co cock.
2:54:55
Speaker 21: Once upon a time. There was a little, fat, comfortable,
2:54:59
Speaker 21: grace squirrel called Timmy Tiptoes. He had a nest thatched
2:55:05
Speaker 21: with leaves in the top of a tall tree, and
2:55:09
Speaker 21: he had a little squirrel wife called Goody. Timmy Tiptoes
2:55:15
Speaker 21: sat out enjoying the breeze. He whisked his tail and
2:55:19
Speaker 21: chuckled little wife Goody. The nuts are ripe. We must
2:55:24
Speaker 21: lay up a store for winter and spring. Goody Tiptoes
2:55:29
Speaker 21: was busy pushing moss under the thatch. The nest is
2:55:33
Speaker 21: so snug, we shall be sound asleep all winter. Then
2:55:38
Speaker 21: we shall wake up all the thinner when there is
2:55:41
Speaker 21: nothing to eat in spring time, replied prudent Timothy. When
2:55:46
Speaker 21: Timmy and Goody Tiptoes came to the nut thicket, they
2:55:49
Speaker 21: found other squirrels were there already. Timmy took off his
2:55:54
Speaker 21: jacket and hung it on a twig. They worked away
2:55:57
Speaker 21: quietly by themselves. Every day they made several journeys and
2:56:02
Speaker 21: picked up quantities of nuts. They carried them away in
2:56:06
Speaker 21: bags and stored them in several hollow stumps near the
2:56:10
Speaker 21: tree where they had built their nest. When these stumps
2:56:13
Speaker 21: were full, they began to empty the bags into a
2:56:16
Speaker 21: hole high up a tree that had belonged to a woodpecker.
2:56:21
Speaker 21: The nuts rattled down, down down inside. How shall you
2:56:27
Speaker 21: ever get them out again? It is like a money box,
2:56:31
Speaker 21: said goody, I shall be much thinner before a spring time,
2:56:35
Speaker 21: my love, said timmy tiptoes, peeping into the hole. They
2:56:40
Speaker 21: did collect quantities because they did not lose them. Squirrels
2:56:46
Speaker 21: who bury their nuts in the ground lose more than
2:56:49
Speaker 21: half because they cannot remember the place. The most forgetful
2:56:54
Speaker 21: squirrel in the wood was called silvertail. He began to dig,
2:56:59
Speaker 21: and he could not remember. And then he dug again
2:57:02
Speaker 21: and found some nuts that did not belong to him,
2:57:05
Speaker 21: And there was a fight, and other squirrels began to dig.
2:57:10
Speaker 21: The whole wood was in commotion. Unfortunately, just at this time,
2:57:16
Speaker 21: a flock of little birds flew by from bush to bush,
2:57:20
Speaker 21: searching for green caterpillars and spiders. There were several sorts
2:57:25
Speaker 21: of little birds, twittering different songs. The first one sang,
2:57:30
Speaker 21: who's been digging up my nuts? Who's been digging up
2:57:33
Speaker 21: my nuts? And another sang little bit of bread and
2:57:37
Speaker 21: no cheese, A little bit of bread and no cheese.
2:57:41
Speaker 21: The squirrels followed and listened. The first little bird flew
2:57:45
Speaker 21: into the bush where Timmy and Goody Tiptoes were quietly
2:57:48
Speaker 21: tying up their bags, and it sang.
2:57:51
Speaker 6: Who's been digging up my nuts?
2:57:53
Speaker 21: Who's been digging up my nuts? Timmy Tiptoes went on
2:57:57
Speaker 21: with his work without replying. Indeed, the little bird did
2:58:00
Speaker 21: not expect an answer. It was only singing its natural song,
2:58:04
Speaker 21: and it meant nothing at all. But when the other
2:58:08
Speaker 21: squirrels heard that song, they rushed upon Timmy Tiptoes and
2:58:12
Speaker 21: cuffed him and scratched him and upset his bag of nuts.
