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018 - The Tailor of Gloucester · The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Others

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  Speaker 1: Story eighteen of Peter Rabbits and Other Tales by Beatrix Potter.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Peter Rabbit and Other Tales by
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  Speaker 1: Beatrix Potter. The Tailor of Gloucester. In the time of
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  Speaker 1: swords and periwigs and four skirted coats with flowered lappets,
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  Speaker 1: when gentlemen wore ruffles and gold laced waistcoats of padusoy
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  Speaker 1: and taffeta, there lived a tailor in Gloucester. He sat
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  Speaker 1: in the window of a little shop in Westgate Street,
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  Speaker 1: cross legged on a table from morning till dark. All
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  Speaker 1: day long, while the light lasted, he sewed and snippeted,
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  Speaker 1: piecing out his satin and pompadour and lutestring. Stuffs had
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  Speaker 1: strange names and were very expensive in the days of
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  Speaker 1: the Tailor of Gloucester. But although he sewed fine silk
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  Speaker 1: for his neighbors, he himself was very, very poor. A
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  Speaker 1: little old man in spectacles, with a pinched face, old
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  Speaker 1: crooked fingers, and a suit of threadbare clothes. He cut
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  Speaker 1: his coats without waist, according to his embroidered cloth. They
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  Speaker 1: were very small ends and snippets that lay about upon
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  Speaker 1: the table, two narrow breadths for nought except waistcoats for mice,
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  Speaker 1: said the tailor. One bitter cold day, near Christmas time,
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  Speaker 1: the tailor began to make a coat, a coat of
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  Speaker 1: cherry colored corded silk, embroidered with panses and roses, and
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  Speaker 1: a cream colored satin waistcoat trimmed with gauze and green
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  Speaker 1: worsted cheneel for the mare of Gloucester. The tailor worked
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  Speaker 1: and worked, and he talked to himself. He measured the silk,
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  Speaker 1: and he turned it round and round, and trimmed it
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  Speaker 1: into shape with his shears. And the table was all
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  Speaker 1: littered with cherry colored snippets, no breadth, that's all, and
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  Speaker 1: cut on the cross. It is no breadth at all.
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  Speaker 1: Tippets for mice, and ribbons for mobs for mice, said
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  Speaker 1: the tailor of Gloucester. When the snowflakes came down against
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  Speaker 1: the small leaded window panes and shut out the light,
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  Speaker 1: the tailor had done his day's work. All the silk
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  Speaker 1: and satin lay cut out upon the table. There were
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  Speaker 1: twelve pieces for the coat, and four pieces for the waistcoat,
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  Speaker 1: and there were pocket flaps, and cuffs and buttons all
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  Speaker 1: in order. For the lining of the coat there was
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  Speaker 1: a fine yellow taffeta, and for the buttonholes of the
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  Speaker 1: waistcoat there was cherry colored twist. And everything was ready
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  Speaker 1: to sew together in the morning, all measured and sufficient,
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  Speaker 1: except that there was wanting just one single skein of
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  Speaker 1: cherry colored twisted silk. The tailor came out of his
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  Speaker 1: shop at dark, for he did not sleep there at nights.
