Latest / Children's Stories Collection / The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles by Petrick's Potter, Dedicated with very kind
- 0:06Speaker 1: regards to old mister John Taylor, who thinks he might
- 0:10Speaker 1: pass as a dormouse. Three years in bed and never
- 0:14Speaker 1: a grumble. Once upon a time there was a village shop.
- 0:19Speaker 1: The name over the window was Ginger and Pickles. It
- 0:24Speaker 1: was a little small shop, just the right size for dolls.
- 0:28Speaker 1: Lucinda and Jane Dolcook always bought their groceries of ginger
- 0:32Speaker 1: and pickles. The counter inside was a convenient height for rabbits.
- 0:38Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles sold red spotty pocket handkerchiefs at a
- 0:42Speaker 1: penny three farthings. They also sold sugar and snuff and goloshes.
- 0:49Speaker 1: In fact, although it was such a small shop, it
- 0:52Speaker 1: sold nearly everything except a few things that you want
- 0:56Speaker 1: in a hurry, like boot laces, hair pins, and mutton chops.
- 1:02Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles were the people who kept the shop.
- 1:05Speaker 1: Ginger was a yellow tom cat and Pickles was a terrier.
- 1:10Speaker 1: The rabbits were always a little bit afraid of pickles.
- 1:15Speaker 1: The shop was also patronized by mice, only the mice
- 1:19Speaker 1: were rather afraid of Ginger. Ginger usually requested pickles to
- 1:24Speaker 1: serve them, because he said it made his mouth water.
- 1:29Speaker 1: I cannot bear, said he to see them going out
- 1:33Speaker 1: at the door carrying their little parcels. I have the
- 1:37Speaker 1: same feeling about rats, replied Pickles. But it would never
- 1:41Speaker 1: do to eat our customers. They would leave us and
- 1:44Speaker 1: go to Tabitha Twitchets. On the contrary, they would go nowhere,
- 1:50Speaker 1: replied Ginger gloomily. Tabitha Twitch had kept the only other
- 1:55Speaker 1: shop in the village. She did not give credit, but
- 2:00Speaker 1: there is no money in what is called the till.
- 2:04Speaker 1: Ginger and Pickles gave unlimited credit. Now the meaning of
- 2:09Speaker 1: credit is this, When a customer buys a bar of soap.
- 2:13Speaker 1: Instead of the customer pulling out a person paying for it,
- 2:17Speaker 1: she says she will pay another time, and Pickles makes
- 2:22Speaker 1: a low bow and says, with pleasure, madam. And it
- 2:26Speaker 1: is written down in a book. The customers come again
- 2:30Speaker 1: and again and buy quantities. In spite of being afraid
- 2:34Speaker 1: of Ginger and Pickles. The customers came in crowds every
- 2:39Speaker 1: day and bought quantities, especially the toffee customers, but there
- 2:44Speaker 1: was always no money. They never paid for as much
- 2:47Speaker 1: as a penny worth of peppermints, but the sales were enormous,
- 2:52Speaker 1: ten times as large as tabithat Richards, and there was
- 2:57Speaker 1: always no money. Ginger and Pickles were obliged to eat
- 3:01Speaker 1: their own goods. Pickles ate biscuits and Ginger ate a
- 3:07Speaker 1: dried haddock. They ate them by candle light after the
- 3:12Speaker 1: shop was closed. It is very uncomfortable. I am afraid
- 3:17Speaker 1: I shall be summoned. I have tried in Vain to
- 3:20Speaker 1: get a license upon credit at the post office, said Pickles.
- 3:25Speaker 1: The place is full of policemen. I met one as
- 3:28Speaker 1: I was coming home. Let us send in the bill
- 3:32Speaker 1: again to Samuel Whiskers. Ginger, he owes twenty two and
- 3:36Speaker 1: nine for bacon. I do not believe that he intends
- 3:41Speaker 1: to pay at all, replied Ginger. When it came to
- 3:46Speaker 1: January first, there was still no money, and Pickles was
- 3:49Speaker 1: unable to buy a dog license. It is very unpleasant.
- 3:54Speaker 1: I am afraid of the police, said Pickles. It is
- 3:59Speaker 1: your own fault for being a terrier. I do not
- 4:02Speaker 1: require a license, and neither does kept the Collie dog.
- 4:07Speaker 1: And I feel sure that Anna Maria pockets things. Who
- 4:12Speaker 1: are all the cream crackers? You have eaten them? Yourself,
- 4:17Speaker 1: replied Ginger. Ginger and Pickles retired into the back parlor.
- 4:24Speaker 1: They did accounts. They added up sums and sums and sums.
- 4:30Speaker 1: Samuel Whiskers has run up a bill as long as
- 4:32Speaker 1: his tail. He has had an ounce and three quarters
- 4:36Speaker 1: of snuff since October? What is seven pounds of butter
- 4:40Speaker 1: at one and three and a stick of sealing wax
- 4:44Speaker 1: and four matches? Sending all the bills again to everybody
- 4:49Speaker 1: with compliments, replied Ginger. After a time they heard a
- 4:54Speaker 1: noise in the shop, as if something had been pushed
- 4:57Speaker 1: in at the door. They came out the back parlor.
- 5:01Speaker 1: There was an envelope lying on the counter, and a
- 5:04Speaker 1: policeman writing in a note book. Pickles nearly had a fit.
- 5:10Speaker 1: He barked, and he barked, and made little rushes bite him.
- 5:15Speaker 1: Pickles bite him, spluttered Ginger behind a sugar barrel. He's
- 5:18Speaker 1: only a German doll. The policeman went on writing in
- 5:23Speaker 1: his note book. Twice he put his pencil in his mouth,
- 5:27Speaker 1: and once he dipped it in the treacle. Pickles barked
- 5:31Speaker 1: till he was hoarse, But still the policeman took no notice.
- 5:35Speaker 1: He had bead eyes, and his helmet was sewed on
- 5:39Speaker 1: with stitches at length. On his last little rush, Pickles
- 5:44Speaker 1: found that the shop was empty. The policeman had disappeared,
- 5:50Speaker 1: but the envelope remained. Do you think that he has
- 5:54Speaker 1: gone to fetch a real live policeman. I'm afraid it
- 5:58Speaker 1: is a summons, said Pickles. No, replied Ginger, who had
- 6:05Speaker 1: opened the envelope. It is the rates and taxes. Three
- 6:10Speaker 1: pounds nineteen eleven and three quarters pounds are British money,
- 6:16Speaker 1: the nineteen is shillings, and then pence. This is the
- 6:22Speaker 1: last straw, said Pickles. Let us close the shop. They
- 6:27Speaker 1: put up the shutters and left, but they have not
- 6:30Speaker 1: removed from the neighborhood. In fact, some people wish they
- 6:34Speaker 1: had gone further. Ginger is living in the Warren game
- 6:40Speaker 1: Preserve for rabbits. I do not know what occupation he pursues.
- 6:46Speaker 1: He looks stout and comfortable. Pickles is at present a gamekeeper.
- 6:53Speaker 1: After a time, mister John Dormouse and his daughter began
- 6:56Speaker 1: to sell peppermints and candles, but they did not keep
- 7:01Speaker 1: self fitting sixes, and it takes five mice to carry
- 7:05Speaker 1: one seven inch candle. The closing of the shop caused
- 7:10Speaker 1: great inconvenience. Tabitha Twitchet immediately raised the price of everything
- 7:15Speaker 1: a halfpenny, and she continued to refuse to give credit.
- 7:21Speaker 1: Of course, there are the tradesmen's carts, the butcher, the fishman,
- 7:25Speaker 1: and Timothy Baker. But a person cannot live on seed
- 7:29Speaker 1: wigs and sponge cake and butter buns, not even when
- 7:33Speaker 1: the sponge cake is as good as Timothy's. And Miss
- 7:38Speaker 1: Dormouse refused to take back the ends when they were
- 7:41Speaker 1: brought back to her with complaints. And when mister John
- 7:46Speaker 1: Dormouse was complained to, he stayed in bed and would
- 7:49Speaker 1: say nothing but very snug, which is not the way
- 7:53Speaker 1: to carry on a retail business. Besides, the candles which
- 7:59Speaker 1: they sell behave very strangely in warm weather. So everybody
- 8:05Speaker 1: was pleased when Sally Henny Penny sent out a printed
- 8:08Speaker 1: poster to say that she was going to reopen the
- 8:11Speaker 1: shop Henny's Opening Sale, Grand Cooperative Jumble Penny's Penny prices
- 8:19Speaker 1: come by, come try, come by. The poster really was
- 8:24Speaker 1: most tyson. There was a rush upon the opening day.
- 8:29Speaker 1: The shop was crammed with customers, and there were crowds
- 8:32Speaker 1: of mice upon the biscuit canisters. Sally Henny Penny gets
- 8:38Speaker 1: rather flustered when she tries to count out change, and
- 8:41Speaker 1: she insists on being paid cash. But she is quite harmless,
- 8:47Speaker 1: and she has laid in a remarkable assortment of bargains.
- 8:52Speaker 1: There is something to please everybody. End of ginger pickles.
- 9:01Speaker 2: The pie and the patty pan. Pussy cat sits by
- 9:05Speaker 2: the fire. How should she be fair in walks? The
- 9:08Speaker 2: little dog says, miss Pussy? Are you there? How do you,
- 9:11Speaker 2: mistress Pussy? Missus pussy, how do you do? I thank
- 9:14Speaker 2: you kindly, little dog. I fare as well as you
- 9:18Speaker 2: old rhyme. Once upon a time there was a pussy
- 9:21Speaker 2: cat called Ribby who invited a little dog called Duchess
- 9:24Speaker 2: to tea Come in good time, my dear Duchess, said
- 9:27Speaker 2: Ribby's letter, and we will have something so very nice.
- 9:30Speaker 2: I'm baking it in a pie dish, a pie dish
- 9:33Speaker 2: with a pink rim. You never tasted anything so good,
- 9:36Speaker 2: and you shall eat it all. I will eat muffins,
- 9:39Speaker 2: my dear Duchess, wrote Ribby. I will come very punctually,
- 9:42Speaker 2: My dear Ribby, wrote Duchess, And then at the end
- 9:45Speaker 2: she added, I hope it isn't mouse, And then she
- 9:48Speaker 2: thought it did not look quite polite, so she scratched
- 9:51Speaker 2: out isn't mouse and changed it to I hope it
- 9:53Speaker 2: will be fine. And she gave her letter to the postman.
- 9:57Speaker 2: But she thought a great deal about Ribby's pie, and
- 9:59Speaker 2: she read Ribby's letter over and over again. I'm dreadfully
- 10:02Speaker 2: afraid it will be mouse, said Duchess to herself. I
- 10:05Speaker 2: really couldn't couldn't eat mouse pie, and I shall have
- 10:09Speaker 2: to eat it because it is a party. And my
- 10:11Speaker 2: pie was going to be veal and ham a pink
- 10:14Speaker 2: and white pie dish, and so is mine, just like
- 10:17Speaker 2: Ribby's dishes. They were both bought at Tabatha titch Wits.
- 10:21Speaker 2: Duchess went into her larder and took a pie off
- 10:23Speaker 2: the shelf and looked at it. Oh, what a good idea.
- 10:27Speaker 2: Why shouldn't I rush along and put my pie into
- 10:29Speaker 2: Ribby's oven when Ribby isn't there. Ribby, in the meantime,
- 10:32Speaker 2: had received Duchess's answer, and as soon as she was
- 10:34Speaker 2: sure the little dog would come, she popped her pie
- 10:37Speaker 2: into the oven. There were two ovens, one above the other,
- 10:40Speaker 2: some other knobs and handles were only ornamental and not
- 10:43Speaker 2: intended to open. Ribby put the pie in the lower oven.
- 10:46Speaker 2: The door was very stiff. The top oven bakes too quickly,
- 10:49Speaker 2: said Ribby to herself. Ribby put on some coal and
- 10:52Speaker 2: swept the hearth. Then she went out with the can
- 10:55Speaker 2: to the well for water to fill up the kettle.
- 10:58Speaker 2: Then she began to set the room in order, for
- 11:00Speaker 2: was the sitting room as well as the kitchen. When
- 11:02Speaker 2: Ribby had laid the table, she went out down the
- 11:04Speaker 2: field to the farm to fetch milk and butter. When
- 11:07Speaker 2: she came back, she peeped into the bottom oven. The
- 11:09Speaker 2: pie looked very comfortable. Ribby put on her shawl and
- 11:12Speaker 2: bonnet and went out again with a basket to the
- 11:14Speaker 2: village shop to buy a packet of tea, a pound
- 11:16Speaker 2: of lump sugar, and a pot of marmalade. And just
- 11:20Speaker 2: at the same time Duchess came out of her house
- 11:22Speaker 2: at the other end of the village. Ribby met Duchess
- 11:24Speaker 2: half way down the street, also carrying a basket covered
- 11:27Speaker 2: with a cloth. They only bowed to one another. They
- 11:30Speaker 2: did not speak, because they were going to have a
- 11:31Speaker 2: party as soon as Duchess had got round the corner
- 11:34Speaker 2: out of sight. She simply ran straightway to Ribby's house.
- 11:38Speaker 2: Ribby went into the shop and bought what she required
- 11:41Speaker 2: and came out after a pleasant gossip with cousin Tabitha
- 11:44Speaker 2: titch Wit. Ribby went on to Timothy Baker's and bought
- 11:46Speaker 2: the muffins. Then she went home. There seemed to be
- 11:49Speaker 2: a sort of scuffling noise in the back passage as
- 11:51Speaker 2: she was coming in at the front door, but there
- 11:53Speaker 2: was nobody there. Duchess, in the meantime, had slipped out
- 11:56Speaker 2: the back door. It is a very odd thing that
- 11:58Speaker 2: Ribby's pie was not in the other when I put
- 12:00Speaker 2: mine in, and I can't find it anywhere. I have
- 12:04Speaker 2: looked all over the house. I put my pie into
- 12:07Speaker 2: a nice hot oven at the top. I could not
- 12:09Speaker 2: turn any of the other handles. I think they are
- 12:11Speaker 2: all shams, said Duchess. But I wish I could have
- 12:14Speaker 2: removed a pie made of mouse. I cannot think what
- 12:17Speaker 2: she has done of it. I heard Ribby coming and
- 12:19Speaker 2: I had to run out the back door. Duchess went
- 12:22Speaker 2: home and brushed her beautiful black coat, and then she
- 12:24Speaker 2: picked a bunch of flowers in her garden as a
- 12:26Speaker 2: present for Ribby, and passed the time until the clock
- 12:28Speaker 2: struck four. Ribby, having assured herself by careful search that
- 12:32Speaker 2: there really was no one hiding in the cupboard or
- 12:34Speaker 2: in the larder, went upstairs to change her dress. She
- 12:37Speaker 2: came downstairs again and made the tea and put the
- 12:40Speaker 2: teapot on the hob. She peeped into the bottom oven.
- 12:43Speaker 2: The pie had become a lovely brown and was steaming hot.
- 12:46Speaker 2: She sat down before the fire to wait for the
- 12:48Speaker 2: little dog. I'm glad I used the bottom oven, said Ribby.
- 12:51Speaker 2: The top one would certainly have been much too hot.
- 12:54Speaker 2: Very punctually, at four o'clock, Duchess started to go to
- 12:57Speaker 2: the party. At quarter past four to the minute, there
- 13:00Speaker 2: came an almost genteel little tappity tap, is miss Ribston
- 13:03Speaker 2: at home, inquired Duchess in the porch. Come in and
- 13:07Speaker 2: how do you do, my dear duchess, cried Ribby. I
- 13:09Speaker 2: hope i'd see you well quite well. I thank you,
- 13:12Speaker 2: And how did you do? My dear Ribby? Said duchess.
- 13:15Speaker 2: I've brought you some flowers. What a delicious smell of pie, Oh,
- 13:19Speaker 2: what lovely flowers? Yes, it is mouse and bacon. I
- 13:23Speaker 2: think it wants another five minutes, said Ribby. Just a
- 13:26Speaker 2: shade longer. I will pour out the tea while we wait.
- 13:28Speaker 2: Do you take sugar, my dear Duchess. Oh yes, please,
- 13:32Speaker 2: my dear Ribby, And may I have a lump upon
- 13:34Speaker 2: my nose with pleasure, my dear duchess. Duchess sat up
- 13:38Speaker 2: with the sugar on her nose and sniffed, Oh, how
- 13:40Speaker 2: good that pie smells. I do love veal and ham.
- 13:44Speaker 2: I meant to say mouse and bacon. She dropped the
- 13:46Speaker 2: sugar in confusion and had to go hunting under the
- 13:49Speaker 2: tea table, so did not see which oven Ribby opened
- 13:51Speaker 2: in order to get out the pie. Ribby set the
- 13:54Speaker 2: pie upon the table. There was a very savory smell.
- 13:57Speaker 2: Duchess came out from under the tablecloth, munching sugar, and
- 14:00Speaker 2: sat up on a chair. I will first cut the
- 14:02Speaker 2: pie for you. I'm going to have a muffin and marmalade,
- 14:04Speaker 2: said Ribby. I think, thought Duchess to herself. I think
- 14:08Speaker 2: it would be wiser if I helped myself to pie.
- 14:10Speaker 2: Though Ribby did not seem to notice anything when she
- 14:12Speaker 2: was cutting it. What very small fine pieces it has
- 14:15Speaker 2: cooked into. I did not remember that I had minced
- 14:18Speaker 2: it up so fine. I suppose this is a quicker
- 14:21Speaker 2: oven than my own. The pie dish was emptying rapidly.
- 14:24Speaker 2: Duchess had had four helps already and was fumbling with
- 14:27Speaker 2: the spoon. A little more bacon, my dear Duchess, said Ribby.