2:58:16
Speaker 21: The innocent little bird, which had caused all the mischief,
2:58:19
Speaker 21: flew away in a fright. Timmy rolled over and over,
2:58:25
Speaker 21: and then turned tail and fled toward his nest, followed
2:58:28
Speaker 21: by a crowd of squirrels shouting, who's been digging up
2:58:31
Speaker 21: my nuts? They caught him, and they dragged him up
2:58:35
Speaker 21: the very same tree where there was the little round hole,
2:58:38
Speaker 21: and they pushed him in. The hole was much too
2:58:42
Speaker 21: small for Timmy Tiptoe's figure. They squeezed him in dreadfully.
2:58:47
Speaker 21: It was a wonder they didn't break his ribs. We
2:58:50
Speaker 21: will leave him here till he confesses, said silvertail squirrel,
2:58:55
Speaker 21: and he shouted into the hole, who's been digging up
2:58:58
Speaker 21: my nuts? Timmy Tiptoes made no reply. He had tumbled
2:59:03
Speaker 21: down inside the tree upon half a peck of nuts
2:59:07
Speaker 21: belonging to himself. He lay quite stunned and still. Goody
2:59:12
Speaker 21: Tiptoes picked up the nut bags and went home. She
2:59:16
Speaker 21: made a cup of tea for Timmy, but he didn't come,
2:59:19
Speaker 21: and didn't come. Goody Tiptoes passed a lonely and unhappy night.
2:59:26
Speaker 21: Next morning, she ventured back to the nut bushes to
2:59:29
Speaker 21: look for him, but the other unkind squirrels drove her away.
2:59:35
Speaker 21: She wondered all over the wood, calling Timmy Tiptoes, Timmy Tiptoes, Oh,
2:59:41
Speaker 21: where is Timmy Tiptoes. In the meantime, Timmy Tiptoes came
2:59:47
Speaker 21: to his senses. He found himself tucked up in a
2:59:50
Speaker 21: little moss bed, very much in the dark, feeling sore.
2:59:55
Speaker 21: It seemed to be underground. Timmy coughed and groaned because
3:00:00
Speaker 21: his ribs hurt him. There was a chirpy noise, and
3:00:05
Speaker 21: a small striped chipmunk appeared with a nightlight and hoped
3:00:08
Speaker 21: he felt better. It was most kind to Timmy Tiptoes.
3:00:13
Speaker 21: It lent him its nightcap, and the house was full
3:00:16
Speaker 21: of provisions. The chipmunk explained that it had rained nuts
3:00:21
Speaker 21: through the top of the tree. Besides, I found a
3:00:24
Speaker 21: few buried. It laughed and chuckled when it heard Timmy's story.
3:00:29
Speaker 21: While Timmy was confined to bed, it enticed him to
3:00:31
Speaker 21: eat quantities. But how shall I ever get through that
3:00:35
Speaker 21: hole unless I find myself My wife will be anxious.
3:00:41
Speaker 21: Just another nut or two nuts, Let me crack them
3:00:44
Speaker 21: for you, said the chipmunk. Timmy Tiptoes grew fatter and fatter.
3:00:49
Speaker 21: Now Goody Tiptoes had set to work again by herself.
3:00:53
Speaker 21: She did not put any more nuts into the woodpecker's hole,
3:00:57
Speaker 21: because she had always doubted how they could be got
3:01:00
Speaker 21: out again. She hid them under a tree root. They
3:01:05
Speaker 21: rattled down, down, down, Once when Goody emptied an extra
3:01:09
Speaker 21: big bagful, there was a decided squeak, And the next
3:01:13
Speaker 21: time Goody bought another bagful, a little striped chipmunk scrambled
3:01:18
Speaker 21: out in a hurry. It's getting perfectly full. Up downstairs.
3:01:22
Speaker 21: The sitting room is full, and they are rolling along
3:01:24
Speaker 21: the passage, and my husband, Chippy Hackee, has run away
3:01:28
Speaker 21: and left me. What is the explanation of these showers
3:01:31
Speaker 21: of nuts? I'm sure I beg your pardon. I did
3:01:35
Speaker 21: not know that anybody lived there, said missus Goody Tiptoes.