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  Speaker 1: He fastened the window and locked the door, and took
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  Speaker 1: away the key. No one lived there at night but
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  Speaker 1: little brown mice, and they run in and out without
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  Speaker 1: any keys. For behind the wooden wainscoats of the old
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  Speaker 1: houses in Gloucester there are little mouse staircases and secret
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  Speaker 1: trap doors, and the mice run from house to house
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  Speaker 1: through the long, narrow passages. They can run all over
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  Speaker 1: the town without going out into the streets. But the
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  Speaker 1: tailor came out of his shop and shuffled home through
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  Speaker 1: the snow. He lived quite nearby in College Court, next
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  Speaker 1: the doorway to College Green, And although it was not
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  Speaker 1: a big house, the tailor was so poor, He only
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  Speaker 1: rented the kitchen. He lived alone with his cat. It
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  Speaker 1: was called Simpkin. Now all day long, while the tailor
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  Speaker 1: was out at work, Simpkin kept house by himself, and
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  Speaker 1: he also was fond of the mice, although he gave
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  Speaker 1: them no satin for coats. Me, said the cat. When
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  Speaker 1: the tailor opened the door, me young. The tailor replied, Simpkin,
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  Speaker 1: We shall make our fortune, but I am born to
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  Speaker 1: a raveling. Take this groat which is our last fourpence,
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  Speaker 1: and Simpkin, take a china pipkin, buy a penneth of bread,
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  Speaker 1: a penneth of milk, and a penneth of sausages. And oh, Simpkin,
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  Speaker 1: with the last penny of our fourpence, buy me one
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  Speaker 1: penneth of cherry colored silk. But do not lose the
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  Speaker 1: last penny of the fourpence Simpkin. Or I am undone
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  Speaker 1: and born to a thread paper, for I have no
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  Speaker 1: more twist. Then Simpkin again said maw, and took the
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  Speaker 1: groat in the pipkin and went out into the dark.
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  Speaker 1: The tailor was very tired and beginning to be ill.
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  Speaker 1: He sat down by the hearth and talked to himself
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  Speaker 1: about that wonderful coat. I shall make my fortune to
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  Speaker 1: be cut by us. The Mayor of Gloucester is to
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  Speaker 1: be married on Christmas Day in the morning, and he
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  Speaker 1: hath ordered a coat and an embroidered waistcoat to be
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  Speaker 1: lined with yellow taffeta, and the taffeta sufficeth. But there
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  Speaker 1: is no more left over in snippets than will serve
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  Speaker 1: to make tippets for mice. Then the tailor started for
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  Speaker 1: suddenly interrupting him from the dresser at the other side
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  Speaker 1: of the kitchen came a number of little noises, tip
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  Speaker 1: tap tip tap tip tap tip. Now what can that be?
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  Speaker 1: Said the Tailor of Gloucester, jumping up for his chair.
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  Speaker 1: The dresser was covered with crockery and pipkins, willow patterned plates,
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  Speaker 1: and teacups and mugs. The tailor crossed the kitchen and
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  Speaker 1: stood quite still beside the dresser, listening and peering through
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  Speaker 1: his spectacles. Again, from under a tea cup came those
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  Speaker 1: funny little noises. Tip tap tip, tap tip tap tip.
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  Speaker 1: This is very peculiar, said the Tailor of Gloucester, and
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  Speaker 1: he lifted up the tea cup, which was upside down.
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  Speaker 1: Outstepped a little live lady mouse and made a curtsey
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  Speaker 1: to the tailor. Then she hopped away, down off the
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  Speaker 1: dresser and under the wainscott. The tailor sat down again
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  Speaker 1: by the fire, warming his poor cold hands, and mumbling
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  Speaker 1: to himself. The waistcoat is cut out from peach colored satin,
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  Speaker 1: tambour stitch and rose buds in beautiful floss silk. Was
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  Speaker 1: I wise to intry us my last fourpence to simpkin
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  Speaker 1: one and twenty buttonholes of cherry colored silk one and
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  Speaker 1: twenty button holes of cherry colored twist. But all at
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  Speaker 1: once from the dresser there came other little noises. Tip
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  Speaker 1: tap tip, tap tip, tap tip. This is passing extraordinary,
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  Speaker 1: said the tailor of Gloucester, and turned over another teacup,
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  Speaker 1: which was upside down. Outstepped a little gentleman mouse and
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  Speaker 1: made a bow to the tailor. And then from all
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  Speaker 1: over the dresser came a chorus of little tappings, all
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  Speaker 1: sounding together and answering one another, like watch beetles in
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  Speaker 1: an old worm eaten window. Shutter, tip tap tip, tap
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  Speaker 1: tip tap tip. And out from under teacups and from
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  Speaker 1: under balls and basins stepped other and more little mice,
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  Speaker 1: who hopped away down off the dresser and under the wainscott.
