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014 - The Tale of Ginger and Pickles · The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Others

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  Speaker 1: Story fourteen of Peter Rabbit and Other Tales by Beatrix Potter.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Michael Maggs. Peter Rabbit
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  Speaker 1: and Other Tales by Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Ginger
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  Speaker 1: and Pickles. Once upon a time there was a village shop.
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  Speaker 1: The name over the window was Ginger and Pickles. It
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  Speaker 1: was a little, small shop, just the right size for dolls.
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  Speaker 1: Lucinda and Jane Doll Cook always bought their groceries at
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  Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles. The counter inside was a convenient height
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  Speaker 1: for rabbits. Ginger and Pickles sold red spotty pocket handkerchiefs
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  Speaker 1: at a penny three farthings. They also sold sugar and
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  Speaker 1: snuff and goloshes. In fact, though it was such a
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  Speaker 1: small shop, it sold nearly everything except a few things
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  Speaker 1: that you want in a hurry, like bootlaces, hairpins, and
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  Speaker 1: mutton chops. Ginger and Pickles were the people who kept
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  Speaker 1: the shop. Ginger was a yellow tomcat and Pickles was
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  Speaker 1: a terrier. The rabbits were always a little bit afraid
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  Speaker 1: of Pickles. The shop was also patronized by mice, only
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  Speaker 1: the mice were rather afraid of Ginger. Ginger usually requested
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  Speaker 1: Pickles to serve them because he said it made his
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  Speaker 1: mouth water. I cannot bear, said he to see them
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  Speaker 1: going out at the door carrying their little parcels. Why
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  Speaker 1: have the same feeling about rats, replied Pickles. But it
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  Speaker 1: would never do to eat our own customers. They would
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  Speaker 1: leave us and go to Tabitha Twitchets. On the contrary,
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  Speaker 1: they will go nowhere, replied Ginger gloomily. Tabitha Twitchet kept
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  Speaker 1: the only other shop in the village. She did not
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  Speaker 1: give credit. Ginger and Pickles gave unlimited credit. Now the
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  Speaker 1: meaning of credit is this, when a customer buys a
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  Speaker 1: bar of soap. Instead of the customer pulling out a
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  Speaker 1: person paying for it, she says she will pay another time,
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  Speaker 1: and Pickles makes a low bow and says, with pleasure, madam.
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  Speaker 1: And it is written down in a book. The customers
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  Speaker 1: come again and again and by quantities, in spite of
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  Speaker 1: being afraid of Ginger and Pickles. But there is no
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  Speaker 1: money in what is called the till. The customers came
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  Speaker 1: in crowds every day and bought quantities, especially the toffee customers,
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  Speaker 1: but there was always no money. They never paid for
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  Speaker 1: as much as a pennet of peppermints, but the sales
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  Speaker 1: were enormous, ten times as large as tabita twitchets. As
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  Speaker 1: there was always no money, Ginger and Pickles were obliged
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  Speaker 1: to eat their own goods, Pickles at biscuits and Ginger
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  Speaker 1: at a dried haddock. They at them by candlelight after
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  Speaker 1: the shop was closed. When it came to January as
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  Speaker 1: the first, there was still no money, and Pickles was
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  Speaker 1: unable to buy a dog license. Who's all very unpleasant.
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  Speaker 1: I'm afraid of the police, said Pickles. It's your own
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  Speaker 1: full for being a terrier. I do not require a license,
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  Speaker 1: and neither has kept the collie dog. That's very uncomfortable.
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  Speaker 1: I am afraid I shall be summoned. I have tried
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  Speaker 1: in Vain to get a license upon credit at the
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  Speaker 1: post office, said Pickles. The place is full of policemen.
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  Speaker 1: I met one as I was coming home. Let us
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  Speaker 1: send in the bill again to Samuel Whiskers. Ginger he
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  Speaker 1: owes twenty two ninepence for bacon. I do not believe
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  Speaker 1: that he intends to pay at all, replied Ginger. And
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  Speaker 1: I feel sure that Anna Maria pockets things were all
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  Speaker 1: the cream crackers. You have eaten them yourself, replied Ginger.