3:01:39
Speaker 21: But where is Chippy Hackee. My husband, Timmy Tiptoes, has
3:01:43
Speaker 21: run away too. I know where Chippy Hackey is, a
3:01:47
Speaker 21: little bird told me, said missus Chippy Hackee, And she
3:01:52
Speaker 21: led the way to the woodpecker's tree, and they listened
3:01:55
Speaker 21: at the hole. Down below, there was a noise of nutcrackers,
3:01:59
Speaker 21: and a fat squirrel voice and a thin squirrel voice
3:02:03
Speaker 21: were singing together. My little old man and I fell out.
3:02:07
Speaker 21: How shall we bring this matter about? Bring it about
3:02:11
Speaker 21: as well as you can, and get you gone, you
3:02:13
Speaker 21: little old man. You could squeeze in through that little
3:02:18
Speaker 21: round hole, said Goody Tiptoes. Yes I could, said the chipmunk.
3:02:24
Speaker 21: But my husband Chippy Hackee bites. Down below there was
3:02:30
Speaker 21: a noise of cracking nuts and nibbling, and then the
3:02:33
Speaker 21: fat squirrel voice and the thin squirrel voice sang for
3:02:36
Speaker 21: the diddlum day day diddle dum die day, diddle diddle
3:02:39
Speaker 21: dum day. Then Goody peeped in at the hole and
3:02:43
Speaker 21: called down Timmy Tiptoes. Oh five, Timmy Tiptoes. And Timmy replied,
3:02:50
Speaker 21: is that you Goody Tiptoes?
3:02:52
Speaker 11: Why?
3:02:52
Speaker 21: Certainly he came up and kissed Goody through the hole,
3:02:57
Speaker 21: but he was so fat that he could not get out.
3:03:01
Speaker 21: Chippy Hackee was not too fat, but he did not
3:03:04
Speaker 21: want to come. He stayed below and chuckled. And so
3:03:08
Speaker 21: it went on for a fortnight till a big wind
3:03:12
Speaker 21: blew off the top of the tree and opened up
3:03:15
Speaker 21: the hole and let in the rain. Then Timmy Tiptoes
3:03:18
Speaker 21: came out and went home with an umbrella. But Chippy
3:03:22
Speaker 21: Hackee continued to camp out for another week, although it
3:03:26
Speaker 21: was uncomfortable. At last, a large bear came walking through
3:03:30
Speaker 21: the wood. Perhaps he also was looking for nuts. He
3:03:35
Speaker 21: seemed to be sniffing around. Chippy Hackee went home in
3:03:38
Speaker 21: a hurry. And when Chippy Hackee got home, he found
3:03:42
Speaker 21: he had caught a cold in his head, and he
3:03:45
Speaker 21: was more uncomfortable still. And now Timmy and Goody Tiptoes
3:03:51
Speaker 21: keep their nut store fastened up with a little padlock.
3:03:55
Speaker 21: And whenever that little bird sees the chipmunks, he sings,
3:03:59
Speaker 21: Who's been digging up my nuts? Who's been digging up
3:04:02
Speaker 21: my nuts? But nobody ever answers.
3:04:06
Speaker 22: Once upon a time there were three little kittens, and
3:04:09
Speaker 22: their names were Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet. They had
3:04:14
Speaker 22: dear little fur coats of their own, and they tumbled
3:04:17
Speaker 22: about the doorstep and played in the dust. But one
3:04:20
Speaker 22: day their mother, Missus Tabitha Twitchet, expected friends to tea,
3:04:26
Speaker 22: so she fetched the kittens indoors to wash and dress
3:04:29
Speaker 22: them before the fine company arrived. First she scrubbed their faces.
3:04:34
Speaker 22: This one is Moppet. Then she brushed their fur. This
3:04:38
Speaker 22: one is Mittens. Then she combed their tails and whiskers.
3:04:42
Speaker 22: This is tom Kitten. Tom was very naughty and he scratched.
3:04:48
Speaker 22: Missus Tabitha addressed Moppet and Mittens in clean pinafores and tuckers,
3:04:53
Speaker 22: And then she took all sorts of elegant, uncomfortable clothes
3:04:56
Speaker 22: out of a chest of drawers in order to dress
3:04:58
Speaker 22: up her son. Thomas. Tom Kitten, was very fat, and
3:05:03
Speaker 22: he had grown several buttons burst off. His mother sewed
3:05:08
Speaker 22: them on again. When the three kittens were ready, Missus
3:05:12
Speaker 22: Tabitha unwisely turned them out into the garden to be
3:05:15
Speaker 22: out of the way while she made hot buttered toast.