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  Speaker 1: The tailor sat down close over the fire, lamenting one
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  Speaker 1: and twenty buttonholes of cherry colored silk, to be finished
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  Speaker 1: by noon of Saturday, and this is Tuesday evening. Was
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  Speaker 1: it right to let loose those mice? Undoubtedly the property
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  Speaker 1: of Simpkin? A lack I am undone, for I have
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  Speaker 1: no more twist. The little mice came out again and
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  Speaker 1: listened to the tailor. They took notice of the pattern
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  Speaker 1: of that wonderful coat. They whispered to one another about
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  Speaker 1: the tapeta lining and about little mouse tippets, and then
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  Speaker 1: all at once they all ran away together down the
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  Speaker 1: passage behind the wainscut, squeaking and calling to one another
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  Speaker 1: as they ran from house to house, and not one
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  Speaker 1: mouse was left in the tailor's kitchen when Simpkin came
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  Speaker 1: back with the pipkin of milk. Simpkin opened the door
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  Speaker 1: and bounced in with an angry groommiow, like a cat
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  Speaker 1: that is vexed, for he hated the snow, and there
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  Speaker 1: was snow in his ears, and snow in his collar
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  Speaker 1: at the back of his neck. He put down the
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  Speaker 1: loaf and the sausages upon the dresser and sniffed. Simpkin
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  Speaker 1: said the tailor, where is my twist? But Simpkin set
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  Speaker 1: down the pipkin of milk upon the dresser, and looked
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  Speaker 1: suspiciously at the teacups. He wanted his supper of a
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  Speaker 1: little fat mouse. Simpkin said the tailor, where is my twist?
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  Speaker 1: But Simpkin hid a little parcel privately in the teapot
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  Speaker 1: and spit and growled at the tailor. And if Simpkin
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  Speaker 1: had been able to talk, he would have asked, where
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  Speaker 1: is my mouse? A that I am undone, said the
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  Speaker 1: tailor of Gloucester, and went sadly to bed. All that
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  Speaker 1: night long, Simpkin hunted and searched through the kitchen, peeping
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  Speaker 1: into cupboards and under the wainscot, and into the teapot
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  Speaker 1: where he had hidden that twist. But still he never
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  Speaker 1: found a mouse. Whenever the tailor muttered and talked in
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  Speaker 1: his sleep, Simpkins said, me obah, and made strange, horrible noises,
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  Speaker 1: as cats do it night. For the poor old tailor
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  Speaker 1: was very ill with a fever, tossing and turning in
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  Speaker 1: his four post bed, and still in his dreams he
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  Speaker 1: mumbled no more twist, no more twist. All that day
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  Speaker 1: he was ill, and the next day and the next,
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  Speaker 1: And what should become of the cherry colored coats in
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  Speaker 1: the tailor's shop in Westgate Street, the embroidered silken satin
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  Speaker 1: they cut out upon the table one and twenty buttonholes.
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  Speaker 1: And who should come to sew them? When the window
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  Speaker 1: was barred and the door was fast locked. But that
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  Speaker 1: does not hinder the little brown mice. They run in
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  Speaker 1: and out without any keys, through all the old houses
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  Speaker 1: of Gloucester, out of doors. The market folk went trudging
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  Speaker 1: through the now to buy their geese and turkeys, and
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  Speaker 1: to bake their Christmas pies. But there would be no
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  Speaker 1: Christmas dinner for Simpkin and the poor old tailor of Gloucester.
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  Speaker 1: The tailor lay ill for three days and nights, and
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  Speaker 1: then it was Christmas Eve, and very late at night
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  Speaker 1: the moon climbed up over the roofs and chimneys and
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  Speaker 1: looked down over the gateway into College Court. There were
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  Speaker 1: no lights in the windows, nor any sound in the houses.