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  Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles retired into the back parlor. They did accounts.
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  Speaker 1: They added up sums and sums and sums. Some Whiskers
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  Speaker 1: has run up a bill as long as his tail.
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  Speaker 1: He has had an ounce and three quarters of snuff
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  Speaker 1: since October? What is seven pounds of butter at one
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  Speaker 1: and three and a stick of sealing wax and four matches.
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  Speaker 1: Send in all the bills again to everybody with compliments,
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  Speaker 1: replied Ginger. After a time, they heard a noise in
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  Speaker 1: the shop, as if something had been pushed in at
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  Speaker 1: the door. They came out of the back parlor. There
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  Speaker 1: was an envelope lying on the counter, and a policeman
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  Speaker 1: writing in a notebook. Pickles nearly had a fit. He
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  Speaker 1: barked and he barked, and he made little rushes bite him.
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  Speaker 1: Pickles bite him, spluttered Ginger behind a sugar barrel. He's
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  Speaker 1: only a German doll. The policeman went on writing in
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  Speaker 1: his note book. Twice he put his pencil in his mouth,
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  Speaker 1: and once he dipped it in the treacle, Pickles barked
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  Speaker 1: till he was hoarse, But still the policeman took no notice.
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  Speaker 1: He had bead eyes, and his helmet was sewed on
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  Speaker 1: with stitches at length. On his last little rush, Pickles
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  Speaker 1: found that the shop was empty. The policeman had disappeared,
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  Speaker 1: but the envelope remained. Do you think he's gone to
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  Speaker 1: fetch a real life policeman. I'm afraid it is a summons,
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  Speaker 1: said Pickles. Now replied Ginger, who had opened the envelope.
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  Speaker 1: It is the rates and taxes three pounds nineteen shillings
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  Speaker 1: and elevenpence three farthings. This is a last straw, said Pickles.
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  Speaker 1: Let us close up the shop. They put up the
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  Speaker 1: shutters and left, but they have not removed from the neighborhood.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, some people wish they had gone further. Ginger
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  Speaker 1: is living in the warren. I do not know what
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  Speaker 1: occupation he pursues. He looks stout and comfortable. Pickles is
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  Speaker 1: at present a gamekeeper. The closing of the shop caused
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  Speaker 1: great inconvenience. Tabitha Twitchard immediately raised the price of everything,
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  Speaker 1: a haypney and she continued to refuse to give credit.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, there are the tradesmen's carts, the butcher, the fishman,
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  Speaker 1: and Timothy Baker. But a person cannot live on seed
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  Speaker 1: wigs and sponge cake and butter buns, not even when
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  Speaker 1: the sponge cake is as good as Timothy's. After a time,
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  Speaker 1: mister John Dormouse and his daughter began to sell peppermints
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  Speaker 1: and candles, but they did not keep self fitting sixes,
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  Speaker 1: and it takes five mice to carry one seven inch candle. Besides,
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  Speaker 1: the candles which they sell behave very strangely in warm weather,
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  Speaker 1: and Miss Dormouse refused to take back the ends when
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  Speaker 1: they were brought back to her with complaints. And when
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  Speaker 1: mister John Dormouse was complained to, he stayed in bed
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  Speaker 1: and would say nothing but very snug, which which is
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  Speaker 1: not the way to carry on a retail business. So
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  Speaker 1: everybody was pleased when Sally Henny Penny sent out a
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  Speaker 1: printed poster to say that she was going to reopen
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  Speaker 1: the shop Henny's Opening Sale, Grand Cooperative Jumble Penny's Penny
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  Speaker 1: prices come by, come try, come by. The poster really
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  Speaker 1: was most ticing. There was a rush upon the opening day,
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  Speaker 1: the shop was crammed with customers, and there were crowds
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  Speaker 1: of mice upon the biscuit canisters. Sally Henny Penny gets
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  Speaker 1: rather flustered when she tries to countact change, and she
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  Speaker 1: insists on being paid cash. But she is quite harmless,
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  Speaker 1: and she has laid in a remarkable assortment of there
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  Speaker 1: is something to please Everybody, and of the Tale of
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  Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles.