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The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter · The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter

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