3:05:18
Speaker 22: Now keep your frocks clean, children, You must walk on
3:05:21
Speaker 22: your hind legs, keep away from the dirty ash bit,
3:05:25
Speaker 22: and from Sally Henny Penny, and from the pig sty
3:05:29
Speaker 22: and the puddle ducks. Moppet and Mittens walked down the
3:05:33
Speaker 22: garden path unsteadily. Presently they trod upon their pinafores and
3:05:38
Speaker 22: fell on their noses. When they stood up, there were
3:05:41
Speaker 22: several green smears. Let us climb up the rockery and
3:05:46
Speaker 22: sit on the garden wall, said Moppet. They turned their
3:05:50
Speaker 22: pinafores back to front and went up. With a skip
3:05:53
Speaker 22: and a jump. Moppet's white tucker fell down into the road.
3:05:59
Speaker 22: Tom Kitten was quite unable to jump when walking upon
3:06:02
Speaker 22: his hind legs and trousers. He came up the rockery
3:06:05
Speaker 22: by degrees, breaking the ferns and shedding buttons right and left.
3:06:10
Speaker 22: He was all in pieces when he reached the top
3:06:13
Speaker 22: of the wall. Mapa and Mittens tried to pull them together.
3:06:17
Speaker 22: His hat fell off and the rest of his buttons burst.
3:06:22
Speaker 22: While they were in difficulties, there was a pit paddle
3:06:26
Speaker 22: pat and the three puddle ducks came along the hard
3:06:29
Speaker 22: high road, marching one behind the other and doing the
3:06:32
Speaker 22: goose step pit pat, paddle pat, pit pat, wattle pat.
3:06:37
Speaker 22: They stopped and stood in a row and stared up
3:06:40
Speaker 22: at the kittens. They had very small eyes and looked surprised.
3:06:45
Speaker 22: Then the two duck birds, Rebecca and Jemima puddle Duck,
3:06:49
Speaker 22: picked up the hat and tucker and put them on.
3:06:54
Speaker 22: Mittens laughed so that she fell off the wall. Mop
3:06:57
Speaker 22: and Tom descended after her. The pins and all the
3:07:01
Speaker 22: rest of tom clothes came off on the way down.
3:07:06
Speaker 22: Come mister Drake, puddle Duck, said Moppett, Come and help
3:07:10
Speaker 22: us to dress him. Come and button up Tom. Mister
3:07:13
Speaker 22: Drake Puddleduck advanced in a slow sideways manner and picked
3:07:17
Speaker 22: up the various articles, but he put them on himself.
3:07:22
Speaker 22: They fitted him even worse than Tom kitten. So very
3:07:26
Speaker 22: fine morning, said mister Drake Puddleduck, And he and Jemima
3:07:31
Speaker 22: and Rebecca puddle Duck set off up the road, keeping
3:07:34
Speaker 22: step pit pat, paddle pat, pit pat, wattle pat. Then
3:07:40
Speaker 22: Tabitha Twitchet came down the garden and found her kittens
3:07:44
Speaker 22: on the wall with no clothes on She pulled them
3:07:46
Speaker 22: off the wall, smacked them and took them back to
3:07:49
Speaker 22: the house. My friends will arrive in a minute, and
3:07:53
Speaker 22: you are not fit to be seen. I am affronted,
3:07:56
Speaker 22: said missus tabbitha twitchet. She sent them upstairs, and I
3:08:00
Speaker 22: am sorry to say she told her friends that they
3:08:03
Speaker 22: were in bed with the measles, which was not true.
3:08:06
Speaker 22: Quite the contrary, they were not in bed, not in
3:08:09
Speaker 22: the least. Somehow, there were very extraordinary noises overhead which
3:08:15
Speaker 22: disturbed the dignity and repose of the tea party. And
3:08:20
Speaker 22: I think that some day I shall have to make
3:08:22
Speaker 22: another larger book to tell you more about Tom Kitten.