- 14:31Speaker 2: Thank you, my dear Ribby. I was only feeling for
- 14:33Speaker 2: the patty pan. The patty pan, my dear Duchess, the
- 14:37Speaker 2: patty pan that held up the pie crest, said Duchess,
- 14:39Speaker 2: blushing under her black coat.
- 14:41Speaker 3: Oh I didn't put one in, my.
- 14:42Speaker 2: Dear Duchess, said Ribby. I don't think that it is
- 14:45Speaker 2: necessary in pies made of mouse. Duchess fumbled with a spoon.
- 14:49Speaker 2: I can't find it, she said, anxiously. There isn't a
- 14:52Speaker 2: patty pan, said Ribby, looking perplexed. Yes, indeed, my dear Ribby,
- 14:56Speaker 2: where can it have gone to, said duchess. Duchess looked
- 14:59Speaker 2: very much alarmed, and continued to scoop the inside of
- 15:01Speaker 2: the pie dish. I have only four pi patty pans,
- 15:05Speaker 2: and they are all in the cupboard. Duchess set up
- 15:07Speaker 2: a howl. I shall die I shall die. I have
- 15:09Speaker 2: swallowed a patty pan. Oh, my dear Ribby, I do
- 15:12Speaker 2: feel so ill. It is impossible, my dear Duchess, there
- 15:15Speaker 2: was not a patty pan. Yes there was, my dear Ribby.
- 15:19Speaker 2: I am sure I have swallowed it. Let me prop
- 15:21Speaker 2: you up with a pillow, My dear Duchess. Where do
- 15:23Speaker 2: you think you feel it? Oh? I do feel so
- 15:26Speaker 2: ill all over me, my dear Ribby. Shall I run
- 15:29Speaker 2: for the doctor?
- 15:30Speaker 3: Oh?
- 15:31Speaker 2: Yes, yes, touch doctor Maggotty, my dear Ribby. He is
- 15:34Speaker 2: a pie himself. You will certainly understand. Ribby settled Duchess
- 15:39Speaker 2: in an arm chair before the fire and went out
- 15:40Speaker 2: and hurried to the village to look for the doctor.
- 15:43Speaker 2: She found him at the smithy. Ribby explained that her
- 15:45Speaker 2: guest had swallowed a patty pan. Doctor Maggotty hopped so
- 15:48Speaker 2: fast that Ribby had to run. It was most conspicuous
- 15:51Speaker 2: all the village could see that Ribby was fetching the doctor.
- 15:54Speaker 2: But while Ribby had been hunting for the doctor, a
- 15:57Speaker 2: curious thing had happened to Duchess, who had been left
- 15:59Speaker 2: by herself sitting before the fire, sighing and groaning and
- 16:02Speaker 2: feeling very unhappy. How could I have swallowed it such
- 16:05Speaker 2: a large thing as a patty pan. She sat down
- 16:08Speaker 2: again and stared mournfully at the grate. The fire crackled, danced,
- 16:11Speaker 2: and something sizzled. Duchess started. She opened the door of
- 16:15Speaker 2: the top oven. Out came a rich, steamy flavor of
- 16:18Speaker 2: veal and ham, and there stood a fine brown pie.
- 16:21Speaker 2: And through the hole in the top of the pie
- 16:23Speaker 2: crust was a glimpse of the little tin patty pan.
- 16:26Speaker 2: Duchess drew a long breath. Then it must have been
- 16:29Speaker 2: eating mouse. No wonder I feel ill, But perhaps I
- 16:32Speaker 2: should feel worse if I had really swallowed a patty pan.
- 16:35Speaker 2: Duchess reflected, what a very awkward thing to have to
- 16:38Speaker 2: explain to Ribby. I think I will put my pie
- 16:41Speaker 2: in the back yard and say nothing about it. When
- 16:43Speaker 2: I go home, I will run round and take it away.
- 16:46Speaker 2: She put it outside the back door and sat down
- 16:48Speaker 2: again by the fire and shut her eyes. When Ribby
- 16:51Speaker 2: arrived with the doctor, she seemed fast asleep. I am
- 16:54Speaker 2: feeling very much better, said Duchess, waking up with a jump.
- 16:57Speaker 2: I am truly glad to hear it. He has brought
- 16:59Speaker 2: you a pill my dear Duchess, I think I should
- 17:01Speaker 2: feel quite well if he only felt my pulse, said Duchess,
- 17:04Speaker 2: backing away from the magpie, who sidled up with something
- 17:07Speaker 2: in his beak. It is only a bread pill. You
- 17:10Speaker 2: had much better take it. Drink a little milk, my
- 17:12Speaker 2: dear duchess. I'm feeling very much better. My dear Ribby,
- 17:15Speaker 2: said Duchess. Do you not think that I had better
- 17:17Speaker 2: go home before it gets dark? Perhaps it might be wise,
- 17:20Speaker 2: my dear duchess. Ribby and Duchess said good bye affectionately,
- 17:24Speaker 2: and Duchess started home. Half Way up the lane, she
- 17:26Speaker 2: stopped and looked back. Ribby had gone in and shut
- 17:29Speaker 2: her door. Duchess slipped through the fence and ran round
- 17:31Speaker 2: the back of Ribby's house and peeped into the yard.
- 17:35Speaker 2: Upon the roof of the pig stye sat Doctor Maggotty
- 17:37Speaker 2: and three jackdaws. The jackdaws were eating pie crust, and
- 17:40Speaker 2: the magpie was drinking gravy out of the patty pan.
- 17:43Speaker 2: Duchess ran home, feeling uncommonly silly. When Ribby came out
- 17:47Speaker 2: for a pailful of water to wash up the tea things,
- 17:50Speaker 2: she found a pink and white pie dish lying smashed
- 17:52Speaker 2: in the middle of the yard. Ribby stared with amazement,
- 17:55Speaker 2: did you ever see the like? So there really was
- 17:58Speaker 2: a patty pan. But my patty pans are all in
- 18:00Speaker 2: the kitchen cupboard? Why I never did? Next time I
- 18:04Speaker 2: ought to give a party of all in breat Cousin
- 18:05Speaker 2: Tabitha Twitchet and the pie the paddy pan. The Complete
- 18:10Speaker 2: Tales of Beatrice.
- 18:11Speaker 1: Potter The roly Poly Pudding by Beatrix Potter in remembrance
- 18:18Speaker 1: of Sammy, the intelligent, pink eyed representative of a persecuted
- 18:25Speaker 1: but irrepressible race, an affectionate little friend, and most accomplished thief.
- 18:33Speaker 1: Once upon a time there was an old cat called
- 18:37Speaker 1: Missus Tabitha Twitchet, who was an anxious parent. She used
- 18:43Speaker 1: to lose her kittens continually, and whenever they were lost,
- 18:47Speaker 1: they were always in mischief. On baking day, she determined
- 18:52Speaker 1: to shut them up in a cupboard. She called Moppet
- 18:56Speaker 1: and mittens, but she could not find Tom. Missus Tabitha
- 19:02Speaker 1: went up and down all over the house, mewing for
- 19:06Speaker 1: Tom kitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase,
- 19:11Speaker 1: and she searched the best spare bedroom that was all
- 19:15Speaker 1: covered up with dust sheets. She went right upstairs and
- 19:19Speaker 1: looked into the attics, but she could not find him anywhere.
- 19:25Speaker 1: It was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages.
- 19:30Speaker 1: Some of the walls were four feet thick, and there
- 19:34Speaker 1: used to be queer noises inside them, as if there
- 19:38Speaker 1: might be a little secret staircase. Certainly, there were odd
- 19:43Speaker 1: little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared at night,
- 19:49Speaker 1: especially cheese and bacon. Missus Tabitha became more and more
- 19:54Speaker 1: distracted and new dreadfully. While their mother was searching the house,
- 20:00Speaker 1: Moppet and Mittens had got into mischief. The cupboard door
- 20:06Speaker 1: was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out.
- 20:11Speaker 1: They went straight to the dough, which was set to
- 20:14Speaker 1: rise in a pan before the fire. They patted it
- 20:18Speaker 1: with their little soft paws. Shall we make dear little muffins,
- 20:24Speaker 1: said Mittens to Moppet. But just at that moment somebody
- 20:30Speaker 1: knocked at the front door, and Moppett jumped into the
- 20:33Speaker 1: flower barrel in a fright. Mittens ran to the dairy
- 20:38Speaker 1: and hid in an empty jar on the stone shelf,
- 20:41Speaker 1: where the milk pans stand. The visitor was a neighbor,
- 20:46Speaker 1: Missus Ribby. She had called to borrow some yeast. Missus
- 20:52Speaker 1: Tabitha came downstairs, mewing dreadfully. Come in, Cousin Ribby, come
- 20:58Speaker 1: in and sit you down. I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby,
- 21:03Speaker 1: said Tabitha, shedding tears. I've lost my dear son Thomas.
- 21:09Speaker 1: I'm afraid the rats have got him. She wiped her
- 21:12Speaker 1: eyes with her apron. He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha.
- 21:19Speaker 1: He made a cat's cradle of my best bonnet last
- 21:22Speaker 1: time I came to tea. Where have you looked for him?
- 21:27Speaker 1: All over the house? The rats are too many for me.
- 21:31Speaker 1: What a thing it is to have an unruly family,
- 21:35Speaker 1: said Missus Tabitha at Richard. I'm not afraid of rats.
- 21:40Speaker 1: I will help you to find him and whip him too.
- 21:44Speaker 1: What is all that suit in the finger the chimney
- 21:48Speaker 1: once sweeping? Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby. Now moppet and
- 21:53Speaker 1: mittens are gone. They have both got out of the cupboard.
- 21:59Speaker 1: Ribby and Tabitha said to work to search the house
- 22:01Speaker 1: thoroughly again. They poked under the beds with Ribby's umbrella,
- 22:06Speaker 1: and they rummaged in cupboards. They even fetched a candle
- 22:11Speaker 1: and looked inside a clove's chest in one of the attics.
- 22:16Speaker 1: They could not find anything, but once they heard a
- 22:19Speaker 1: door bang and somebody scuttered downstairs. Yes, it is infested
- 22:27Speaker 1: with rats, said Tabitha tearfully. I caught seven young ones
- 22:32Speaker 1: out of one hole in the back kitchen, and we
- 22:35Speaker 1: had them for dinner last Saturday. And once I saw
- 22:40Speaker 1: the old father rat, an enormous old rat, cousin Ribby,
- 22:44Speaker 1: I was just going to jump upon him, when he
- 22:47Speaker 1: showed his yellow teeth at me and whisked down the hole.
- 22:52Speaker 1: The rats get upon my nerves, cousin Ribby, said Tabitha.
- 22:57Speaker 1: Ribby and Tabitha searched and searched. They both heard a
- 23:02Speaker 1: curious roly poly noise under the attic floor. There was
- 23:06Speaker 1: nothing to be seen. They returned to the kitchen. Here's
- 23:12Speaker 1: one of your kittens, at least, said Ribby, dragging Moppet
- 23:17Speaker 1: out of the flower barrel. They shook the flower off
- 23:21Speaker 1: her and set her down on the kitchen floor. She
- 23:25Speaker 1: seemed to be in a terrible fright. Oh mother, mother,
- 23:30Speaker 1: said Morpet there's been an old woman rat in the kitchen,
- 23:35Speaker 1: and she's stolen some of the dough. The two cats
- 23:39Speaker 1: ran to look at the dough pan. Sure enough, there
- 23:43Speaker 1: were marks of little scratching fingers, and a lump of
- 23:46Speaker 1: dough was gone. Which way did she go? Mobert? But
- 23:52Speaker 1: Moppet had been too much frightened to peep out of
- 23:55Speaker 1: the barrel again. Ribby and Tabitha took her with them
- 23:59Speaker 1: to keep her safely in sight while they went on
- 24:02Speaker 1: with their search. They went into the dairy. The first
- 24:08Speaker 1: thing they found was Mittens, hiding in an empty jar.
- 24:14Speaker 1: They tipped over the jar, and she scrambled out, Oh mother, mother,
- 24:20Speaker 1: said Mittens, Oh mother, mother. There has been an old
- 24:25Speaker 1: man rat in the dairy, a dreadful, enormous figure at mother,
- 24:29Speaker 1: and he stole in a pat of butter and the
- 24:31Speaker 1: rolling pin. Ribby and Tabitha looked at one another, A
- 24:38Speaker 1: rolling pin and butter. Oh my poor son, Thomas, exclaimed Tabitha,
- 24:44Speaker 1: wringing her paws. A rolling pin, said Ribby. Did we
- 24:51Speaker 1: not hear a roly poly noise in the attic when
- 24:53Speaker 1: we were looking into that chest? Ribby and Tabitha rushed upstairs.
- 24:59Speaker 4: Again.
- 25:00Speaker 1: Sure enough, the roly poly noise was still going on.
- 25:04Speaker 1: Quite distinctly under the attic floor was his serious cousin.
- 25:10Speaker 1: Tabitha said, rebby, we must send for John Joyner at
- 25:14Speaker 1: once with a saw. Now this is what had been
- 25:18Speaker 1: happening to Tom Kitten, and it shows how very unwise
- 25:22Speaker 1: it is to go up a chimney in a very
- 25:24Speaker 1: old house, where a person does not know his way,
- 25:27Speaker 1: and where there are enormous rats. Tom Kitten did not
- 25:32Speaker 1: want to be shut up in a cupboard. When he
- 25:35Speaker 1: saw that his mother was going to bake, he determined
- 25:38Speaker 1: to hide. He looked about for a nice convenient place,
- 25:42Speaker 1: and he fixed upon the chimney. The fire had only
- 25:47Speaker 1: just been lighted, and it was not hot, but there
- 25:50Speaker 1: was a white, choky smoke from the green sticks. Tom
- 25:54Speaker 1: Kitten got upon the fender and looked up. It was
- 25:58Speaker 1: a big, old fashioned fire place. The chimney itself was
- 26:03Speaker 1: wide enough inside for a man to stand up and
- 26:06Speaker 1: walk about, so there was plenty of room for a
- 26:09Speaker 1: little tom cat. He jumped right up into the fireplace,
- 26:15Speaker 1: balancing himself upon the iron bar where the kettle hangs.
- 26:20Speaker 1: Tom Kitten took another big jump off the bar and
- 26:22Speaker 1: landed on a ledge high up inside the chimney, knocking
- 26:27Speaker 1: down some suit into the fender. Tom Kitten coughed and
- 26:32Speaker 1: choked with the smoke. He could hear the sticks beginning
- 26:35Speaker 1: to crackle and burn in the fireplace down below. He
- 26:39Speaker 1: made up his mind to climb right to the top
- 26:42Speaker 1: and get out on the slates and try to catch sparrows.
- 26:47Speaker 1: I cannot go back. If I slipped, I might fall
- 26:50Speaker 1: in the fire and singe my beautiful tail and my
- 26:53Speaker 1: little blue jacket. The chimney was a very big, old
- 26:57Speaker 1: fashioned one. It was in the days when people burnt
- 27:01Speaker 1: logs of wood upon the hearth. The chimney stack stood
- 27:06Speaker 1: up above the roof like a little stone tower, and
- 27:09Speaker 1: the daylight shone down from the top under the slanting
- 27:12Speaker 1: slates that kept out the rain. Tom Kitten was getting
- 27:17Speaker 1: very frightened. He climbed up and up and up. Then
- 27:22Speaker 1: he waded sideways through inches of soot. He was like
- 27:26Speaker 1: a little sweep himself. It was most confusing in the dark.
- 27:32Speaker 1: One flu seemed to lead into another. There was less smoke,
- 27:37Speaker 1: but tom Kitten felt quite lost. He scrambled up and up,
- 27:43Speaker 1: but before he reached the chimney top. He came to
- 27:46Speaker 1: a place where somebody had loosened a stone in the wall.
- 27:49Speaker 1: There were some mutton bones lying about. This seems funny,
- 27:55Speaker 1: said Tom Kitten, who has been gnawing bones up here
- 27:59Speaker 1: in the chimney. I wish I had never come. And
- 28:03Speaker 1: what a funny smell. It is something like a mouse,
- 28:07Speaker 1: only dreadfully strong. It makes me sneeze, said Tom Kitten.
- 28:14Speaker 1: He squeezed through the hole in the wall and dragged
- 28:16Speaker 1: himself along a most uncomfortably tight passage, where there was
- 28:21Speaker 1: scarcely any light. He groped his way carefully for several yards.
- 28:27Speaker 1: He was at the back of the skirting board in
- 28:29Speaker 1: the attic where there is a little mark in the picture.
- 28:34Speaker 1: All at once he fell head over heels in the dark,
- 28:36Speaker 1: down a hole, and landed on a heap of very
- 28:39Speaker 1: dirty rags. When Tom Kitten picked himself up and looked
- 28:44Speaker 1: about him, he found himself in a place that he
- 28:47Speaker 1: had never seen before, although he had lived all his
- 28:50Speaker 1: life in the house. It was a very small, stuffy,
- 28:54Speaker 1: fusty room, with boards and rafters and cobwebs and laugh
- 28:58Speaker 1: and plaster opposite to him, as far away as he
- 29:03Speaker 1: could sit was an enormous rat. What do you mean
- 29:08Speaker 1: by tumbling into my bed all covered with swots? Said
- 29:12Speaker 1: the rat, chattering his teeth. Please, sir, the chimney one sweeping,
- 29:19Speaker 1: said poor Tom Kitten. Anne Maria, and A Maria squeaked
- 29:24Speaker 1: the rat. There was a pattering noise, and an old
- 29:28Speaker 1: woman rat poked her head round her. After all, in
- 29:32Speaker 1: a minute, she rushed upon Tom Kitten, and before he
- 29:36Speaker 1: knew what was happening, his coat was pulled off and
- 29:40Speaker 1: he was rolled up in a bundle and tied with
- 29:43Speaker 1: string in very hard knots Anna Maria did the tying.