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  Speaker 1: All the city of Gloucester was fast asleep under the snow,
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  Speaker 1: And still Simpkim wanted his mice, and he mewed as
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  Speaker 1: he stood beside the four post bed. But it is
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  Speaker 1: in the old story that all the beasts can talk
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  Speaker 1: in the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in
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  Speaker 1: the morning, though there are very few folk that can
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  Speaker 1: hear them or know what it is they say. When
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  Speaker 1: the cathedral clock struck twelve, there was an answer, like
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  Speaker 1: an echo of the chimes, and Simpkin heard it and
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  Speaker 1: came out of the tailor's door and wandered about in
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  Speaker 1: the snow. From all the roofs and gables and old
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  Speaker 1: wooden houses in Gloucester came a thousand merry voices, singing
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  Speaker 1: the old Christmas rhymes, all the old songs that ever
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  Speaker 1: I heard of, and some that I don't know, like
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  Speaker 1: Whittington's bells. First and loudest, the cocks cried out, Dame,
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  Speaker 1: get up and bake your pies. Oh dilly, dilly, dilly,
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  Speaker 1: sighed Simpkin. And now in a garret there were lights
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  Speaker 1: and sounds of dancing, and cats came from over the way. Hey, diddle,
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  Speaker 1: di the cat and the fiddle. All the cats in
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  Speaker 1: Gloucester except me, said Simpkin. Under the wooden eaves, the
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  Speaker 1: starlings and sparrows sang of Christmas pies. The jackdaws woke
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  Speaker 1: up in the cathedral tower, and although it was the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the night, the throstles and robins sang. The
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  Speaker 1: air was quite full of little twittering tunes. But it
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  Speaker 1: was all rather provoking for poor hungry Simpkin. Particularly, he
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  Speaker 1: was vexed with some shrill little voices from behind a
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  Speaker 1: wooden lattice. I think that they were bats, because they
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  Speaker 1: always have very small voices, especially in a black frost,
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  Speaker 1: when they talk in their sleep, Like the tailor of Gloucester.
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  Speaker 1: They said something mysterious that sounded like buzz quoth the
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  Speaker 1: blue fly, hum quoth the bee. Buzz and hum, they cry,
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  Speaker 1: and so do we. And Simpkin went away, shaking his
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  Speaker 1: ears as if he had a bee in his bonnets.
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  Speaker 1: And from the tailor's shop in Westgate came a glow
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  Speaker 1: of light, and when Simpkin crept up to peep in
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  Speaker 1: at the window, it was full of candles, and there
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  Speaker 1: was a snippeting of scissors and a snappeting of thread,
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  Speaker 1: and the little mouse voices saying loudly and gaily. Four
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  Speaker 1: and twenty tailors went to catch a snail. The best
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  Speaker 1: man amongst them durst. Not touch your tail. She put
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  Speaker 1: out her horns like a little kaylo cow. Run tailor's run,
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  Speaker 1: or she'll have you all he now. Then, without a pause,
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  Speaker 1: the little mouse voices went on again. Sip my lady's oatmeal,
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  Speaker 1: grind my lady's flower, put it in the chestnut. Let
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  Speaker 1: us stand an hour, mew mew interrupted Simpkin, and he
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  Speaker 1: scratched at the door, but the key was under the
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  Speaker 1: tailor's pillow. He could not get in. The little mice
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  Speaker 1: only laughed and tried another tune. Three little mice sat
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  Speaker 1: down whose spin Pussy passed by, and she peeped in.
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  Speaker 1: What are you at, my fine little men? May keen
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  Speaker 1: coats for gentle men? Shall I come in? Then cut
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  Speaker 1: off your threads? Oh no, miss pussy, you'd bite off
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  Speaker 1: our heads. Mew mew cried, Simpkin. Hey diddle dinkity, answered
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  Speaker 1: the little mice, Hey diddle dinkity, popper tea pet. The
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  Speaker 1: merchants of London, they wear scarlet, silk in the collar
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  Speaker 1: and gold in the hem. So merrily march the merchant men.
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  Speaker 1: They clicked their thimbles to mark the time, But none
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  Speaker 1: of the songs. Please Simpkin. He sniffed and mewed at
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  Speaker 1: the door of the shop. And then I bought a
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  Speaker 1: pipkin and a popkin, a slipkin and a slopkin, all
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  Speaker 1: for one afarthing. And upon the kitchen dresser added the
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  Speaker 1: rude little mice. Mew scratch, scuffled Simpkin on the windowsill,
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  Speaker 1: while the little mice inside sprang to their feet, and
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  Speaker 1: all began to shout at once in little twittering voices,
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  Speaker 1: no more twist, no more twist, No more twist. And
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  Speaker 1: they barred up the window shutters and shut out Simpkin.