3:08:26
Speaker 22: As for the puddle Ducks, they went into a pond.
3:08:30
Speaker 22: The clothes all came off directly because there were no buttons,
3:08:33
Speaker 22: and mister Drake Puddle Duck, and Jemima and Rebecca have
3:08:38
Speaker 22: been looking for them ever since.
3:08:41
Speaker 23: Once upon a time there was a very beautiful doll's house.
3:08:46
Speaker 23: It was red brick with white windows, and it had
3:08:50
Speaker 23: real muslin curtains and a front door and a chimney.
3:08:56
Speaker 23: It belonged to two dolls called Lucinda and Jane. At
3:09:00
Speaker 23: least they belonged to Lucinda, but she never ordered meals.
3:09:05
Speaker 23: Jane was the cook, but she never did any cooking
3:09:09
Speaker 23: because the dinner had been bought ready made in a
3:09:12
Speaker 23: box full of shavings. There were two red lobsters, and
3:09:19
Speaker 23: a ham, a fish, a pudding, and some pears and oranges.
3:09:26
Speaker 23: They would not come off the plates, but they were
3:09:28
Speaker 23: extremely beautiful. One morning, Lucinda and Jane had gone out
3:09:35
Speaker 23: for a drive in the doll's preambulator. There was no
3:09:40
Speaker 23: one in the nursery and it was very quiet. Presently,
3:09:45
Speaker 23: there was a little scuffling scratching noise in the corner
3:09:50
Speaker 23: near the fireplace, where there was a hole under the
3:09:53
Speaker 23: skirting board. Tom Thumb put out his head for a
3:09:59
Speaker 23: moment and then popped it in again. Tom Thumb was
3:10:04
Speaker 23: a mouse. A minute afterwards, hunka Manka, his wife, put
3:10:11
Speaker 23: her head out too, and when she saw that there
3:10:14
Speaker 23: was no one in the nursery, she ventured out on
3:10:17
Speaker 23: the oilcloth under the coal box. The doll's house stood
3:10:22
Speaker 23: at the other side of the fireplace. Tom Thumb and
3:10:26
Speaker 23: Hunkamunca went cautiously across the heart rug. They pushed the
3:10:35
Speaker 23: front door. It was not fast. Tom Thumb and Hunka
3:10:41
Speaker 23: Manka went upstairs and peeped into the dining room. Then
3:10:45
Speaker 23: they squeaked with joy. Such a lovely dinner was laid
3:10:50
Speaker 23: out upon the table. They were tin spoons and lead
3:10:54
Speaker 23: knives and forks, and two dolly chairs, all so convenient.
3:11:02
Speaker 23: Tom Thumb set to work at once to carve the ham.
3:11:06
Speaker 23: It was a beautiful, shiny yellow streaked with red. The
3:11:13
Speaker 23: knife crumpled up and hurt him. He put his finger
3:11:17
Speaker 23: to his mouth. It is not boiled enough. It is hard.
3:11:22
Speaker 23: You have a try, Hunkamuncah. Hunkamunkah stood up in her
3:11:27
Speaker 23: chair and chopped at the ham with another lead knife.
3:11:33
Speaker 23: It's as hard as the ham's at the cheesemongers, said
3:11:35
Speaker 23: Hunka Munka. The ham broke off the plate with a
3:11:39
Speaker 23: jerk and rolled under the table let it alone. Said
3:11:45
Speaker 23: Tom Thumb, Give me some fish, Hunkamuncah. Hunkamunca tried every
3:11:52
Speaker 23: tin spoon in turn. The fish was glued to the dish.
3:11:58
Speaker 23: Then Tom Thumb lost his temper. He put the ham
3:12:02
Speaker 23: in the middle of the floor and hit it with
3:12:05
Speaker 23: the tongs and with the shovel bang bang, smash, smash,
3:12:11
Speaker 23: the ham flew all into pieces, for underneath the shiny paint,
3:12:16
Speaker 23: it was made of nothing but plaster. There was no
3:12:20
Speaker 23: end to the rage and disappointment of Tom Thumb and Hunkamunka.
3:12:24
Speaker 23: They broke up the pudding, the lobsters, the pears, and
3:12:27
Speaker 23: the oranges. As the fish would not come off the plate,
3:12:31
Speaker 23: they put it into the red hot, crinkly paper fire
3:12:34
Speaker 23: in the kitchen, but it would not burn either. Tom
3:12:38
Speaker 23: Thumb went up to the kitchen chimney and looked out
3:12:41
Speaker 23: at the top. There was no soot. While Tom Thumb
3:12:46
Speaker 23: was up the chimney, Hunka Munka had another disappointment. She
3:12:49
Speaker 23: found some tiny canisters upon the dresser labeled rice coffee Sago,
3:12:56
Speaker 23: but when she turned them upside down, there was nothing
3:12:58
Speaker 23: inside but red and blue beads. Then those mice set
3:13:06
Speaker 23: to work to do all the mischief they could, especially
3:13:08
Speaker 23: Tom Thumb. He took Jane's clothes out of the chest
3:13:12
Speaker 23: to drawers in her bedroom and he threw them out
3:13:16
Speaker 23: of the top floor window. But hun Kamnka had a
3:13:20
Speaker 23: frugal mind. After pulling half the feathers out of Lucinda's bolster,
3:13:26
Speaker 23: she remembered that she herself was in want of a
3:13:28
Speaker 23: feather bed. With Tom Thumb's assistance, she carried the bolster
3:13:35
Speaker 23: downstairs and across the hearth rug. It was difficult to
3:13:39
Speaker 23: squeeze the bolster into the mousehole, but they managed it somehow.
3:13:45
Speaker 23: Then Haunkamunca went back and fetched a chair, a bookcase,
3:13:49
Speaker 23: a bird cage, and several small odds and ends. The
3:13:54
Speaker 23: bookcase and the bird cage refused to go into the mousehole.
3:13:58
Speaker 23: Hunkamunca left them behind the coal box and went to
3:14:02
Speaker 23: fetch a cradle. Hankamunca was just returning with another chair
3:14:08
Speaker 23: when suddenly there was a noise of talking outside upon
3:14:11
Speaker 23: the landing, the mice rushed back to their hole, and
3:14:15
Speaker 23: the dolls came into the nursery. What a sight met
3:14:19
Speaker 23: the eyes of Jane and Lucinda. Lucinda sat upon the
3:14:24
Speaker 23: upset kitchen stove and stared, and Jane leant against the
3:14:29
Speaker 23: kitchen dresser and smiled, but neither of them made any remark.
3:14:34
Speaker 23: The bookcase and the bird cage were rescued from under
3:14:37
Speaker 23: the coal box, but Hankamunca has got the cradle and
3:14:41
Speaker 23: some of Lucinda's clothes. She also has some useful pots
3:14:46
Speaker 23: and pans, and several other useful things. The little girl
3:14:50
Speaker 23: that the doll's house belonged to said, I will get
3:14:54
Speaker 23: a doll and dressed like a policeman. But the nurse said,
3:14:59
Speaker 23: I will say a mouse trap. So that is the
3:15:02
Speaker 23: story of the Too Bad Mice. But they were not
3:15:06
Speaker 23: so very very naughty after all, because Tom Thumb paid
3:15:10
Speaker 23: for everything he broke. He found a crooked sixpence under
3:15:14
Speaker 23: the hearth rug, and upon Christmas Eve he and Hankamunka
3:15:18
Speaker 23: stuffed it into one of the stockings of Lucine and Jane.
3:15:22
Speaker 23: And very early every morning, before everyone is awake, Hanka
3:15:26
Speaker 23: Munca comes with her dust pan and her broom to
3:15:30
Speaker 23: sweep up the dolly's house. And of the Tale of
3:15:34
Speaker 23: the Too Bad Mice the.