- 29:49Speaker 1: The old rat watched her and took snuff. When she
- 29:52Speaker 1: had finished, they both sat staring at him with their
- 29:56Speaker 1: mouths open. Ana Maria said the old man rat, whose
- 30:02Speaker 1: name was Samuel Whiskers, Sonna Maria, take me a kitten
- 30:06Speaker 1: dumpling roly poly pudding for my dinner. It requires dough
- 30:12Speaker 1: and a pat of butter and a rolling pin, said
- 30:15Speaker 1: Anna Maria, considering Tom Kitten with her head on one side. No,
- 30:22Speaker 1: said Samuel Whiskers. Make it properly, Anna Maria, with bread crumbs,
- 30:29Speaker 1: places butter and dough, replied Anna Maria. The two rats
- 30:35Speaker 1: consulted together for a few minutes, and then went away.
- 30:40Speaker 1: Samuel Whiskers got through a hole in the wainscot and
- 30:43Speaker 1: went boldly down the front staircase to the dairy to
- 30:46Speaker 1: get the butter. He did not meet anybody. He made
- 30:51Speaker 1: a second journey for the rolling pin. He pushed it
- 30:55Speaker 1: in front of him with his paws like a brewer's man,
- 30:58Speaker 1: trundling a varrow. He could hear Ribby and Tabitha talking,
- 31:03Speaker 1: but they were too busy lighting the candle to look
- 31:05Speaker 1: into the chest. They did not see him. Anna Maria
- 31:11Speaker 1: went down by way of skirting board and a window
- 31:14Speaker 1: shutter to the kitchen to steal the dough. She borrowed
- 31:18Speaker 1: a small saucer and scooped up the dough with her paws.
- 31:23Speaker 1: She did not observe Moppet. While tom Kitten was left
- 31:28Speaker 1: alone under the floor of the attic, he wriggled about
- 31:31Speaker 1: and tried to mew for help, but his mouth was
- 31:35Speaker 1: full of soota and cobwebs, and he was tied up
- 31:38Speaker 1: in such very tight knots. He could not make anybody
- 31:41Speaker 1: hear him, except a spider who came out of a
- 31:46Speaker 1: crack in the ceiling and examined the knots critically from
- 31:49Speaker 1: a safe distance. It was a judge of knots because
- 31:54Speaker 1: it had a habit of tying up unfortunate blue bottles.
- 31:58Speaker 1: It did not offer to assist tim. Tom Kitten wriggled
- 32:03Speaker 1: and squirmed until he was quite exhausted. Presently, the rats
- 32:08Speaker 1: came back and set to work to make him into
- 32:11Speaker 1: a dumpling. First they smeared him with butter, and then
- 32:15Speaker 1: they rolled him in the dough. Will not the string
- 32:19Speaker 1: be very indigestible, Anna Maria, inquired Samuel Whiskers. Anna Maria
- 32:26Speaker 1: said she thought that it was of no consequence, but
- 32:30Speaker 1: she wished that Tom Kitten would hold his head still
- 32:33Speaker 1: as it disarranged the pastry. She laid hold of his ears.
- 32:39Speaker 1: Tom Kitten bit and spit and mewed and wriggled, and
- 32:43Speaker 1: the rolling pin went rowly poly roly, roly, poly roly.
- 32:48Speaker 1: The rats each held an end his tail is sticking out.
- 32:54Speaker 1: Who did not fetch enough dough, Anna Maria? I fetched
- 32:58Speaker 1: as much as I could carry, replied Anna Maria. I
- 33:03Speaker 1: do not think, said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a
- 33:06Speaker 1: look at Tom Kitten. I do not think it will
- 33:10Speaker 1: be a good pudding. It smells sooty. Anna Maria was
- 33:15Speaker 1: about to argue the point, when all at once there
- 33:18Speaker 1: began to be other sounds up above, the rasping noise
- 33:22Speaker 1: of a sow and the noise of a little dog
- 33:25Speaker 1: scratching and yelping. The rats dropped the rolling pin and
- 33:31Speaker 1: listened attentively. We are discovered and interrupted, Anna Maria. Let
- 33:36Speaker 1: us collect our property and other people's and depart at once.
- 33:42Speaker 1: I fear that we shall be obliged to leave this pudding,
- 33:46Speaker 1: but I am persuaded that the knots would have proved indigestible.
- 33:50Speaker 1: Whatever you may urge to the contrary, come away at
- 33:54Speaker 1: once and help me to tie up some mutton bones
- 33:56Speaker 1: in a counterpane, said Anna Amelia. I have got half
- 34:01Speaker 1: a smoked ham hidden in the chimney. So it happened
- 34:05Speaker 1: that by the time John Joyner had got the plank up,
- 34:08Speaker 1: there was nobody here under the floor except the rolling
- 34:11Speaker 1: pin and tom kitten in a very dirty dumpling. But
- 34:17Speaker 1: there was a strong smell of rats, and John Joyner
- 34:20Speaker 1: spent the rest of the morning sniffing and whining and
- 34:23Speaker 1: wagging his tail and going round and round with his
- 34:27Speaker 1: head in the hole like a gimblet. Then he nailed
- 34:30Speaker 1: the plank down again and put his tools in his
- 34:33Speaker 1: bag and came downstairs. The cat family had quite recovered.
- 34:39Speaker 1: They invited him to stay to dinner. The dumpling had
- 34:43Speaker 1: been peeled off tom kitten and made separately into a
- 34:47Speaker 1: bag pudding with currants in it. To hide the smoods.
- 34:52Speaker 1: They had been obliged to put tom kitten into a
- 34:54Speaker 1: hot bath to get the butter off. John Joyna smelt
- 34:59Speaker 1: the pudding, but he regretted that he had not time
- 35:02Speaker 1: to stay to dinner because he had just finished making
- 35:05Speaker 1: a wheelbarrow for Miss Potter, and she had ordered two hencoops.
- 35:11Speaker 1: And when I was going to the post late in
- 35:13Speaker 1: the afternoon, I looked up the land from the corner
- 35:16Speaker 1: and I saw mister Samuel Whiskers and his wife on
- 35:19Speaker 1: the run with big bundles on a little wheelbarrow which
- 35:23Speaker 1: looked very much like mine. They were just turning in
- 35:28Speaker 1: at the gate to the barn of farmer Potatoes. Samuel
- 35:32Speaker 1: Whiskers was puffing and out of breath. Anna Maria was
- 35:36Speaker 1: still arguing in shrill tones. She seemed to know her
- 35:41Speaker 1: way and she seemed to have a quantity of luggage.
- 35:46Speaker 1: I am sure I never gave her leave to borrow
- 35:49Speaker 1: my wheelbarrow. They went into the barn and hauled their
- 35:53Speaker 1: parcels with a bit of string to the top of
- 35:56Speaker 1: the hay mow. After that there were no more rats
- 36:01Speaker 1: for a long time at Tabitha Twitches. As for Farmer Potatoes,
- 36:07Speaker 1: he has been driven nearly distracted. There are rats and
- 36:11Speaker 1: rats and rats in his barn. They eat up the
- 36:14Speaker 1: chicken food, and steal the oats and bran, and make
- 36:17Speaker 1: holes in their meal bags. And they are all descended
- 36:21Speaker 1: from mister and missus Samuel Whiskers children and grandchildren and
- 36:27Speaker 1: great great grand children. There is no end to them.
- 36:33Speaker 1: Market and mittens have grown up into very good rat catches.
- 36:38Speaker 1: They go out rat catching in the village and they
- 36:41Speaker 1: find plenty of employment. They charge so much a dozen
- 36:45Speaker 1: and earn their living very comfortably. They hung up the
- 36:50Speaker 1: rat's tails in a row on the barn door to
- 36:53Speaker 1: show how many they have caught, dozens and dozens of them.
- 36:58Speaker 1: But Tom Kitten has always been afraid of a rat.
- 37:02Speaker 1: He never does face anything that is bigger than a mouse.
- 37:09Speaker 1: Angel the roly poly pudding.
- 37:13Speaker 5: The story of Miss Moppett. This is a pussy called
- 37:17Speaker 5: miss Moppet. She thinks she has heard a mouse. This
- 37:23Speaker 5: is the mouse peeping out behind the cupboard and making
- 37:26Speaker 5: fun of miss Moppett. He is not afraid of a kitten.
- 37:31Speaker 5: This is miss Moppett jumping just too late. She misses
- 37:35Speaker 5: the mouse and hits her own head. She thinks it
- 37:38Speaker 5: is a very hard cupboard. The mouse watches Miss Moppett
- 37:43Speaker 5: from the top of the cupboard. Miss Moppett ties up
- 37:46Speaker 5: her head in a duster and sits before the fire.
- 37:50Speaker 5: The mouse thinks she is looking very ill. He comes
- 37:54Speaker 5: sliding down the bell pull. Miss Moppett looks worse and worse.
- 38:00Speaker 5: The mouse comes a little nearer. Miss Moppett holds her
- 38:04Speaker 5: poor head in her paws and looks at him through
- 38:06Speaker 5: a hole in the duster. The mouse comes very close,
- 38:12Speaker 5: and then all of a sudden, Miss Muppett jumps upon
- 38:15Speaker 5: the mouse. And because the mouse has teased Miss Moppet,
- 38:19Speaker 5: miss Moppett thinks she will tease the mouse, which is
- 38:23Speaker 5: not at all nice of miss Moppet. She ties him
- 38:27Speaker 5: up in the duster and tosses it about like a ball.
- 38:31Speaker 5: But she forgot about that hole in the duster, and
- 38:34Speaker 5: when she untied it there was no mouse. He had
- 38:38Speaker 5: wriggled out and run away. And he is dancing a
- 38:41Speaker 5: jig on top of the cupboard. And of the Story
- 38:46Speaker 5: of Miss Moppett by Beatrix Potter.
- 38:49Speaker 6: The Story of a fierce bad Rabbit. This is a
- 38:54Speaker 6: fierce bad rabbit. Look at his savage whiskers and his
- 38:58Speaker 6: claws and is turned up tail. This is a nice,
- 39:02Speaker 6: gentle rabbit. His mother has given him a carrot. The
- 39:07Speaker 6: bad rabbit would like some carrot. He doesn't say please.
- 39:11Speaker 6: He takes it and scratches the good rabbit very badly.
- 39:16Speaker 6: The good rabbit creeps away and hides in a hole.
- 39:19Speaker 6: It feels sad. This is a man with a gun.
- 39:24Speaker 6: He sees something sitting on a bench. He thinks it
- 39:27Speaker 6: is a very funny bird. He keeps creeping up behind
- 39:32Speaker 6: the trees, and then he shoots bang. This is what happens.
- 39:36Speaker 6: But this is all he finds on the bench. When
- 39:39Speaker 6: he rushes up with his gun, the good rabbit peeps
- 39:42Speaker 6: out of his hole and sees the bad rabbit tearing
- 39:46Speaker 6: past without any tail or whiskers. The end of the
- 39:52Speaker 6: story of the fierce bad rabbit.
- 39:55Speaker 7: The Tailor of Blouster by Beatrix Potter. In the time
- 39:59Speaker 7: of lords and periwigs and full skirted coats with flowered lappets,
- 40:03Speaker 7: when gentlemen wore ruffles and gold laced waistcoats of pederssoy
- 40:06Speaker 7: and taffeta, the lived a tailor and Gloucester. He sat
- 40:10Speaker 7: in the window of a little shop in Westcote Street,
- 40:13Speaker 7: cross legged on a table from morning till dark. All
- 40:17Speaker 7: day long, while the light lasted, he sewed and snippeted,
- 40:21Speaker 7: piecing out his satin and pompadour and lutestring. Stuffs had
- 40:25Speaker 7: strange names and were very expensive in the days of
- 40:28Speaker 7: the Tailor of Gloucester. But although he sewed fine silk
- 40:32Speaker 7: for his neighbors, he himself was very very poor, A
- 40:36Speaker 7: little old man in spectacles, with a pinched face, old
- 40:41Speaker 7: crooked fingers and a suit of threadbare clothes. He cut
- 40:46Speaker 7: his coats without waist according to his embroidered cloth. They
- 40:50Speaker 7: were very small ends and snippets that lay about upon
- 40:53Speaker 7: the table, two narrow breads for knout, except waistcoats for mice,
- 40:58Speaker 7: said the tailor. One bitter cold day near Christmas time,
- 41:03Speaker 7: the tailor began to make a coat, a coat of
- 41:06Speaker 7: cherry colored corded silk, embroidered with pansies and roses, and
- 41:10Speaker 7: a cream colored satin whiskered trimmed with gauze and green
- 41:13Speaker 7: worsted chineel for the mare of Gloucester. The tailor worked
- 41:18Speaker 7: and worked, and he talked to himself. He measured the silk,
- 41:22Speaker 7: and turned it round and round, and trimmed it into
- 41:25Speaker 7: shape with his shears. The table was all littered with
- 41:28Speaker 7: cherry colored snippets, no bread, the tall and cut on
- 41:33Speaker 7: the cross. It's now bread, the tall tippets for mice,
- 41:36Speaker 7: and ribbons for mobs, and for mice, said the tailor
- 41:39Speaker 7: of Gloucester. When the snowplakes came down against the small
- 41:43Speaker 7: leaded window panes and shut out the light, the tailor
- 41:46Speaker 7: had done his day's work. All the silk and satin
- 41:49Speaker 7: they cut out upon the table. There were twelve pieces
- 41:53Speaker 7: for the coat, and four pieces for the waistcoat, and
- 41:57Speaker 7: there were pocket flaps, and cuffs and buttons all in order.
- 42:01Speaker 7: For the lining of the coat there was fine yellow taffeta,
- 42:04Speaker 7: and for the buttonholes of the waistcoat there was cherry
- 42:06Speaker 7: colored twist. And everything was ready to sew together in
- 42:10Speaker 7: the morning, all measured and sufficient, except that there was
- 42:14Speaker 7: wanting just one single skein of cherry colored twisted silk.
- 42:20Speaker 7: Tailor came out of his shop at dark, for he
- 42:22Speaker 7: did not sleep there at nights. He fastened the window
- 42:25Speaker 7: and locked the door, and took away the key. No
- 42:28Speaker 7: one lived there at night but little brown mice, and
- 42:31Speaker 7: they run in and out without any keys. For behind
- 42:34Speaker 7: the wooden winscots of all the old houses in Gloucester
- 42:37Speaker 7: dour little mouse staircases and secret trap doors, and the
- 42:42Speaker 7: mice run from house to house through those long, narrow passages.
- 42:46Speaker 7: They can run all over the town without going into
- 42:48Speaker 7: the streets. But the tailor came out of his shop
- 42:52Speaker 7: and shuffled home through the snow. He can lived quite
- 42:56Speaker 7: near by in College Court, next to the doorway to
- 42:59Speaker 7: College Green, And although it was not a big house,
- 43:02Speaker 7: the tailor was so poor he only rented the kitchen.
- 43:07Speaker 7: He lived alone with his cat. It was called Simpkin.
- 43:11Speaker 7: Now all day long, while the tailor was out at work,
- 43:14Speaker 7: Simpkin kept house by himself, and he was also fond
- 43:18Speaker 7: of the mice. Though we gave him no satin for coats, mum,
- 43:22Speaker 7: said the cat. When the tailor opened the door, ah
- 43:26Speaker 7: the tailor replied, simkin, we shall make our fortune, but
- 43:31Speaker 7: I am worn to a raveling. Take this groat, which
- 43:35Speaker 7: is our last fourpence, and simkin, take a china pipkin,
- 43:39Speaker 7: buy a penneth of bread, a penneth of milk, and
- 43:43Speaker 7: a penneth of sausages. And oh, Simpkin, with the last
- 43:47Speaker 7: penny of our fourpence, buy me one penneth of cherry
- 43:50Speaker 7: colored silk, But do not lose the last penny of
- 43:54Speaker 7: the sorpans Simpkin, or I am undone and want a
- 43:56Speaker 7: thread paper, for I have no more twist. Then Simpkin
- 44:00Speaker 7: again said ahm, and took the groat and the pipkin
- 44:04Speaker 7: and went out into the dark. The tailor was very
- 44:09Speaker 7: tired and beginning to be ill. He sat down by
- 44:11Speaker 7: the hearth and talked to himself about that wonderful coat.
- 44:17Speaker 8: I shall make my fortune to be cut bias. The
- 44:23Speaker 8: Mayor of Gloucester is to be married on Christmas Day
- 44:25Speaker 8: in the morning, and he's ordered a coat and an
- 44:28Speaker 8: embroidered voistcoat to be lined with the yellow taffeta and
- 44:31Speaker 8: the taftas of this there is no more left over.
- 44:34Speaker 7: In snippets that will serve to make tippets for mice.
- 44:38Speaker 7: Then the tailor started for suddenly interrupting him from the
- 44:42Speaker 7: dresser at the other side of the kitchen came a
- 44:44Speaker 7: number of little noises.
- 44:46Speaker 3: Tip tup, tip tup, tip up.
- 44:49Speaker 7: Now what can that be? Said the tailor of Gloucester,
- 44:53Speaker 7: jumping up from his chair. The dresser was covered with
- 44:56Speaker 7: crockery and pipkins, willow pattern plates, and teacups and mugs.
- 45:01Speaker 7: The tailor crossed the kitchen and stood quite still beside
- 45:04Speaker 7: the dresser, listening and peering through his spectacles. Again, from
- 45:08Speaker 7: under a tea cup came those funny little noises.
- 45:11Speaker 3: Tip tap tip tap tick tub dep.
- 45:16Speaker 7: This is very peculiar, said the tailor of Bluster, and
- 45:19Speaker 7: he lifted at the tea cup, which was upside down.