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  Speaker 1: But still through the nicks in the shutters he could
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  Speaker 1: hear the click of thimbles and the little mouse voices singing,
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  Speaker 1: no more twist, no more twist. Simpkin came away from
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  Speaker 1: the shop and went home, considering in his mind he
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  Speaker 1: found the poor old tailor without fever, sleeping peacefully. Then
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  Speaker 1: Simpkin went on tiptoe and took a little parcel of
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  Speaker 1: silk out of the teapot and looked at it in
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  Speaker 1: the moonlight, and he felt quite ashamed of his badness
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  Speaker 1: compared with those good little mice. When the tailor awoke
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  Speaker 1: in the morning, the first thing which he saw upon
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  Speaker 1: the patchwork quilt was a skein of cherry colored twisted silk,
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  Speaker 1: and beside his bed stood a repentant simpkin, a lack.
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  Speaker 1: I am worn to a raveling, said the tailor of Gloucester,
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  Speaker 1: but I have my twist. The sun was shining on
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  Speaker 1: the snow when the tailor got up and dressed, and
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  Speaker 1: came out into the street, with Simpkin running before him.
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  Speaker 1: The starlings whistled on the chimney stacks, and the throstles
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  Speaker 1: and robins sang, but they sang their own little noises,
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  Speaker 1: not the words they had sung in the night. A lack,
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  Speaker 1: said the tailor. I have my twist, but no more
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  Speaker 1: strength nor time than will serve to make me one
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  Speaker 1: single button hole. For this is Christmas Day in the morning.
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  Speaker 1: The Mayor of Gloucester shall be married by noon. And
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  Speaker 1: where is his cherry colored coat? He unlocked the door
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  Speaker 1: of the little shop in Westgate Street, and Simpkin ran
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  Speaker 1: in like a cat that expects something. But there was
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  Speaker 1: no one there, not even one little brown mouse. The
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  Speaker 1: boards were swept clean, the little ends of thread and
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  Speaker 1: the little silk snippets were all tidied away, and gone
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  Speaker 1: from off the floor, but upon the table, Oh joy,
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  Speaker 1: the tailor gave a shout. There where he had left
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  Speaker 1: plain cuttings of silk, there lay the most beautifullest coat
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  Speaker 1: and embroidered satin waistcoat that ever were worn by a
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  Speaker 1: mare of Gloucester. There were roses and panses upon the
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  Speaker 1: facings of the coat, and the waistcoat was worked with
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  Speaker 1: poppies and corn flowers. Everything was finished except just one
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  Speaker 1: single cherry colored buttonhole. And where that buttonhole was wanting,
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  Speaker 1: there was pinned a scrap of paper with these words
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  Speaker 1: in teeny weeny writing, no more twist. And from then
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  Speaker 1: began the luck of the tailor of Gloucester. And he
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  Speaker 1: grew quite stout, and he grew quite rich. He made
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  Speaker 1: the most wonderful waistcoats for all the rich merchants of Gloucester,
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  Speaker 1: and for all the fine gentlemen of the country round.
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  Speaker 1: Never were seen such ruffles, or such embroidered cuffs and lappets.
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  Speaker 1: But his buttonholes were the greatest triumph of it all.
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  Speaker 1: The stitches of those buttonholes were so neat, so neat,
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  Speaker 1: I wonder how they could be stitched by an old
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  Speaker 1: man in spectacles with crooked old fingers and a tailor's thimble.
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  Speaker 1: The stitches of those buttonholes were so small, so small,
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  Speaker 1: that they looked as if they had been made by
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  Speaker 1: little mice. The end end of the Tailor of Gloucester
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  Speaker 1: recording by Alan Lapstone in Oxford, England. End of Peter
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  Speaker 1: Rabbit and Other Tails by Beatrix Potters