3:15:37
Speaker 4: Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies for all little friends of
3:15:42
Speaker 4: mister McGregor and Peter and Benjamin. It is said that
3:15:48
Speaker 4: the effect of eating too much lettuce is suporific. I
3:15:53
Speaker 4: have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces, but then I
3:15:57
Speaker 4: am not a rabbit. They certainly had a very soporific
3:16:01
Speaker 4: effect upon the flopsy bunnies. When Benjamin Bunny grew up
3:16:06
Speaker 4: he married his cousin Flopsy. They had a large family,
3:16:10
Speaker 4: and they were very improvident and cheerful. I do not
3:16:14
Speaker 4: remember the separate names of their children. They were generally
3:16:18
Speaker 4: called the Flopsy Bunnies. As there was not always quite
3:16:22
Speaker 4: enough to eat, Benjamin used to borrow cabbages from Flopsy's brother,
3:16:27
Speaker 4: Peter Rabbit, who kept a nursery garden. Sometimes Peter Rabbit
3:16:32
Speaker 4: had no cabbages to spare. When this happened, the Flopsy
3:16:36
Speaker 4: bunnies went across the field to a rubbish heap in
3:16:40
Speaker 4: the ditch outside mister McGregor's garden. Mister McGregor's rubbish heap
3:16:47
Speaker 4: was a mixture. There were jam pots and paper bags,
3:16:51
Speaker 4: and mountains of chopped grass from the mowing machine which
3:16:55
Speaker 4: always tasted oily, and some rotten vegetable marrows, and an
3:17:00
Speaker 4: old boot or two. One day, Oh joy, there were
3:17:05
Speaker 4: a quantity of overgrown lettuces which had shot into flower.
3:17:11
Speaker 4: The Flopsy bunnies simply stuffed themselves with lettuces by degrees
3:17:17
Speaker 4: one after another. They were overcome with slumber and lay
3:17:21
Speaker 4: down in the moan grass. Benjamin was not so much
3:17:26
Speaker 4: overcome as his children. Before going to sleep, he was
3:17:31
Speaker 4: sufficiently wide awake to put a paper bag over his
3:17:34
Speaker 4: head to keep off the flies. The little flopsy bunnies
3:17:39
Speaker 4: slept delightfully in the warm sun. From the lawn beyond
3:17:44
Speaker 4: the garden came the distant, glockety sound of the mowing machine.
3:17:50
Speaker 4: The blue bottles buzzed about the wall, and a little
3:17:53
Speaker 4: old mouse picked over the rubbish among the jam pots.
3:17:57
Speaker 4: I can tell you her name. She was called Tomasina tittlemouse,
3:18:02
Speaker 4: a wood mouse with a long tail. She rustled across
3:18:06
Speaker 4: the paper bag and awakened Benjamin Bunny. The mouse apologized
3:18:12
Speaker 4: profusely and said that she knew Peter Rabbit. While she
3:18:16
Speaker 4: and Benjamin were talking close under the wall, they heard
3:18:21
Speaker 4: a heavy tread above their heads, and suddenly mister McGregor
3:18:26
Speaker 4: emptied out a sackful of lawnmowings, right upon the top
3:18:30
Speaker 4: of the sleeping flopsy bunnies. Benjamin shrank down under his
3:18:34
Speaker 4: paper bag. The mouse hid in a jam pot. The
3:18:39
Speaker 4: little rabbit smiled sweetly in their sleep under the shower
3:18:43
Speaker 4: of grass. They did not awake because the lettuces had
3:18:46
Speaker 4: been so soporific. They dreamt that their mother Flopsy was
3:18:51
Speaker 4: tucking them up in a hay bed. Mister McGregor looked
3:18:55
Speaker 4: down after emptying his sack. He saw some funny little
3:18:59
Speaker 4: brown tips of ears sticking up through the lawnmowings. He
3:19:03
Speaker 4: stared at them for some time. Presently a fly settled
3:19:09
Speaker 4: on one of them, and it moved. Mister McGregor climbed
3:19:13
Speaker 4: down on to the rubbish sheep. One, two, three, four, five,
3:19:19
Speaker 4: six little rabbits, said he as he dropped them into
3:19:23
Speaker 4: his sack. The flopsy bunnies dreamt that their mother was
3:19:28
Speaker 4: turning them over in bed. They stirred a little in
3:19:31
Speaker 4: their sleep, but still they did not wake up. Mister
3:19:36
Speaker 4: McGregor tied up the sack and left it on the wall.