- 45:23Speaker 7: Art stepped a little live lady mouse and made a
- 45:26Speaker 7: curtsey to the tailor. Then she hopped away down off
- 45:29Speaker 7: the dresser and under the wainscirt. The tailor sat down
- 45:32Speaker 7: again by the fire, warming his poor cold hands and
- 45:36Speaker 7: mumbling to himself. Horstcats cut out from peach colored satin,
- 45:41Speaker 7: tamba stitch and rose buds in beautiful floss silk. Oh,
- 45:46Speaker 7: was I wise to entrust my last fourpence to Simpkin
- 45:50Speaker 7: One and twenty button holes of cherry colored twist. But
- 45:54Speaker 7: all at once from the dresser there came other little noises.
- 45:57Speaker 3: Tdap dip, dup t dip.
- 46:02Speaker 7: This is passing extraordinary, said the tailor of Gloucester, and
- 46:06Speaker 7: turned over another teacup, which was upside down. Out stepped
- 46:10Speaker 7: a little gentleman mouse made a bow to the tailor,
- 46:14Speaker 7: And then from all over the dresser came a chorus
- 46:16Speaker 7: of little tappings, all sounding together and answering one another,
- 46:20Speaker 7: like watch beetles in an old worm eaten windows.
- 46:23Speaker 3: Shutter, tip up, tip tup, tip tup, dep and.
- 46:29Speaker 7: Out from under tea cups, and from under bowls and
- 46:32Speaker 7: basins stepped other and more little mice, who hopped away
- 46:35Speaker 7: down off the dresser and under the windskirt. The tailor
- 46:39Speaker 7: sat down close to the fire, lamenting oh. One and
- 46:44Speaker 7: twenty button holes of cherry colored silk to be finished
- 46:49Speaker 7: by noon of Saturday, and this is Tuesday evening. Was
- 46:54Speaker 7: it right to let loose those mice? Undoubtedly the property
- 46:58Speaker 7: of Simpkins, Oh Lak, I am undone, for I have
- 47:03Speaker 7: no more twist. The little mice came out again and
- 47:07Speaker 7: listened to the tailor. They took notice of the pattern
- 47:10Speaker 7: of that wonderful coat. They listened to one another about
- 47:13Speaker 7: the taffert lining, and about little mouse tippets, and then
- 47:18Speaker 7: all at once they all ran away together down the
- 47:20Speaker 7: passage behind the wainscoat, squeaking and calling to one another
- 47:23Speaker 7: as they ran from house to house, and not one
- 47:27Speaker 7: mouse was left in the tailor's kitchen when Simpkin came
- 47:29Speaker 7: back with the pipkin of milk. Simpkin opened the door
- 47:33Speaker 7: and bounced in with an angry wow, like a cat
- 47:37Speaker 7: that is vexed, for he hated the snow, and there
- 47:40Speaker 7: was snow in his ears and snow in his collar
- 47:43Speaker 7: at the back of his neck. He put down the
- 47:45Speaker 7: loaf and the sausages upon the dresser and sniffed. Simpkin
- 47:50Speaker 7: said the tailor, where's my twist? But Simpkin sat down
- 47:55Speaker 7: the pipper and milk upon the dresser and looked suspiciously
- 47:58Speaker 7: at the tea cups. He wanted his supper of little
- 48:01Speaker 7: fat mouse. Simpkin said the tailor, where is my twist?
- 48:07Speaker 7: But Simpkin had a little parcel privately in the teapot,
- 48:10Speaker 7: and spit and growled at the tailor. And if Simpkin
- 48:13Speaker 7: had been able to talk, he would have asked, where
- 48:16Speaker 7: is my mouse? Alack I am undone, said the tailor
- 48:21Speaker 7: of Gloucester, and went sadly to bed. All that night
- 48:26Speaker 7: long Simpkin hunted and searched through the kitchen, peeping into
- 48:29Speaker 7: cupboards and under the wainskirt, and into the teapot we'd
- 48:32Speaker 7: hidden that twist, But still he never found a mouse.
- 48:37Speaker 7: Whenever the tailor muttered and talked in his sleep, Simpkin
- 48:40Speaker 7: went craw and made strange, horrid noises, as cats do
- 48:45Speaker 7: at night. For the poor old tailor was very eel
- 48:50Speaker 7: with a fever, tossing and turning in his forecoast bed,
- 48:54Speaker 7: and still in his dreams he mumbled, ho more twist,
- 48:59Speaker 7: no more twist. All that day he was ill, and
- 49:02Speaker 7: the next day and the next, And what should become
- 49:06Speaker 7: of the cherry colored coat in the tailor's shop in
- 49:09Speaker 7: Westcote Street, The embroidered silk and satin they cut out
- 49:12Speaker 7: upon the table one and twenty button holes, And who
- 49:15Speaker 7: should come to sow them? When the window was barred
- 49:18Speaker 7: and the door was locked, But that does not hinder
- 49:21Speaker 7: the little brown mice. They run in and out without
- 49:24Speaker 7: any keys through all the old houses in Gloucester. Out
- 49:29Speaker 7: of doors. The market folks went trudging through the snow
- 49:31Speaker 7: to buy their geese and turkeys, and to bake their
- 49:33Speaker 7: Christmas pies. But there'd be no Christmas dinner for sinking.
- 49:37Speaker 7: And the poor old tailor of Gloucester. The tailor lay
- 49:41Speaker 7: ill for three days and nights. And when it was
- 49:44Speaker 7: Christmas Eve and very late at night, the moon climbed
- 49:48Speaker 7: up over the roofs and chimneys and looked down over
- 49:50Speaker 7: the gateway into College Court. There were no lights in
- 49:53Speaker 7: the windows, nor any sound in the houses. All the
- 49:57Speaker 7: streets of Gloucester were fast asleep under the snow. And
- 50:02Speaker 7: still Simpkin wanted his mice, and he mewed as he
- 50:05Speaker 7: stood beside the four post bed. But it is in
- 50:09Speaker 7: the old story that all the beasts can talk in
- 50:12Speaker 7: the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the morning,
- 50:15Speaker 7: though there are very few folk that can hear them
- 50:18Speaker 7: or know what it is that they say. When the
- 50:22Speaker 7: cathedral clock stuck twelve, there was an answer, like an
- 50:25Speaker 7: echo of the chimes, and Simpkin heard it, and came
- 50:28Speaker 7: out of the tailor's door and wandered about in the snow.
- 50:33Speaker 7: From all the roofs and gables and old wooden houses
- 50:35Speaker 7: in Gloucester came a thousand merry voices, seeing the old
- 50:38Speaker 7: Christmas rhymes, all the old songs that ever I heard of,
- 50:43Speaker 7: and some that I don't know, like Whittington's bells. First
- 50:47Speaker 7: and loudest, the cocks cried out, Dame, get up and
- 50:52Speaker 7: bake your pies. Oh dilly, dilly, dilly, sighed Simpkin. And
- 50:57Speaker 7: now in a garret there were lights and sounds of dancing,
- 51:00Speaker 7: and cats came from over the way.
- 51:02Speaker 3: Hey, little little the cat the.
- 51:04Speaker 7: Fiddle, All the cats in Gloucester except me, said Simpkin.
- 51:09Speaker 7: Under the wooden eaves, the starlings and sparrows sang of
- 51:12Speaker 7: Christmas pies. The jack doors woke up in the cathedral tower,
- 51:17Speaker 7: and although it was the middle of the night, the
- 51:19Speaker 7: throstles and robins sang. The air was quite full of
- 51:22Speaker 7: little twittering tunes. But it was all rather provoking to
- 51:27Speaker 7: poor hungry Simpkin particularly, he was vexed with some little
- 51:32Speaker 7: shrill voices from behind a wooden lattice. I think they
- 51:35Speaker 7: were bats, because they always have very small voices, especially
- 51:39Speaker 7: in a black frost, when they talk in their sleep.
- 51:42Speaker 7: Like the tailor of Gloucester. They said something mysterious that
- 51:46Speaker 7: sounded like bus quoth the blue fly, hum quoth the bee.
- 51:51Speaker 7: Buzz and hum, they cry, and so do we. And
- 51:54Speaker 7: Simpkin went away, shaking his ears as if he had
- 51:57Speaker 7: a bee in his bonnet. From the tailor's shopping westcat
- 52:01Speaker 7: came a glow of light, and when Simpkin crept up
- 52:04Speaker 7: to peep in at the window, twas full of candles.
- 52:07Speaker 7: There was a snippeting of scissors and snappeting of thread,
- 52:10Speaker 7: and little mouse voices sang loudly and gaily four and
- 52:14Speaker 7: twenty tailors went to catch a snail.
- 52:16Speaker 9: Best man amongst them, dost not touch her tail? She
- 52:20Speaker 9: put out her horns like a little kind of cove.
- 52:23Speaker 9: Run tailors run, or shall have you all in now? Then,
- 52:27Speaker 9: without a pause, little voice sus went on again, Sif
- 52:32Speaker 9: my ladies oat mlk gone, my lady's flower, put it
- 52:35Speaker 9: in her chestnut. Let it stander now, interrupted Simpkin, and
- 52:41Speaker 9: he scratched at the door, but the key was under
- 52:43Speaker 9: the tailor's pillow, and he could not get in. The
- 52:46Speaker 9: little mice only laughed and tried another tune.
- 52:50Speaker 7: Three little mice set down to spin. Pussy passed by,
- 52:54Speaker 7: and she peeped in. What are you at, my little
- 52:56Speaker 7: fine men making coats for gentlemen? Will I come in
- 53:00Speaker 7: and cut off your threads? Oh no, miss Pussy, you'd
- 53:03Speaker 7: bite off our heads, cried simpkin. Here you'll dear nitty,
- 53:11Speaker 7: answered the little mice.
- 53:12Speaker 10: Here, little dickitty bobbity pet merchants of London, they wear
- 53:16Speaker 10: scarlet soak in the collar.
- 53:18Speaker 7: And gold in the hem. So merrily marchreth the merchantmen.
- 53:22Speaker 7: They clicked their thimbles to march the time, but none
- 53:25Speaker 7: of the songs, please Simpkin. A sniff commwed at the
- 53:27Speaker 7: door of the shop.
- 53:29Speaker 10: And then I bought a pickin and a popkin, a
- 53:31Speaker 10: slipkin under stopkin, all for one farthing.
- 53:35Speaker 7: Hand upon the kitchen dresser added the rude little mice.
- 53:39Speaker 3: Ah trash scratch.
- 53:42Speaker 7: Scuffled Simpkin on the window sill, while the little mice
- 53:45Speaker 7: inside sprang to their feet, and all began to shout
- 53:48Speaker 7: at once and little twittering voices. No b twist, no
- 53:51Speaker 7: go twist, and they barred at the window shutters and
- 53:54Speaker 7: shut out Simpkin. But still through the nicks in the
- 53:57Speaker 7: shutters he could hear the click of slimbles and the
- 54:00Speaker 7: mouse voices singing, no mo twist, No mo twist. Simpkin
- 54:05Speaker 7: came away from the shop and went home, considering in
- 54:08Speaker 7: his mind. He found the poor old tailor, without fever,
- 54:12Speaker 7: sleeping peacefully. Then Simpkin went on tiptoe and took a
- 54:16Speaker 7: little parcel of silk out of the teapot and looked
- 54:19Speaker 7: at it in the moonlight, and he felt quite ashamed
- 54:22Speaker 7: of his badness compared with those good little mice. When
- 54:26Speaker 7: the tailor awoke in the morning, the first thing which
- 54:29Speaker 7: he saw upon the patchwork quilk was a skein of
- 54:31Speaker 7: jelly colored twisted silk, And beside his bed stood the
- 54:35Speaker 7: repentant Simpkin.
- 54:37Speaker 2: A lack.
- 54:38Speaker 7: I am onto a raveling, said the tailor of Gloucester.
- 54:41Speaker 3: But I have my twist.
- 54:44Speaker 7: The sun was shining on the snow, and the tailor
- 54:46Speaker 7: got up and dressed and came out into the street,
- 54:48Speaker 7: with Simpkin running before him. The starlings whistled on the
- 54:52Speaker 7: chimney stacks, and the throstles and robins sang, but they
- 54:55Speaker 7: sang their own little noises, not the words they had
- 54:58Speaker 7: sung in the night. A lack, said the tailor. I
- 55:03Speaker 7: haven't my twist, but no more strength nor time than
- 55:06Speaker 7: will serve to make me one single button hole. For
- 55:09Speaker 7: this is Christmas Day in the morning. The Mare of
- 55:12Speaker 7: Gloucester should be married by noon. And where is his
- 55:15Speaker 7: cherry colored coat? He unlocked the door of the little
- 55:19Speaker 7: shop in Westcot Street, and Simkin ran in like a
- 55:21Speaker 7: cat that expects something. But there was no one there,
- 55:25Speaker 7: not even one little brown mouse. The boards were swept clean,
- 55:30Speaker 7: the little ends of thread and little silk snippets were
- 55:32Speaker 7: all tidied away and gone from off the floor. But
- 55:36Speaker 7: upon the table, oh joy, the tailor gave a shout.
- 55:41Speaker 7: There where he had left plain cuttings of silk, there
- 55:44Speaker 7: lay the most beautifulest coat, an embroidered satin waistcoat that
- 55:48Speaker 7: were ever worn by a mare of Gloucester. There were
- 55:52Speaker 7: roses and pansies upon the facing of the coat, and
- 55:55Speaker 7: the waistcoat was worked with poppies and corn flowers. Everything
- 55:59Speaker 7: was finished except just one single cherry colored buttonhole. And
- 56:04Speaker 7: where that button hole was wanting there was pinned a
- 56:06Speaker 7: scrap of paper with these words in little tiny weeny writing,
- 56:12Speaker 7: no more twist. And from then began the luck of
- 56:16Speaker 7: the tailor of Gloucester. He grew quite stout, and he
- 56:20Speaker 7: grew quite rich. He made the most wonderful waistcoats for
- 56:23Speaker 7: all the merchants of Gloucester, and for all the fine
- 56:26Speaker 7: gentlemen of the country round. Never was seen such ruffles,
- 56:30Speaker 7: or such embroidered cuffs and lappets. But his button holes
- 56:34Speaker 7: were the greatest triumph of all. The stitches of those
- 56:37Speaker 7: buttonholes were so neat, so neat, I wonder how they
- 56:42Speaker 7: could be stitched by an old man in spectacles, with
- 56:45Speaker 7: crooked old fingers and the tailor's thimble. The stitches of
- 56:49Speaker 7: those button holes were so small, so small, they looked
- 56:54Speaker 7: as say, had been made by little mice.
- 56:58Speaker 11: The end the Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter.
- 57:04Speaker 11: One morning, a little rabbit sat on a bank. He
- 57:07Speaker 11: pricked his ears and listened to the trit trot, trit
- 57:10Speaker 11: trot of a pony. A gig was coming along the road.
- 57:15Speaker 11: It was driven by mister mc gregor, and beside him
- 57:17Speaker 11: sat Missus mc gregor, in her best bonnet. As soon
- 57:21Speaker 11: as they had passed, Little Benjamin Bunny slid down into
- 57:24Speaker 11: the road and set off with a hop, skip and
- 57:27Speaker 11: a jump to call upon his relations who lived in
- 57:30Speaker 11: the wood at the back of mister McGregor's garden. That
- 57:33Speaker 11: wood was full of rabbit holes, and in the neatest,
- 57:36Speaker 11: sandiest hole of all lived Benjamin's aunt and his cousins Flopsy, Mopsy,
- 57:41Speaker 11: Cotton Tail and Peter. Old missus Rabbit was a widow.
- 57:45Speaker 11: She earned her living by knitting rabbit wool mittens and muffeties.
- 57:49Speaker 11: I once bought a pair at a bazaar. She also
- 57:52Speaker 11: sold herbs and rosemary tea, and rabbit tobacco, which is
- 57:56Speaker 11: what we call lavender. Little Benjamin did not very much
- 58:00Speaker 11: on to see his aunt. He came round the back
- 58:02Speaker 11: of the fir tree and nearly tumbled upon the top
- 58:05Speaker 11: of his cousin Peter. Peter was sitting by himself. He
- 58:08Speaker 11: looked poorly and was dressed in a red cotton pocket handkerchief.
- 58:13Speaker 11: Peter said Little Benjamin in a whisper, who has got
- 58:16Speaker 11: your clothes? Peter replied the scarecrow in mister McGregor's garden
- 58:22Speaker 11: and described how he'd been chased about the garden and
- 58:24Speaker 11: had dropped his shoes and coat. Little Benjamin sat down
- 58:28Speaker 11: beside his cousin and assured him that mister McGregor had
- 58:31Speaker 11: gone out in a gig, and Missus McGregor also certainly
- 58:34Speaker 11: for the day, because she was wearing her best bonnet.
- 58:38Speaker 11: Peter said he hoped that.
- 58:39Speaker 12: It would rain.
- 58:40Speaker 11: At this point, Old Missus Rabbit's voice was heard inside
- 58:43Speaker 11: the rabbit hole, calling cottontail, cotton Tail, fetch some more
- 58:48Speaker 11: camer mile. Peter said he thought he might feel better
- 58:51Speaker 11: if he went for a walk. They went away hand
- 58:54Speaker 11: in hand and got upon the flat top of the
- 58:56Speaker 11: wall at the bottom of the wood. From here they
- 58:59Speaker 11: looked down into mister McGregor's garden. Peter's coat and shoes
- 59:03Speaker 11: were plainly to be seen upon the scarecrow, topped with
- 59:06Speaker 11: an old Tamo shanter of mister McGregor's. Little Benjamin said
- 59:10Speaker 11: it spoils people's clothes to squeeze under a gate. The
- 59:13Speaker 11: proper way to get in is to climb down a
- 59:15Speaker 11: pear tree. Peter fell down head first, but it was
- 59:19Speaker 11: of no consequence, as the bed below was newly raked
- 59:21Speaker 11: and quite soft. It had been sown with lettuces. They
- 59:26Speaker 11: left a great many odd little footmarks all over the bed,
- 59:29Speaker 11: especially little Benjamin, who was wearing clogs. Little Benjamin said
- 59:34Speaker 11: that the first thing to be done was to get
- 59:35Speaker 11: back Peter's clothes in order that they might be able
- 59:38Speaker 11: to use the pocket handkerchief. They took them off the scarecrow.
- 59:42Speaker 11: They had been rained during the night. There was water
- 59:45Speaker 11: in the shoes, and the coat was somewhat shrunk. Benjamin
- 59:49Speaker 11: tried on the tam O shanter, but it was too
- 59:51Speaker 11: big for him. Then he suggested that they should fill
- 59:54Speaker 11: the pocket handkerchief with onions as a little present for
- 59:56Speaker 11: his aunt. Peter did not seem to be enjoying himse
- 1:00:00Speaker 11: he kept hearing noises. Benjamin, on the contrary, was perfectly
- 1:00:04Speaker 11: at home and yet at let us sleep. He said
- 1:00:07Speaker 11: that he was in the habit of coming to the
- 1:00:09Speaker 11: garden with his father to get lettuces for their Sunday dinner.
- 1:00:12Speaker 11: The name of little Benjamin's papa was old mister Benjamin Bunny.
- 1:00:16Speaker 11: The lettuces certainly were very fine. Peter did not eat anything.
- 1:00:21Speaker 11: He said he should like to go home. Presently, he
- 1:00:23Speaker 11: dropped half the onions. Little Benjamin said that it was
- 1:00:27Speaker 11: not possible to get back up the pear tree with
- 1:00:29Speaker 11: a load of vegetables. He led the way boldly towards
- 1:00:32Speaker 11: the other end of the garden. They went along a
- 1:00:34Speaker 11: little walk and planks under a sunny red brick wall.
- 1:00:38Speaker 11: The mice sat on their doorsteps, cracking cherry stones. They
- 1:00:41Speaker 11: winked at Peter Rabbit and little Benjamin bunny. Presently Peter
- 1:00:45Speaker 11: let the pocket handkerchief go again. They got amongst flower
- 1:00:48Speaker 11: pots and frames and tubs. Peter heard noises worse than ever.
- 1:00:53Speaker 11: His eyes were as big as lollipops. He was a
- 1:00:55Speaker 11: step or two in front of his cousin when he
- 1:00:57Speaker 11: suddenly stopped. This is those little rabbits saw around that corner.
- 1:01:02Speaker 11: Little Benjamin took one look, and then in half a
- 1:01:06Speaker 11: minute less than no time, he hid himself and Peter
- 1:01:08Speaker 11: and the onions underneath a large blanket. The cat got
- 1:01:12Speaker 11: up and stretched herself and came and sniffed at the basket.
- 1:01:17Speaker 11: Perhaps she liked the smell of onions. Anyway, she sat
- 1:01:20Speaker 11: down upon the top of the basket. She sat there
- 1:01:24Speaker 11: for five hours. I cannot draw you a picture of
- 1:01:28Speaker 11: Peter and Benjamin underneath the basket because it was quite dark,
- 1:01:31Speaker 11: and because the smell of onions was fearful, it made
- 1:01:34Speaker 11: Peter Rabbit and little Benjamin cry. The sun got round
- 1:01:38Speaker 11: behind the wood, and it was quite late in the afternoon,
- 1:01:41Speaker 11: but still the cat sat upon the basket at length.
- 1:01:45Speaker 11: There was atter, pitter patter, and some bits of mortar
- 1:01:48Speaker 11: fell from the wall above. The cat looked up and
- 1:01:51Speaker 11: saw old mister Benjamin Bunny prancing along the top of
- 1:01:54Speaker 11: the wall of the upper terrace. He was smoking a
- 1:01:57Speaker 11: pipe of rabbit tobacco and had a little switch hand.
- 1:02:01Speaker 11: He was looking for his son. Old mister Bunny had
- 1:02:05Speaker 11: no opinion whatever of cats. He took a tremendous jump
- 1:02:08Speaker 11: off the top of the wall on to the top
- 1:02:09Speaker 11: of the cat and cuffed it off the basket and
- 1:02:12Speaker 11: kicked it into the greenhouse, scratching off a handful of fur.
- 1:02:16Speaker 11: The cat was too much surprised to scratch back. When
- 1:02:19Speaker 11: old mister Bunny had driven the cat into the greenhouse,
- 1:02:22Speaker 11: he locked the door. Then he came back to the
- 1:02:24Speaker 11: basket and took out his son Benjamin by the ears
- 1:02:27Speaker 11: and whipped him with the little switch. Then he took
- 1:02:30Speaker 11: out his nephew Peter. Then he took out the handkerchief
- 1:02:33Speaker 11: of onions and marched out of the garden. When mister
- 1:02:36Speaker 11: McGregor returned about half an hour later, he observed several
- 1:02:40Speaker 11: things which perplexed him. It looked as though some person
- 1:02:43Speaker 11: had been walking all over the garden in a pair
- 1:02:45Speaker 11: of clogs, only the footmarks were too ridiculously little. Also,
- 1:02:51Speaker 11: he could not understand how the cat could have managed
- 1:02:53Speaker 11: to shut herself up inside the greenhouse, locking the door
- 1:02:57Speaker 11: upon the outside. When Peter got home, his mother forgave
- 1:03:00Speaker 11: him because she was so glad to see that he
- 1:03:02Speaker 11: had found his shoes and coat, cottontail, and Peter folded
- 1:03:06Speaker 11: up the pocket handkerchief, and old Missus Rabbits strung up
- 1:03:09Speaker 11: the onions and hung them from the kitchen ceiling.
- 1:03:15Speaker 6: Jemima Puddle Duck a farmyard tail for Ralph and Betsy.
- 1:03:21Speaker 6: What a funny side it is to see a brood
- 1:03:23Speaker 6: of ducklings with a hen. Listen to the story of
- 1:03:26Speaker 6: Jemima puddle Duck, who was annoyed because the farmer's wife
- 1:03:31Speaker 6: would not let her hatch her own eggs. Her sister
- 1:03:35Speaker 6: in law, Missus Burbeca puddle Duck, was perfectly willing to
- 1:03:38Speaker 6: leave the hatchling to someone else. I have not the
- 1:03:42Speaker 6: patience to sit on a nest for twenty eight days,
- 1:03:45Speaker 6: and no more have you, Jemima. You would let them
- 1:03:48Speaker 6: go cold, you know you would. I wish to hatch
- 1:03:51Speaker 6: my own eggs. I will hatch them by myself. Quack,
- 1:03:54Speaker 6: Jemima puddle duck. She tried to hide her eggs, but
- 1:03:58Speaker 6: they were always found and carerried off. Jemima puddle Duck
- 1:04:02Speaker 6: became quite desperate. She determined to make a nest right
- 1:04:06Speaker 6: away from the farm. She set off on a fine
- 1:04:09Speaker 6: spring afternoon along the cart road that leads over the hill.
- 1:04:13Speaker 6: She was wearing a shawl and a poke bonnet. When
- 1:04:16Speaker 6: she reached the top of the hill, she saw a
- 1:04:19Speaker 6: wood in the distance. She thought that it looked a
- 1:04:22Speaker 6: safe quiet spot. Jemima puddle Duck was not much in
- 1:04:25Speaker 6: the habit of flying. She ran downhill a few yards,
- 1:04:29Speaker 6: flapping her shawl, and then she jumped off into the air.
- 1:04:32Speaker 6: She flew beautifully. When she had got a good start,
- 1:04:36Speaker 6: she skimmed along over the tree tops until she saw
- 1:04:39Speaker 6: an open place in the middle of the wood where
- 1:04:42Speaker 6: the trees and brushwood had been cleared. Jemima alighted rather
- 1:04:46Speaker 6: heavily and began to waddle about in search of a
- 1:04:49Speaker 6: convenient dry nesting place. She rather fancied a tree stump
- 1:04:53Speaker 6: amongst the tall foxgloves, but seated upon the stump, she
- 1:04:58Speaker 6: was startled to find an elegantly dressed gentlemen reading a newspaper.
- 1:05:02Speaker 6: He had black prick ears and sandy colored whiskers. Quack,
- 1:05:07Speaker 6: said Jemima, puddle duck with her head and her bonnet
- 1:05:10Speaker 6: on the one side.
- 1:05:11Speaker 12: Quack.
- 1:05:13Speaker 6: The gentleman raised his eyes above the newspaper and looked
- 1:05:16Speaker 6: curiously at Jemima. Madam, Have you lost your way? Said he.
- 1:05:22Speaker 6: He had a long bushy tail, which he was sitting upon,
- 1:05:25Speaker 6: as the stump was somewhat damp. Jemima thought him mighty
- 1:05:29Speaker 6: civil and handsome. She explained that she had not lost
- 1:05:33Speaker 6: her way, but she was trying to find a convenient
- 1:05:35Speaker 6: dry nesting place. Ah is that so? Indeed, said the
- 1:05:40Speaker 6: gentleman with the sandy whiskers, Looking curiously at Jemima. He
- 1:05:44Speaker 6: folded up the newspaper and put it in his coattail pocket.
- 1:05:48Speaker 6: Jemima complained of the superfluous hen. Indeed, how interesting I
- 1:05:54Speaker 6: wish I could meet with that fowl, I would teach
- 1:05:57Speaker 6: it to mind its own business. But as to there
- 1:06:01Speaker 6: is no difficulty. I have a sack full of feathers
- 1:06:04Speaker 6: in my wood shed.
- 1:06:05Speaker 12: No, my dear.
- 1:06:06Speaker 6: Madam, you will be in nobody's way. You may sit
- 1:06:09Speaker 6: there as long as you like, said the bushy long
- 1:06:12Speaker 6: tailed gentleman. He led the way to a very retired,
- 1:06:16Speaker 6: dismal looking house amongst the foxgloves. He was built of
- 1:06:20Speaker 6: faggots and turf, and there were two broken pails, one
- 1:06:24Speaker 6: on top of another by way of a chimney. This
- 1:06:27Speaker 6: is my summer residence. You would not find my earth
- 1:06:31Speaker 6: my winter house so convenient, said the hospitable gentleman. Here
- 1:06:36Speaker 6: was a tumble down shed at the back of a
- 1:06:38Speaker 6: house made of old soap boxes. The gentleman opened the
- 1:06:42Speaker 6: door and showed Jemima in. The shed was almost quite
- 1:06:46Speaker 6: full of feathers. It was almost suffocating, but it was
- 1:06:49Speaker 6: comfortable and very soft. Jemima puddle Duck was rather surprised
- 1:06:54Speaker 6: to find such a vast quantity of feathers, but it
- 1:06:57Speaker 6: was very comfortable, and she met a nest without any
- 1:06:59Speaker 6: trouble at all. When she came out, the sandy whiskered
- 1:07:03Speaker 6: gentleman was sitting on a log reading the newspaper. At
- 1:07:06Speaker 6: least he had spread it out, but he was looking
- 1:07:08Speaker 6: over the top of it. He was so polite that
- 1:07:11Speaker 6: he seemed almost sorry to let Jemima go home for
- 1:07:14Speaker 6: the night. He promised to take great care of her
- 1:07:17Speaker 6: nest until she came back again the next day. He
- 1:07:21Speaker 6: said he loved eggs and ducklings. He should be proud
- 1:07:24Speaker 6: to see a fine nest in his woodshed. Jemima Puddle
- 1:07:28Speaker 6: duck came every afternoon. She laid nine eggs in the nest.
- 1:07:32Speaker 6: They were greeny white, and very large. The foxy gentleman
- 1:07:36Speaker 6: admired them immensely. He used to turn them over and
- 1:07:40Speaker 6: count them when Jemima was not there. At last, Jemima
- 1:07:44Speaker 6: told him that she intended to begin to sit the
- 1:07:46Speaker 6: next day. And I will bring a bag of corn
- 1:07:49Speaker 6: with me, so that I need never leave my nest
- 1:07:51Speaker 6: until the eggs are hatched. They might catch cold, said
- 1:07:55Speaker 6: the conscientious Jemima. Madam, I beg of you not to
- 1:07:59Speaker 6: trouble yourself with it. I will provide you oats. But
- 1:08:02Speaker 6: before you commence your tedious sitting, I intend to give
- 1:08:06Speaker 6: you a treat. Let us have a dinner party all
- 1:08:08Speaker 6: to ourselves. May I ask you to bring up some
- 1:08:12Speaker 6: herbs from the farm garden to make a savory omelet,
- 1:08:15Speaker 6: sage and thyme and mint, and two onions and some parsley.
- 1:08:19Speaker 6: I will provide lard for the stuff. Lard for the omelet,
- 1:08:24Speaker 6: said the hospitable gentleman with the sandy whiskers. Jemima puddle
- 1:08:28Speaker 6: Duck was a simpleton. Not even the mention of sage
- 1:08:31Speaker 6: and onions made her suspicious. She went round the farm
- 1:08:34Speaker 6: garden nibbling off snippets of all the different sorts of
- 1:08:37Speaker 6: herbs that are used for stuffing a roast duck. And
- 1:08:40Speaker 6: she waddled in the kitchen and got two onions out
- 1:08:43Speaker 6: of a basket. The collie dog Kep met her, coming out.
- 1:08:47Speaker 6: What are you doing with those onions? Where do you
- 1:08:50Speaker 6: go ever afternoon? By yourself, Jemima puddle Duck. Jemma was
- 1:08:54Speaker 6: brother in awe of the collie. She told him the
- 1:08:56Speaker 6: whole story. The collie listened with his wise head on
- 1:09:00Speaker 6: one side. He grinned when she described the polite gentleman
- 1:09:03Speaker 6: with the sandy whiskers. He asked several questions about the
- 1:09:06Speaker 6: wood and the exact position of the house and shed.
- 1:09:10Speaker 6: Then he went out and trotted down the village. He
- 1:09:12Speaker 6: went to look for the two foxhound puppies. They were
- 1:09:15Speaker 6: out at walk with the butcher. Jemima puddle Duck went
- 1:09:19Speaker 6: up the cart road for the last time on a
- 1:09:21Speaker 6: sunny afternoon. She was rather burdened with bunches of herbs
- 1:09:25Speaker 6: and two onions in a bag. She flew over the
- 1:09:28Speaker 6: wood and alighted opposite the house of the bushy long
- 1:09:31Speaker 6: tailed gentleman. He was sitting on a log. He sniffed
- 1:09:35Speaker 6: the air and kept glancing uneasily round the wood. When
- 1:09:38Speaker 6: Jemima alighted, he quite jumped. Come into the house, as
- 1:09:42Speaker 6: soon as you have looked at your eggs, give me
- 1:09:44Speaker 6: the herbs for the omelet be sharp. He was rather abrupt.
- 1:09:48Speaker 6: Jemima puddle Duck had never heard him speak like that.
- 1:09:51Speaker 6: She felt surprised and uncomfortable. While she was inside, she
- 1:09:55Speaker 6: heard pattering of feet around the back of the shed.
- 1:09:59Speaker 6: Someone with a big black black notes sniffed at the
- 1:10:01Speaker 6: bottom of the door and then locked it. Jemima became
- 1:10:04Speaker 6: much alarmed. A moment afterward, their were most awful noises
- 1:10:09Speaker 6: barking baying, growls and howls, squealing and groans, and nothing
- 1:10:15Speaker 6: more was ever seen of that foxy whiskered gentleman. Presently,
- 1:10:19Speaker 6: kep opened the door of the shed and let out
- 1:10:22Speaker 6: Jemima puddle Duck. Unfortunately, the puppies rushed in and gobbled
- 1:10:26Speaker 6: up all the eggs before he could stop them. He
- 1:10:29Speaker 6: had a bite on his ear, and both the puppies
- 1:10:31Speaker 6: were limping. Jemima Puddle Duck was escorted home in tears
- 1:10:35Speaker 6: on account of those eggs. She laid some more in June,
- 1:10:38Speaker 6: and she was permitted to keep them herself, but only
- 1:10:41Speaker 6: four of them hatched. Jemima puddluck said it was because
- 1:10:44Speaker 6: of her nerves, but she had always been a bad sitter.
- 1:10:51Speaker 6: The end of the Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck.
- 1:10:56Speaker 13: Once upon a time there was a frog called mister
- 1:11:00Speaker 13: Jeremy Fisher. He lived in a little damp house amongst
- 1:11:04Speaker 13: the buttercups at the edge of a pond. The water
- 1:11:09Speaker 13: was all slippy, sloppy in the larder and in the
- 1:11:12Speaker 13: back passage, but mister Jeremy liked getting his feet wet.
- 1:11:17Speaker 13: Nobody ever scolded him, and he never caught a cold.
- 1:11:22Speaker 13: He was quite pleased when he looked out and saw
- 1:11:25Speaker 13: large drops of rain splashing in the pond.
- 1:11:29Speaker 12: I will get some worms and go fishing and catch
- 1:11:33Speaker 12: a dish of minnows for my.
- 1:11:34Speaker 13: Dinner, said mister Jeremy fisher. If I catch more than
- 1:11:40Speaker 13: five fish, I will invite my friends mister Alderman, Ptolemy Tortoise,
- 1:11:45Speaker 13: and Sir Isaac Newton. The Aldermen, however, eat salad. Mister
- 1:11:52Speaker 13: Jeremy put on a macintosh and a pair of shiny goloshes.
- 1:11:56Speaker 13: He took his rod and basket and set off with
- 1:11:59Speaker 13: enough dormous hops to the place where he kept his boat.
- 1:12:03Speaker 13: The boat was round and green, and very like the
- 1:12:07Speaker 13: other lily leaves. It was tied to a water plant
- 1:12:11Speaker 13: in the middle of the pond. Mister Jeremy took a
- 1:12:15Speaker 13: reed pole and pushed the boat out into open water.