3:19:39
Speaker 4: He went to put away the mowing machine. When he
3:19:43
Speaker 4: was gone, Missus Flopsy Bunny, who had remained at home,
3:19:47
Speaker 4: came across the field. She looked suspiciously at the sack
3:19:51
Speaker 4: and wondered where everybody was. Then the mouse came out
3:19:55
Speaker 4: of her jam pot, and Benjamin took the paper bag
3:19:58
Speaker 4: off his head, and they told the doleful tale. Benjamin
3:20:03
Speaker 4: and Flopsy were in despair. They could not undo the string,
3:20:07
Speaker 4: but Missus Tittlemouse was a resourceful person. She nibbled a
3:20:11
Speaker 4: hole in the bottom corner of the sack. The little
3:20:15
Speaker 4: rabbits were pulled out and pinched to wake them. Their
3:20:20
Speaker 4: parents stuffed the empty sack with three rotten vegetable marrows,
3:20:25
Speaker 4: an old blacking brush, and two decayed turnips. Then they
3:20:31
Speaker 4: all hid under a bush and watched for mister McGregor.
3:20:35
Speaker 4: Mister McGregor came back and picked up the sack and
3:20:39
Speaker 4: carried it off. He carried it hanging down as if
3:20:43
Speaker 4: it were rather heavy. The flopsy bunnies followed at a
3:20:47
Speaker 4: safe distance. They watched him go into his house, and
3:20:52
Speaker 4: then they crept up to the window to listen. Mister
3:20:56
Speaker 4: McGregor threw down the sack on the stone floor in
3:21:00
Speaker 4: a way that would have been extremely painful to the
3:21:02
Speaker 4: flopsy bunnies if they had happened to have been inside it.
3:21:06
Speaker 4: They could hear him drag his chair on the flags
3:21:09
Speaker 4: and chuckle. One two three, four five six little rabbits
3:21:15
Speaker 4: said mister McGregor, Eh, what's that? What have they been
3:21:19
Speaker 4: spoiling now? Inquired missus McGregor. One two three, four five
3:21:25
Speaker 4: six little fat rabbits repeated mister McGregor, counting on his fingers, one, two, three,
3:21:33
Speaker 4: don't you be silly? What do you mean, you silly
3:21:36
Speaker 4: old man in the sack? One two three, four five, six,
3:21:42
Speaker 4: replied mister McGregor. The youngest flopsy bunny got upon the
3:21:46
Speaker 4: windows still. Missus McGregor took hold of the sack and
3:21:51
Speaker 4: felt it. She said she could feel six. But they
3:21:54
Speaker 4: must be old rabbits because they were so hard and
3:21:58
Speaker 4: all different shapes, not fit to eat. But the skins
3:22:02
Speaker 4: will do fine to line my old cloak, line your
3:22:06
Speaker 4: old cloak, shouted mister McGregor. I shall sell them and
3:22:10
Speaker 4: buy myself backy rabbit tobacco. I shall skin them and
3:22:16
Speaker 4: cut off their heads. Missus mc gregor untied the sack
3:22:20
Speaker 4: and put her hand inside. When she felt the vegetables,
3:22:24
Speaker 4: she became very, very angry. She said that mister mc
3:22:29
Speaker 4: gregor had done it a purpose, and mister mc gregor
3:22:33
Speaker 4: was very angry too. One of the rotten marrows came
3:22:37
Speaker 4: flying through the kitchen window and hit the youngest flopsy bunny.
3:22:42
Speaker 4: It was rather hurt. Then Benjamin and Flopsy thought that
3:22:47
Speaker 4: it was time to go home. So mister mc gregor
3:22:50
Speaker 4: did not get his tobacco, and missus mc gregor did
3:22:53
Speaker 4: not get her rabbit skins, but next Christmas, Tomasina tittlemouse
3:22:58
Speaker 4: got a present of another rabbit wool to make herself
3:23:01
Speaker 4: a cloak and a hood, and a handsome muff and
3:23:05
Speaker 4: a pair of warm mittens.