- 1:12:19Speaker 12: I know a good place for minnows.
- 1:12:22Speaker 13: Said mister Jeremy fisher. Mister Jeremy stuck his pole into
- 1:12:26Speaker 13: the mud and fastened the boat to it. Then he
- 1:12:30Speaker 13: settled himself cross legged and arranged his fishing tackle. He
- 1:12:35Speaker 13: had the dearest little red float. His rod was a
- 1:12:39Speaker 13: tough stalk of grass. His line was a fine, long
- 1:12:43Speaker 13: white horsehair, and he tied a little wriggling worm at
- 1:12:48Speaker 13: the end. The rain trickled down his back, and for
- 1:12:52Speaker 13: nearly an hour he stared at the float.
- 1:12:56Speaker 12: This is getting tiresome. I think I should like some.
- 1:13:00Speaker 13: Un said mister Jeremy Fisher. He punted back again amongst
- 1:13:05Speaker 13: the water plants and took some lunch out of his basket.
- 1:13:10Speaker 12: I will eat a butterfly sandwich and wait till the
- 1:13:14Speaker 12: shower is over, said mister Jeremy Fisher.
- 1:13:19Speaker 13: A great big water beetle came up underneath the lily
- 1:13:22Speaker 13: leaf and tweaked the toe of one of his galoshes.
- 1:13:27Speaker 13: Mister Jeremy crossed his legs up shorter out of reach,
- 1:13:31Speaker 13: and went on eating his sandwich. Once or twice something
- 1:13:36Speaker 13: moved about with a rustle and a splash amongst the
- 1:13:39Speaker 13: rushes at the side of the pond. I trust that
- 1:13:43Speaker 13: is not a rat, said mister Jeremy Fisher.
- 1:13:47Speaker 12: I think I had better get away from here.
- 1:13:50Speaker 13: Mister Jeremy shoved the boat out again a little way
- 1:13:53Speaker 13: and dropped in the bait. There was a bite almost
- 1:13:57Speaker 13: directly the float gave a tremendous.
- 1:13:59Speaker 12: Bobbit amno amnno, I have him by the nose.
- 1:14:05Speaker 13: Cried mister Jeremy Fisher, jerking up his rod. But what
- 1:14:09Speaker 13: a horrible surprise. Instead of a smooth, fat minnow, mister
- 1:14:16Speaker 13: Jeremy landed little jack sharp, the stickleback covered with spines.
- 1:14:24Speaker 13: The stickleback floundered about the boat, pricking and snapping until
- 1:14:28Speaker 13: he was quite out of breath. Then he jumped back
- 1:14:31Speaker 13: into the water. And a shoal of other little fishes
- 1:14:35Speaker 13: put their heads out and laughed at mister Jeremy Fisher.
- 1:14:40Speaker 13: And while mister Jeremy sat disconsolately on the edge of
- 1:14:44Speaker 13: his boat, sucking his sore fingers and peering down into
- 1:14:47Speaker 13: the water, a much worse thing happened, A really frightful
- 1:14:53Speaker 13: thing it would have been if mister Jeremy had not
- 1:14:56Speaker 13: been wearing a macintosh. A great, big, enormous trout came
- 1:15:03Speaker 13: up ker fluff with a splash, and it seized mister
- 1:15:08Speaker 13: Jeremy with a snap ah ah ah, And then it
- 1:15:14Speaker 13: turned and dived down to the bottom of the pond.
- 1:15:18Speaker 13: But the trout was so displeased with the taste of
- 1:15:21Speaker 13: the macintosh that in less than half a minute it
- 1:15:25Speaker 13: spat him out again, and the only thing it swallowed
- 1:15:29Speaker 13: was mister Jeremy's galoshes. Mister Jeremy bounced up to the
- 1:15:34Speaker 13: surface of the water like a cork and the bubbles
- 1:15:37Speaker 13: out of a soda water bottle, and he swam with
- 1:15:40Speaker 13: all his might to the edge of the pond. He
- 1:15:44Speaker 13: scrambled out on the first bank he came to, and
- 1:15:47Speaker 13: he hopped home across the meadow with his macintosh all
- 1:15:51Speaker 13: in tatters. What a mercy that was not a pike,
- 1:15:56Speaker 13: said mister Jeremy fisher. I have lost my rod and back,
- 1:16:00Speaker 13: but it does not much matter, for I'm sure I
- 1:16:03Speaker 13: should never have dared to go fishing again. He put
- 1:16:08Speaker 13: some sticking plaster on his fingers, and his friends both
- 1:16:11Speaker 13: came to dinner. He could not offer them fish, but
- 1:16:15Speaker 13: he had something else in his larder. Sir Isaac Newton
- 1:16:20Speaker 13: wore his black and gold waistcoat, and mister Alderman Ptolemy
- 1:16:24Speaker 13: Tortoise brought a salad with him in a string bag,
- 1:16:28Speaker 13: and instead of a nice dish of minnows, they had
- 1:16:31Speaker 13: a roasted grasshopper with ladybird sauce, which frogs consider a
- 1:16:36Speaker 13: beautiful treat. But I think it must have been nasty.
- 1:16:42Speaker 14: The Tale of Mister Todd for William Francis of Ulva.
- 1:16:51Speaker 14: I have made many books about well behaved people. Now,
- 1:16:56Speaker 14: for a change, I am going to make a story
- 1:16:59Speaker 14: about two disagreeable people called Tommy Brock and mister Todd.
- 1:17:08Speaker 14: Nobody could call mister Tod nice. The rabbits could not
- 1:17:13Speaker 14: bear him. They could smell him half a mile off.
- 1:17:18Speaker 14: He was of a wandering habit, and he had foxy whiskers.
- 1:17:23Speaker 14: They never knew where he would be next. One day
- 1:17:29Speaker 14: he was living in a stickhouse in the coppice or grove,
- 1:17:33Speaker 14: causing terror to the family of old mister Benjamin Bouncer.
- 1:17:39Speaker 14: Next day he moved into a pollard willow near the lake,
- 1:17:43Speaker 14: frightening the wild ducks and the water rats. In winter
- 1:17:49Speaker 14: and early spring, he might generally be found in an
- 1:17:53Speaker 14: earth amongst the rocks at the top of bull Banks
- 1:17:56Speaker 14: under Oatmeal Crag. He had half a dozen houses, but
- 1:18:02Speaker 14: he was seldom at home. The houses were not always
- 1:18:08Speaker 14: empty when mister Todd moved out, because sometimes Tommy Brock
- 1:18:12Speaker 14: moved in without asking leave. Tommy Brock was a short,
- 1:18:19Speaker 14: briskly fat, waddling person with a grin he grinned all
- 1:18:24Speaker 14: over his face. He was not nice in his habits.
- 1:18:29Speaker 14: He ate wasp nests and frogs and worms, and he
- 1:18:33Speaker 14: waddled about by moonlight digging things up. His clothes were
- 1:18:39Speaker 14: very dirty, and as he slept in the daytime, he
- 1:18:43Speaker 14: always went to bed in his boots, and the bed
- 1:18:47Speaker 14: which he went to bed in was generally mister Todd's.
- 1:18:52Speaker 14: Now Tommy Brock did occasionally eat rabbit pie, but it
- 1:18:57Speaker 14: was only very little young ones occasionally when other food
- 1:19:01Speaker 14: was really scarce. He was friendly with old mister Bouncer.
- 1:19:07Speaker 14: They agreed in disliking the wicked Otters and mister Todd.
- 1:19:12Speaker 14: They often talked over that painful subject. Old mister Bouncer
- 1:19:19Speaker 14: was stricken in years. He sat in the spring sunshine
- 1:19:23Speaker 14: outside the burrow in a muffler, smoking a pipe of
- 1:19:28Speaker 14: rabbit tobacco. He lived with his son Benjamin Bunny and
- 1:19:33Speaker 14: his daughter in law, Flopsy, who had a young family.
- 1:19:38Speaker 14: Old mister Bouncer was in charge of the family that
- 1:19:41Speaker 14: afternoon because Benjamin and Flopsy had gone out. The little
- 1:19:46Speaker 14: rabbit babies were just old enough to open their blue
- 1:19:50Speaker 14: eyes and kick. They lay in a fluffy bed of
- 1:19:54Speaker 14: rabbit wool and hay in a shallow burrow separated from
- 1:19:58Speaker 14: the main rabbit hole. To tell the truth, Old mister
- 1:20:02Speaker 14: Bouncer had forgotten them. He sat in the sun and
- 1:20:06Speaker 14: conversed cordially with Tommy Brock, who was passing through the
- 1:20:10Speaker 14: wood with a sack and a little spud which he
- 1:20:12Speaker 14: used for digging, and some mole traps. He complained bitterly
- 1:20:17Speaker 14: about the scarcity of pheasants eggs and accused mister Todd
- 1:20:21Speaker 14: of poaching them, and the otters had cleared off all
- 1:20:25Speaker 14: the frogs while he was asleep in winter. I have
- 1:20:29Speaker 14: not had a good square meal for a fortnight. I'm
- 1:20:33Speaker 14: living on pig nuts. I shall have to turn vegetarian
- 1:20:37Speaker 14: and eat my own tail, said Tommy Brock. It was
- 1:20:42Speaker 14: not much of a joke, but it tickled Old mister
- 1:20:45Speaker 14: Bouncer because Tommy Brock was so fat and stumpy and grinning.
- 1:20:51Speaker 14: So Old Mister Bouncer laughed and pressed Tommy Brock to
- 1:20:55Speaker 14: come inside to taste the slice of seed cake and
- 1:20:58Speaker 14: a glass of my daughter Flopsy's cowslip wine. Tommy Brock
- 1:21:04Speaker 14: squeezed himself into the rabbit hole with alacrity. Then old
- 1:21:09Speaker 14: mister Bouncer smoked another pipe and gave Tommy Brock a
- 1:21:12Speaker 14: cabbage leaf cigar, which was so very strong that it
- 1:21:16Speaker 14: made Tommy Brock a grin more than ever, and the
- 1:21:20Speaker 14: smoke filled the burrow. Old mister Bouncer coughed and laughed,
- 1:21:25Speaker 14: and Tommy Brock puffed and grinned, and mister Bouncer laughed
- 1:21:29Speaker 14: and coughed and shut his eyes because of the cabbage smoke.
- 1:21:35Speaker 14: When Flopsy and Benjamin came back, Old mister Bouncer woke
- 1:21:39Speaker 14: up Tommy Brock and all the young rabbits had disappeared.
- 1:21:45Speaker 14: Mister Bouncer would not confess that he had admitted anybody
- 1:21:49Speaker 14: into the rabbit hole, but the smell of badger was undeniable,
- 1:21:55Speaker 14: and there were round, heavy footmarks in the sand. He
- 1:21:59Speaker 14: was in disgrace. Flopsy wrung her ears and slapped him.
- 1:22:04Speaker 14: Benjamin Bunny set off at once after Tommy Brock. It
- 1:22:11Speaker 14: was not much difficulty in tracking him. He had left
- 1:22:13Speaker 14: his footmark and gone slowly up the winding footpath through
- 1:22:17Speaker 14: the wood where he had rooted up the moss and
- 1:22:20Speaker 14: wood sorrel. There he had dug quite a deep hole
- 1:22:25Speaker 14: for dog Darnell, and had set a mole trap. A
- 1:22:29Speaker 14: little stream crossed the way. Benjamin skipped lightly over dry foot.
- 1:22:35Speaker 14: The badger's heavy steps showed plainly in the mud.
- 1:22:42Speaker 6: The path led.
- 1:22:42Speaker 14: To a part of the thicket where the trees had
- 1:22:45Speaker 14: been cleared. There were leafy oak stumps and a sea
- 1:22:49Speaker 14: of blue hyacinths, with a smell that made Benjamin stop.
- 1:22:53Speaker 14: Was not the smell of flowers. Mister Todd's stickhouse was
- 1:22:59Speaker 14: before for him, and for once mister Todd was at home.
- 1:23:05Speaker 14: There was not only a foxy flavor. In proof of it,
- 1:23:09Speaker 14: there was smoke coming out of the broken pail that
- 1:23:12Speaker 14: served as a chimney. Benjamin Bunnies sat up, staring. His
- 1:23:19Speaker 14: whiskers twitched. Inside the stickhouse, somebody dropped a plate and
- 1:23:24Speaker 14: said something. Benjamin stumped his foot and bolted. He never
- 1:23:30Speaker 14: stopped till he came to the other side of the wood.
- 1:23:34Speaker 14: Apparently Tommy Brock had turned the same way. Upon the
- 1:23:39Speaker 14: top of the wall, there were again the marks of
- 1:23:42Speaker 14: a badger, and some ravelings of a sack had caught
- 1:23:45Speaker 14: on a brier. Benjamin climbed over the wall into a meadow.
- 1:23:53Speaker 14: He found another mole trap, newly set. He was still
- 1:23:57Speaker 14: upon the track of Tommy. It was getting late in
- 1:24:03Speaker 14: the afternoon. Other rabbits were coming out to enjoy the
- 1:24:07Speaker 14: evening air. One of them, in a blue coat by himself,
- 1:24:12Speaker 14: was busily hunting for dandelions. Cousin Peter, Peter Rabbit. Peter Rabbit, shouted,
- 1:24:18Speaker 14: Benjamin Bunny. The blue coated rabbits sat up with pricked ears.
- 1:24:25Speaker 14: Whatever is the matter, Cousin Benjamin. Is it a cat
- 1:24:28Speaker 14: or John Stote ferret? No, no, no, He's bagged my family,
- 1:24:34Speaker 14: Tommy Brock in a sack. Have you seen him? Tommy Brock?
- 1:24:39Speaker 14: How many cousin Benjamin, seven, cousin Peter, and all of
- 1:24:44Speaker 14: them twins. Did he come this way? Please tell me quick? Yes, yes,
- 1:24:50Speaker 14: not ten minutes since he said they were caterpillars. I
- 1:24:55Speaker 14: did think they were kicking rather hard for caterpillars. Which way?
- 1:25:00Speaker 14: Which way has he gone? Cousin Peter, He had a
- 1:25:04Speaker 14: sack with something live in it. I watched him set
- 1:25:07Speaker 14: a mole trap. Let me use my mind, Cousin Benjamin,
- 1:25:12Speaker 14: tell me from the beginning. Benjamin did so. My uncle
- 1:25:18Speaker 14: Bouncer has displayed a lamentable want of discretion for his years,
- 1:25:23Speaker 14: said Peter, reflectively. But there are two hopeful circumstances. Your
- 1:25:28Speaker 14: family is alive and kicking, and Tommy Brock has had refreshments.
- 1:25:34Speaker 14: He will probably go to sleep and keep them for breakfast.
- 1:25:38Speaker 14: Which way, cousin Benjamin, compose yourself. I know very well
- 1:25:44Speaker 14: which way, because mister Todd was at home in this stickhouse.
- 1:25:48Speaker 14: He has gone to mister Todd's other house at the
- 1:25:51Speaker 14: top of bull Banks. I partly know because he offered
- 1:25:55Speaker 14: to leave any message at sister Cottontails. He said he
- 1:25:59Speaker 14: would be in passing. Cottontail had married a black rabbit
- 1:26:05Speaker 14: and gone to live on the hill. Peter hid his
- 1:26:09Speaker 14: dandelions and accompanied the afflicted parent, who is all of
- 1:26:13Speaker 14: a wider. They crossed several fields and began to climb
- 1:26:18Speaker 14: the hill. The tracks of Tommy Brock were plainly to
- 1:26:22Speaker 14: be seen. He seemed to have put down the sack
- 1:26:26Speaker 14: every dozen yards to rest. He must be very puffed.
- 1:26:32Speaker 14: We are close behind him by the scent. What a
- 1:26:35Speaker 14: nasty person, said Peter. The sunshine was still warm and
- 1:26:42Speaker 14: slanting on the hill pastures. Halfway up. Cottontail was sitting
- 1:26:47Speaker 14: in her doorway with four or five half grown little
- 1:26:50Speaker 14: rabbits playing about. Her one black and the others brown.
- 1:26:56Speaker 14: Cottontail had seen Tommy Brock passing in the distance. Asked
- 1:27:00Speaker 14: whether her husband was at home. She replied that Tommy
- 1:27:04Speaker 14: Brock had rested twice while she watched him. He had
- 1:27:08Speaker 14: nodded and pointed to the sack and seemed doubled up
- 1:27:12Speaker 14: with laughing. Come away, Peter, he will be cooking them.
- 1:27:16Speaker 14: Come quicker, said Benjamin Bunny. They climbed up and up.
- 1:27:22Speaker 14: He was at home. I saw his black ears peeping
- 1:27:25Speaker 14: out of the hole. They lived too near the rocks
- 1:27:29Speaker 14: to quarrel with their neighbors. Come on, cousin, Benjamin. When
- 1:27:35Speaker 14: they came near the wood at the top of bull Banks,
- 1:27:38Speaker 14: they went cautiously. The trees grew amongst heaped up rocks,
- 1:27:44Speaker 14: and there beneath the crag mister Todd had made one
- 1:27:47Speaker 14: of his homes. It was at the top of a
- 1:27:49Speaker 14: steep bank. The rocks and bushes overhung it. The rabbits
- 1:27:54Speaker 14: crept up, carefully, listening and peeping. The house was something
- 1:28:00Speaker 14: between a cave, a prison, and a tumble down pig sty.
- 1:28:05Speaker 14: There was a strong door which was shut and locked.
- 1:28:10Speaker 14: The setting sun made the window panes glow like red flame.
- 1:28:14Speaker 14: But the kitchen fire was not a light. It was
- 1:28:19Speaker 14: neatly laid with dry sticks, as the rabbits could see
- 1:28:22Speaker 14: when they peeped through the window. Benjamin sighed with relief.
- 1:28:30Speaker 14: But there were preparations upon the kitchen table which made
- 1:28:34Speaker 14: him shudder. There was an immense empty pie dish of
- 1:28:39Speaker 14: blue willow pattern, and a large carving knife and fork
- 1:28:43Speaker 14: and a chopper. At the other end of the table
- 1:28:47Speaker 14: was a partly unfolded tablecloth, a plate, a tumbler, a
- 1:28:52Speaker 14: knife and fork, salt, cellar, mustard, and a chair. In short,
- 1:29:00Speaker 14: preparations for one person's supper. No person was to be seen,
- 1:29:07Speaker 14: and no young rabbits. The kitchen was empty and silent.
- 1:29:12Speaker 14: The clock had run down. Peter and Benjamin flattened their
- 1:29:17Speaker 14: noses against the window and stared into the dusk. Then
- 1:29:23Speaker 14: they scrambled round the rocks to the other side of
- 1:29:26Speaker 14: the house. It was damp and smelly and overgrown with
- 1:29:31Speaker 14: thorns and briars. The rabbits shivered in their shoes. Oh
- 1:29:38Speaker 14: my poor rabbit babies, what a dreadful place. I shall
- 1:29:44Speaker 14: never see them again, sighed Benjamin. They crept up to
- 1:29:50Speaker 14: the bedroom window. It was closed and bolted like the kitchen,
- 1:29:55Speaker 14: but there were signs that the window had been recently opened.
- 1:30:00Speaker 14: Cobwebs were disturbed, and there were fresh, dirty footmarks upon
- 1:30:04Speaker 14: the window sill. The room inside was so dark that
- 1:30:09Speaker 14: at first they could make out nothing, But they could
- 1:30:13Speaker 14: hear a noise, a slow, deep, regular snoring grunt, And
- 1:30:22Speaker 14: as their eyes became accustomed to the darkness, they perceived
- 1:30:27Speaker 14: that somebody was asleep on mister Todd's bed, curled up
- 1:30:32Speaker 14: under the blanket. He has gone to bed in his boots,
- 1:30:38Speaker 14: whispered Peter. Benjamin, who is all of a wider pulled
- 1:30:44Speaker 14: Peter off the windowsill. Tommy Brock's snores continued, grunty and regular,
- 1:30:52Speaker 14: from mister Todd's bed. Nothing could be seen of the
- 1:30:57Speaker 14: young family. The sun had set, an owl began to
- 1:31:04Speaker 14: hoot in the wood. There were many unpleasant things lying
- 1:31:09Speaker 14: about that had much better have been buried, rabbit bones
- 1:31:15Speaker 14: and skulls, and chicken legs and other horrors. It was
- 1:31:20Speaker 14: a shocking place, and very dark. They went back to
- 1:31:27Speaker 14: the front of the house and tried in every way
- 1:31:30Speaker 14: to move the bolt of the kitchen window. They tried
- 1:31:34Speaker 14: to push up a rusty nail between the window sashes,
- 1:31:39Speaker 14: but it was of no use, especially without light. They
- 1:31:46Speaker 14: sat side by side outside the window, whispering and listening.
- 1:31:53Speaker 14: In half an hour the moon rose over the wood.
- 1:31:56Speaker 14: It shone full and clear and cold on the house,
- 1:32:01Speaker 14: amongst the rocks and inn at the kitchen window, but
- 1:32:06Speaker 14: alas no little rabbit babies were to be seen. The
- 1:32:13Speaker 14: moonbeams twinkled on the carving knife and the pie dish,
- 1:32:16Speaker 14: and made a path of brightness across the dirty floor.
- 1:32:23Speaker 14: A light showed a little door in a wall beside
- 1:32:26Speaker 14: the kitchen fireplace, a little iron door belonging to a
- 1:32:31Speaker 14: brick oven of that old fashioned sort that used to
- 1:32:35Speaker 14: be heated with fagots of wood. And presently at the
- 1:32:40Speaker 14: same moment, Peter and Benjamin noticed that whenever they shook
- 1:32:45Speaker 14: the window, the little door opposite shook in answer. The
- 1:32:51Speaker 14: young family were alive, shut up in the oven. Benjamin
- 1:32:57Speaker 14: was so excited that it was a mercy he did
- 1:33:01Speaker 14: not awake Tommy Brock, whose snores continued solemnly in mister
- 1:33:06Speaker 14: Todd's bed. But there really was not very much comfort
- 1:33:11Speaker 14: in the discovery. They could not open the window, and
- 1:33:15Speaker 14: although the young family was alive, the little rabbits were
- 1:33:19Speaker 14: quite incapable of letting themselves out. They were not old
- 1:33:24Speaker 14: enough to crawl. After much whispering, Peter and Benjamin decided
- 1:33:30Speaker 14: to dig a tunnel. They began to burrow a yard
- 1:33:35Speaker 14: or two lower down the bank. They hoped they might
- 1:33:39Speaker 14: be able to work between the large stones under the house.
- 1:33:44Speaker 14: The kitchen floor was so dirty that it was impossible
- 1:33:47Speaker 14: to say whether it was made of earth or flags.
- 1:33:54Speaker 14: They dug and dug for hours. They could not tunnel
- 1:33:58Speaker 14: straight on account of stone, but by the end of
- 1:34:02Speaker 14: the night they were under the kitchen floor. Benjamin was
- 1:34:07Speaker 14: on his back scratching upwards. Peter's claws were worn down.
- 1:34:13Speaker 14: He was outside the tunnel shuffling sand away. He called
- 1:34:19Speaker 14: out that it was morning sunrise, and that the jays
- 1:34:22Speaker 14: were making a noise down below in the woods. Benjamin
- 1:34:29Speaker 14: Bunny came out of the dark tunnel, shaking the sand
- 1:34:32Speaker 14: from his ears. He cleaned his face with his paws.
- 1:34:38Speaker 14: Every minute the sun shone warmer. On the top of
- 1:34:41Speaker 14: the hill in the valley there was a sea of
- 1:34:45Speaker 14: white mist, with golden tops of trees showing through. Again
- 1:34:52Speaker 14: from the fields down below. In the mist, there came
- 1:34:56Speaker 14: the angry cry of a jay followed by the sharp,
- 1:35:00Speaker 14: yelping bark of a fox. Then those two rabbits lost
- 1:35:07Speaker 14: their heads completely. They did the most foolish thing that
- 1:35:11Speaker 14: they could have done. They rushed into their short new
- 1:35:15Speaker 14: tunnel and hid themselves at the top end of it,
- 1:35:19Speaker 14: under mister Todd's kitchen floor. Mister Todd was coming up
- 1:35:27Speaker 14: bow Banks, and he was in the very worst of tempers.
- 1:35:33Speaker 14: First he had been upset by breaking the plate. It
- 1:35:37Speaker 14: was his own fault, but it was a china plate,
- 1:35:40Speaker 14: the last of the dinner service that had belonged to
- 1:35:44Speaker 14: his grandmother, Old Vixen Todd. Then the midges had been
- 1:35:50Speaker 14: very bad and he had failed to catch a hen
- 1:35:53Speaker 14: pheasant on her nest, and it had contained only five eggs,
- 1:35:59Speaker 14: two of them. At mister Todd had had an unsatisfactory
- 1:36:04Speaker 14: night as usual, when out of humor, he determined to
- 1:36:11Speaker 14: move house. First he tried the pollard willow, but it
- 1:36:16Speaker 14: was damp and the otters had left the dead fish
- 1:36:19Speaker 14: near it. Mister Todd likes nobody's leavings but his own.
- 1:36:27Speaker 14: He made his way up the hill. His temper was
- 1:36:30Speaker 14: not improved by noticing unmistakable marks of a badger. No
- 1:36:36Speaker 14: one else grubs up the moss so wantonly as Tommy Brock.
- 1:36:42Speaker 14: Mister Todd slapped his stick upon the earth, infumed, he
- 1:36:47Speaker 14: guessed where Tommy Brock had gone to. He was further
- 1:36:51Speaker 14: annoyed by the jaybird, which followed him persistently. It flew
- 1:36:57Speaker 14: from tree to tree and scolded, warning every rabbit within
- 1:37:02Speaker 14: hearing that either a cat or a fox was coming
- 1:37:06Speaker 14: up the plantation. Once, when it flew screaming over his head,
- 1:37:12Speaker 14: mister Todd snapped at it and barked. He approached his
- 1:37:18Speaker 14: house very carefully with a large rusty key. He sniffed,
- 1:37:23Speaker 14: and his whiskers bristled. The house was locked up, but
- 1:37:28Speaker 14: mister Todd had his doubts whether it was empty. He
- 1:37:33Speaker 14: turned the rusty key in the lock, and the rabbits
- 1:37:36Speaker 14: below could hear it. Mister Todd opened the door cautiously
- 1:37:42Speaker 14: and went in. The sight that met mister Todd's eyes.
- 1:37:48Speaker 14: In mister Todd's kitchen made mister Tod furious. There was
- 1:37:53Speaker 14: mister Tod's chair, and mister Todd's pie dish, and his
- 1:37:58Speaker 14: knife and fork, and mustard and salt cellar, and his
- 1:38:02Speaker 14: tablecloth that he had left folded up in the dresser,
- 1:38:07Speaker 14: all out for supper or breakfast, without doubt for that
- 1:38:12Speaker 14: odious Tommy Brock. There was a smell of fresh earth
- 1:38:19Speaker 14: and dirty badger, which fortunately overpowered all smell of rabbit.
- 1:38:26Speaker 14: But what absorbed mister Todd's attention was a noise, a deep, slow,
- 1:38:34Speaker 14: regular snoring, grunting noise, coming from his own bed. He
- 1:38:43Speaker 14: peeped through the hinges of the half open bedroom door.
- 1:38:47Speaker 14: Then he turned and came out of the house in
- 1:38:50Speaker 14: a hurry. His whiskers bristled and his coat collar stood
- 1:38:55Speaker 14: on end with rage. For the next twenty minutes, mister
- 1:39:01Speaker 14: Todd kept creeping cautiously into the house and retreating hurriedly
- 1:39:06Speaker 14: out again. By degrees, he ventured further in, right into
- 1:39:13Speaker 14: the bedroom. When he was outside the house, he scratched
- 1:39:17Speaker 14: up the earth with fury, But when he was inside
- 1:39:21Speaker 14: he did not like the look of Tommy Brock's teeth.
- 1:39:28Speaker 14: He was lying on his back with his mouth open,
- 1:39:31Speaker 14: grinning from ear to ear. He snored peacefully and regularly,
- 1:39:37Speaker 14: but one eye was not perfectly shut. Mister Todd came
- 1:39:43Speaker 14: in and out of the bedroom twice. He brought in
- 1:39:47Speaker 14: his walking stick and once he brought in the coal scuttle,
- 1:39:52Speaker 14: but he thought better of it and took them away.
- 1:39:57Speaker 14: When he came back after removing the coal scuttle, Tommy
- 1:40:00Speaker 14: Brock was lying a little more sideways. But he seems
- 1:40:04Speaker 14: even sounders asleep. He was an incurably indolent person. He
- 1:40:11Speaker 14: was not in the least afraid of mister Todd. He
- 1:40:15Speaker 14: was simply too lazy and comfortable to move. Mister Todd
- 1:40:22Speaker 14: came back yet again into the bedroom with a clothes line.
- 1:40:26Speaker 14: He stood a minute watching Tommy Brock and listened attentively
- 1:40:30Speaker 14: to the snores. They were very loud, indeed, but seemed
- 1:40:35Speaker 14: quite natural. Mister Todd turned his back towards the bed
- 1:40:41Speaker 14: and undid the window. It creaked. He turned around with
- 1:40:46Speaker 14: a jump. Tommy Brock, who had opened one eye, shut
- 1:40:52Speaker 14: it hastily. The snores continued. Mister Todd's seatings were peculiar
- 1:41:01Speaker 14: and rather difficult because the bed was between the window
- 1:41:06Speaker 14: and the door of the bedroom. He opened the window
- 1:41:11Speaker 14: a little way and pushed out the greater part of
- 1:41:14Speaker 14: the clothes line onto the window sill. The rest of
- 1:41:18Speaker 14: the line, with a hook at the end, remained in
- 1:41:21Speaker 14: his hand. Tommy Brock snored conscientiously. Mister Todd stood and
- 1:41:30Speaker 14: looked at him for a minute, then he left the
- 1:41:33Speaker 14: room again. Tommy Brock opened both eyes and looked at
- 1:41:38Speaker 14: the rope and grinned. There was a noise outside the window.
- 1:41:43Speaker 14: Tommy Brock shut his eyes in a hurry. Mister Todd
- 1:41:48Speaker 14: had gone out at the front door and round to
- 1:41:51Speaker 14: the back of the house. On the way he stumbled
- 1:41:55Speaker 14: over the rabbit burrow. If he had had any idea
- 1:41:59Speaker 14: who is inside it, he would have pulled them out quickly.
- 1:42:05Speaker 14: His foot went through the tunnel, nearly upon the top
- 1:42:08Speaker 14: of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin, but fortunately he thought that
- 1:42:13Speaker 14: it was some more of Tommy Brock's work. He looked
- 1:42:18Speaker 14: upon the coil of line from the sill, listened for
- 1:42:22Speaker 14: a moment, and then tied the rope to a tree.
- 1:42:27Speaker 14: Tommy Brock watched him with one eye through the window.
- 1:42:30Speaker 14: He was puzzled. Mister Todd fetched a large, heavy pail
- 1:42:36Speaker 14: full of water from the spring and staggered with it
- 1:42:39Speaker 14: through the kitchen into his bedroom. Tommy Brock snored industriously
- 1:42:46Speaker 14: with rather a snort. Mister Todd put down the pail
- 1:42:50Speaker 14: beside the bed, took up the end of the rope
- 1:42:54Speaker 14: with the hook, hesitated and looked at Tommy Brock. The
- 1:43:01Speaker 14: snores were almost apoplectic, but the grin was not quite
- 1:43:07Speaker 14: so big. Mister Todd gingerly mounted a chair by the
- 1:43:13Speaker 14: head of the bedstead. His legs were dangerously near to
- 1:43:16Speaker 14: Tommy Brock's teeth. He reached up and put the end
- 1:43:22Speaker 14: of the rope with the hook over the head of
- 1:43:25Speaker 14: the tester bed, where the curtains ought to hang. Mister
- 1:43:30Speaker 14: Todd's curtains were folded up and put away, owing to
- 1:43:34Speaker 14: the house being unoccupied, so was the counterpane. Time Brock
- 1:43:40Speaker 14: was covered with a blanket. Only mister Todd, standing on
- 1:43:45Speaker 14: the unsteady chair, looked down upon him attentively. He really
- 1:43:51Speaker 14: was a first prize sound sleeper. It seemed as though
- 1:43:57Speaker 14: nothing would waken him, not even the flapping rope across
- 1:44:00Speaker 14: the bed. Mister Todd descended safely from the chair and
- 1:44:05Speaker 14: endeavored to get up again. With the pail of water.
- 1:44:09Speaker 14: He intended to hang it from the hook dangling over
- 1:44:12Speaker 14: the head of Tommy Brock in order to make a
- 1:44:15Speaker 14: sort of shower bath worked by a string through the window,
- 1:44:21Speaker 14: but naturally being a thin legged person. Though vindictive and
- 1:44:26Speaker 14: sandy whiskered, he was quite unable to lift the heavy
- 1:44:30Speaker 14: weight to the level of the hook and rope. He
- 1:44:35Speaker 14: very nearly overbalanced himself. The snores became more and more apoplectic.
- 1:44:44Speaker 14: One of Tommy Brock's hind legs twitched under the blanket,
- 1:44:49Speaker 14: but he still slept on peacefully. Mister Tod and the
- 1:44:55Speaker 14: pail descended from the chair without accident. After considerable thought,
- 1:45:01Speaker 14: he emptied the water into a wash basin and jug.
- 1:45:05Speaker 14: The empty pail was not too heavy for him. He
- 1:45:08Speaker 14: slung it up, wobbling over the head of Tommy Brock.
- 1:45:13Speaker 14: Surely there never was such a sleeper. Mister Todd got
- 1:45:18Speaker 14: up and down, down and up on the chair. As
- 1:45:22Speaker 14: he could not lift the whole pail full of water
- 1:45:25Speaker 14: at once, he fetched a milk jug and ladled quarts
- 1:45:30Speaker 14: of water into the pail by degrees. The pail got
- 1:45:35Speaker 14: fuller and fuller, and swung like a pendulum. Occasionally a
- 1:45:40Speaker 14: drop splashed over, but still Tommy Brock stored regularly and
- 1:45:45Speaker 14: never moved except in one eye. At last, mister Todd's
- 1:45:53Speaker 14: preparations were complete. The pail was full of water. The
- 1:45:58Speaker 14: rope was tightly strained over the top of the bed
- 1:46:02Speaker 14: and across the windowsill to the tree outside. It will
- 1:46:07Speaker 14: make a great mess in my bedroom, but I could
- 1:46:10Speaker 14: never sleep in that bed again without a spring cleaning
- 1:46:14Speaker 14: of some sort, said mister Todd. Mister Todd took a
- 1:46:20Speaker 14: last look at the badger and softly left the room.
- 1:46:24Speaker 14: He went out of the house, shutting the front door.
- 1:46:28Speaker 14: The rabbits heard his footsteps over the tunnel. He ran
- 1:46:33Speaker 14: round behind the house, intending to undo the rope in
- 1:46:37Speaker 14: order to let fall the pail full of water upon
- 1:46:41Speaker 14: Tommy Brock. I will wake him up with an unpleasant surprise,
- 1:46:48Speaker 14: said mister Todd. The moment he had gone, Tommy Brock
- 1:46:53Speaker 14: got up in a hurry. He rolled mister Todd's dressing
- 1:46:57Speaker 14: gown into a bundle, put it in the bed beneath
- 1:47:01Speaker 14: the pail of water instead of himself, and left the room,
- 1:47:04Speaker 14: also grinning immensely. He went into the kitchen, lighted the fire,
- 1:47:11Speaker 14: and boiled the kettle. For the moment, he did not
- 1:47:14Speaker 14: trouble himself to cook the baby rabbits. When mister Todd
- 1:47:20Speaker 14: got to the tree, he found that the weight and
- 1:47:23Speaker 14: strain had dragged the knots so tight it was past untying.
- 1:47:27Speaker 14: He was obliged to gnaw with his teeth. He chewed
- 1:47:32Speaker 14: and gnawed for more than twenty minutes. At last the
- 1:47:36Speaker 14: rope gave way with a sudden jerk that had nearly
- 1:47:39Speaker 14: pulled his teeth out and quite knocked him over backwards.
- 1:47:45Speaker 14: Inside the house there was a great crash and splash,
- 1:47:48Speaker 14: and the noise of a pail rolling over and over,
- 1:47:54Speaker 14: but no screams. Mister Tod was mystified. He sat quite
- 1:48:02Speaker 14: still and listened attentively. Then he peeped in at the window.
- 1:48:08Speaker 14: The water was dripping from the bed. The pail had
- 1:48:11Speaker 14: rolled into a corner. In the middle of the bed.
- 1:48:16Speaker 14: Under the blanket was a wet something much flattened in
- 1:48:21Speaker 14: the middle where the pail had caught it as it
- 1:48:24Speaker 14: were across the tummy. Its head was covered by the
- 1:48:28Speaker 14: wet blanket, and it was not snoring any longer. There
- 1:48:36Speaker 14: was nothing stirring, no sound except the drip, drop, drop
- 1:48:42Speaker 14: drip of water trickling from the mattress. Mister Todd watched
- 1:48:49Speaker 14: it for half an hour. His eyes glistened. Then he
- 1:48:54Speaker 14: cut a caper and became so bold that he even
- 1:48:58Speaker 14: tapped at the window, but the bundle never moved. Yes,
- 1:49:05Speaker 14: there was no doubt about it. It had turned out
- 1:49:09Speaker 14: even better than he had planned. The pail had hit
- 1:49:13Speaker 14: poor old Tommy Brock and killed him dead. I will
- 1:49:20Speaker 14: bury that nasty person in the hole which he has dug.
- 1:49:24Speaker 14: I will bring my bedding out and dry it in
- 1:49:27Speaker 14: the sun, said mister Todd. I will wash the tablecloth
- 1:49:33Speaker 14: and spread it on the grass in the sun to bleach.
- 1:49:36Speaker 14: And the blanket must be hung up in the wind.
- 1:49:39Speaker 14: And the bed must be thoroughly disinfected and aired with
- 1:49:42Speaker 14: a warming pan and warmed with a hot water bottle.
- 1:49:47Speaker 14: I will get soft soap and monkey soap, and all
- 1:49:51Speaker 14: sorts of soap and soda, and scrubbing brushes, and persian
- 1:49:56Speaker 14: powder and carbolic to remove the smell. I must have
- 1:50:01Speaker 14: a disinfecting Perhaps I may have to burn sulfur. He
- 1:50:06Speaker 14: hurried round the house to get a shovel from the kitchen. First,
- 1:50:10Speaker 14: I will arrange the hole. Then I will drag out
- 1:50:13Speaker 14: that person in the blanket. He opened the door. Tommy
- 1:50:19Speaker 14: Brock was sitting at mister Todd's kitchen table, pouring out
- 1:50:23Speaker 14: tea from mister Todd's teapot into mister Todd's tea cup.
- 1:50:29Speaker 14: He was quite dry himself and grinning, and he threw
- 1:50:32Speaker 14: the cup of scalding tea all over mister Todd. Then
- 1:50:38Speaker 14: mister Todd rushed upon Tommy Brock, and Tommy Brock grappled
- 1:50:42Speaker 14: with mister Todd against the broken crockery, and there was
- 1:50:46Speaker 14: a terrific battle all over the kitchen.
- 1:50:51Speaker 13: To the rabbits.
- 1:50:52Speaker 14: Underneath, it sounded as if the floor would give way
- 1:50:56Speaker 14: at each crash of falling furniture. They crept out of
- 1:51:02Speaker 14: their tunnel and hung about amongst the rocks and bushes,
- 1:51:06Speaker 14: listening anxiously. Inside the house, the racket was fearful. The
- 1:51:13Speaker 14: rabbit bunnies in the oven woke up trembling. Perhaps it
- 1:51:16Speaker 14: was fortunate they were shut up inside. Everything was upset
- 1:51:22Speaker 14: except the kitchen table, and everything was broken except the
- 1:51:27Speaker 14: mantlepiece and the kitchen fender. The crockery was smashed to atoms.
- 1:51:36Speaker 14: The chairs were broken in the window, and the clock
- 1:51:39Speaker 14: fell with a crash. There were handfuls of mister Todd's
- 1:51:45Speaker 14: sandy whiskers. The vases fell off the mantelpiece, the canisters
- 1:51:51Speaker 14: fell off the shelf, the kettle fell off the hob.
- 1:51:56Speaker 14: Tommy Brock put his foot in a jar of raspberry jam,
- 1:52:01Speaker 14: and the boiling water out of the kettle fell upon
- 1:52:04Speaker 14: the tail of mister Todd. When the kettle fell, Tommy Brock,
- 1:52:09Speaker 14: who was still grinning, happened to be uppermost, and he
- 1:52:13Speaker 14: rolled mister Todd over and over like a log out
- 1:52:17Speaker 14: at the door. Then the snarling and worrying went on outside,
- 1:52:23Speaker 14: and they rolled over the bank and downhill, bumping over
- 1:52:27Speaker 14: the rocks. There will never be any love lost between
- 1:52:33Speaker 14: Tommy Brock and mister Todd. As soon as the coast
- 1:52:39Speaker 14: was clear, Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny came out of
- 1:52:44Speaker 14: the bushes. Now for it, Run in, cousin, Benjamin, run
- 1:52:48Speaker 14: in and get them. While I watched the door. But
- 1:52:52Speaker 14: Benjamin was frightened. Oh no, they are coming back. No
- 1:52:57Speaker 14: they are not. Yes they are what dreadful bad language.
- 1:53:02Speaker 14: I think they have fallen down the stone quarry. Still
- 1:53:07Speaker 14: Benjamin hesitated, and Peter kept pushing him in. Be quick,
- 1:53:13Speaker 14: it's all right. Shut the oven door, cousin Benjamin, so
- 1:53:16Speaker 14: that he won't miss them. Decidedly, there were lively doings
- 1:53:22Speaker 14: in mister Todd's kitchen at home in the rabbit hole,
- 1:53:27Speaker 14: things had not been quite comfortable. After quarreling at supper,
- 1:53:32Speaker 14: Flopsy and old mister Bouncer had passed the sleepless night
- 1:53:36Speaker 14: and quarreled again at breakfast. Old mister Bouncer could no
- 1:53:41Speaker 14: longer deny that he had invited company into the rabbit hole,
- 1:53:45Speaker 14: but he refused to reply to the questions and reproaches
- 1:53:49Speaker 14: of Flopsy. The day passed heavily. Old mister Bouncer, very sulky,
- 1:53:58Speaker 14: was huddled up in a corner, barricaded with a chair.
- 1:54:03Speaker 14: Flopsy had taken away his pipe and hid in the tobacco.
- 1:54:08Speaker 14: She had been having a complete turnout in spring cleaning
- 1:54:11Speaker 14: to relieve her feelings. She had just finished. Old mister Bouncer,
- 1:54:17Speaker 14: behind his chair, was wondering anxiously what she would do next.
- 1:54:25Speaker 14: In mister Todd's kitchen, amidst the wreckage, Benjamin Bunny picked
- 1:54:29Speaker 14: his way to the oven nervously through a thick cloud
- 1:54:34Speaker 14: of dust. He opened the oven door, felt inside, and
- 1:54:38Speaker 14: found something warm and wriggling. He lifted it out carefully
- 1:54:43Speaker 14: and rejoined Peter Rabbit. I've got them, Can we get away?
- 1:54:48Speaker 6: Shall we hide?
- 1:54:49Speaker 14: Cousin Peter. Peter pricked his ears. Distant sounds of fighting
- 1:54:53Speaker 14: still echoed in the wood. Five minutes afterwards, two breathless
- 1:54:58Speaker 14: rabbits came scudd away from bull banks, half carrying, half
- 1:55:03Speaker 14: dragging a sack between them, bumpety bump over the grass.
- 1:55:08Speaker 14: They reached home safely and burst into the rabbit hole.
- 1:55:12Speaker 14: Great was old mister Bouncer's relief and Flopsy's joy. When
- 1:55:17Speaker 14: Peter and Benjamin arrived in Triumph with the young family.
- 1:55:21Speaker 14: The rabbit babies were rather tumbled and very hungry. They
- 1:55:25Speaker 14: were fed and put to bed. They soon recovered a
- 1:55:30Speaker 14: new long pipe, and a fresh supply of rabbit tobacco
- 1:55:34Speaker 14: was presented to mister Bouncer. He was rather upon his dignity,
- 1:55:40Speaker 14: but he accepted. Old mister Bouncer was forgiven, and they
- 1:55:45Speaker 14: all had dinner. Then Peter and Benjamin told their story,
- 1:55:50Speaker 14: but they had not waited long enough to be able
- 1:55:53Speaker 14: to tell the end of the battle between Tommy Brock
- 1:55:57Speaker 14: and mister Todd.
- 1:55:59Speaker 15: Once there was a little girl called Lucy who lived
- 1:56:03Speaker 15: at a farm called Little Town. She was a good
- 1:56:05Speaker 15: little girl, only she was always losing her pocket handkerchiefs.
- 1:56:10Speaker 15: One day Lucy came into the farmyard crying. Oh she
- 1:56:13Speaker 15: did cry, so, I've lost my pocket hankin, three hankins
- 1:56:18Speaker 15: and a penny. Have you seen them, tabby kitten. The
- 1:56:22Speaker 15: kitten went on washing her white paws. So Lucy asked
- 1:56:26Speaker 15: a speckled hen, Sally, Henny, penny, have you found three
- 1:56:30Speaker 15: pocket hankins? But the speckled hen ran into the barn, clucking,
- 1:56:34Speaker 15: I go barefoot, barefoot, barefoot. And then Lucy asked cock Robin,
- 1:56:39Speaker 15: sitting on a twig. Cock Robin looked sideways at Lucy
- 1:56:43Speaker 15: with his bright black eye, and he flew over a
- 1:56:45Speaker 15: stile and away. Lucy climbed upon the stile and looked
- 1:56:50Speaker 15: up at the hill behind little Town, a hale that
- 1:56:53Speaker 15: goes up up into the clouds as though it had
- 1:56:56Speaker 15: no top, and a great way up the hillside. She
- 1:57:00Speaker 15: thought she saw some white things spread upon the grass.
- 1:57:04Speaker 15: Lucy scrambled up the hill as fast as her stout
- 1:57:06Speaker 15: legs would carry her. She ran along a steep pathway
- 1:57:11Speaker 15: up and up until little Town was right away down below.
- 1:57:14Speaker 15: She could have dropped the pebble down the chimney. Presently,
- 1:57:18Speaker 15: she came to a spring bubbling out from the hillside.
- 1:57:22Speaker 15: Some one had stood a tin can upon a stone
- 1:57:24Speaker 15: to catch the water, but the water was already running over,
- 1:57:28Speaker 15: for the can was no bigger than an age cup.
- 1:57:31Speaker 15: And where the sand upon the path was wet, there
- 1:57:33Speaker 15: were footmarks of a very small person. Lucy ran on
- 1:57:37Speaker 15: and on the path ended under a big rock. The
- 1:57:42Speaker 15: grass was short and green, and there were clothes props
- 1:57:45Speaker 15: cut from bracken stems with lines of plaited rushes, and
- 1:57:49Speaker 15: a heap of tiny clothes pins, but no pocket handkerchiefs.
- 1:57:53Speaker 15: There was something else, a door straight into the hill,
- 1:57:57Speaker 15: and inside someone was singing lily white and clean. Oh
- 1:58:03Speaker 15: was little frills between, Oh, smooth and hot red rusty
- 1:58:08Speaker 15: spot never here be seen. O. Lucy knocked once twice
- 1:58:15Speaker 15: and interrupted the song. A little frightened voice called out,
- 1:58:19Speaker 15: who's that? Lucy opened the door, and what do you think?
- 1:58:23Speaker 15: There was inside the hill a nice clean kitchen with
- 1:58:28Speaker 15: a flagged floor and wooden beams, just like any other
- 1:58:31Speaker 15: farm kitchen, Only the ceiling was so low that Lucy's
- 1:58:35Speaker 15: head nearly touched it, and the pots and pans were small,
- 1:58:39Speaker 15: and so was everything. There was a nice, hot, singey smell,
- 1:58:45Speaker 15: and at the table with an iron in her hand
- 1:58:48Speaker 15: stood a very stout, short person staring anxiously at Lucy.
- 1:58:53Speaker 15: Her print gown was tucked up, and she was wearing
- 1:58:56Speaker 15: a large apron over her striped petticoat. Her little black
- 1:59:00Speaker 15: nose went sniffle, sniffle, snuffle, and her eyes went twinkle twinkle.
- 1:59:05Speaker 15: And underneath her cap, where Lucy had yellow curls, that
- 1:59:09Speaker 15: little person had prickles. Who are you, said Lucy? Have
- 1:59:14Speaker 15: you seen my pocket hankins. The little person made a
- 1:59:18Speaker 15: Bob Curtsey. Oh yes, if you please'm. My name is
- 1:59:21Speaker 15: missus Tiggywinkle. Oh yes, if you please 'em. I'm an
- 1:59:25Speaker 15: excellent clean starcher. And she took something out of a
- 1:59:30Speaker 15: clothes basket and spread it on the ironing blanket. What's
- 1:59:34Speaker 15: that thing, said Lucy. That's not my pocket Hankin. Oh no,
- 1:59:39Speaker 15: if you please'm, that's a little scarlet waistcoat belonging to
- 1:59:42Speaker 15: cock Robin. And she ironed it and folded it and
- 1:59:46Speaker 15: put it on one side. Then she took something else
- 1:59:50Speaker 15: off a clothes horse. That isn't my penny, said Lucy,
- 1:59:54Speaker 15: Oh no, if you please em, that's a damask tablecloth
- 1:59:58Speaker 15: belonging to Jenny Wren. Look how it stained with currant wine.
- 2:00:02Speaker 15: It's very bad to wash, said Missus Tiggywinkle. Missus Tiggywinkle's
- 2:00:08Speaker 15: nose went sniffle, sniffle, sniffle, and her eyes went twinkle twinkle,
- 2:00:12Speaker 15: and she fetched another hot iron from the fire. There's
- 2:00:17Speaker 15: one of my pocket hankins, cried Lucy. And there's my penny.
- 2:00:22Speaker 15: Missus Tiggywinkle ironed it and goffered it and shook out
- 2:00:25Speaker 15: the frills. Oh that is lovely, said Lucy. And what
- 2:00:30Speaker 15: are those ye long yellow things with fingers like gloves.
- 2:00:34Speaker 15: Oh that's a pair of stockings belonging to Sally Henny Penny.
- 2:00:38Speaker 15: Look how she's worn the heels that was scratching in
- 2:00:40Speaker 15: the yard. She'll very soon go barefoot, said Missus Tiggywinkle.
- 2:00:49Speaker 15: Why there's another hanker, sniff But it isn't mine. It's red.
- 2:00:54Speaker 15: Oh no, if you please em that one belongs to
- 2:00:57Speaker 15: old missus Rabbit. And it did so small male of onions.
- 2:01:01Speaker 15: I've had to wash it separately. I can't get out
- 2:01:03Speaker 15: the smell. There's another one of mine, said Lucy. What
- 2:01:09Speaker 15: are those funny little white things? That's a pair of
- 2:01:12Speaker 15: mint as belonging to Tabby Kitten. I only have to
- 2:01:15Speaker 15: iron them. She washes them herself. There's my last pocket handkin,
- 2:01:20Speaker 15: said Lucy. And what are you dipping into the basin
- 2:01:24Speaker 15: of starch? Their little Dicky's shirt fronts belonging to Tom Titmouse,
- 2:01:30Speaker 15: most terrible particular, said Missus Tigiwinkle. Now I've finished my ironing,
- 2:01:35Speaker 15: I'm going to air some clothes. What are these dear
- 2:01:40Speaker 15: soft fluffy things, said Lucy. Oh, those are willy coates
- 2:01:44Speaker 15: belonging to the little lambs of Skagel. Will their jackets
- 2:01:48Speaker 15: take off? Asked Lucy. Oh, yes, if you please em
- 2:01:52Speaker 15: Look at the sheep mark on the shoulder. And here's
- 2:01:55Speaker 15: one mark for gatescarth and three that come from littletown.
- 2:01:59Speaker 15: They're always more washing, said Missus Tigwinkle, and she hung
- 2:02:04Speaker 15: up all sorts and sizes of clothes, small brown coats
- 2:02:08Speaker 15: of mice, and one velvety black moleskin waistcoat, and a
- 2:02:12Speaker 15: red tailcoat with no tail belonging to Squirrel Nutkin, and
- 2:02:17Speaker 15: a very much shrunk blue jacket belonged to Peter Rabbit,
- 2:02:20Speaker 15: and a petticoat not marked that had gone lost in
- 2:02:23Speaker 15: the washing, and at last the basket was empty. Then
- 2:02:32Speaker 15: Missus Tigwinkle made tea, a cup for herself and a
- 2:02:35Speaker 15: cup for Lucy. They sat before the fire on a
- 2:02:38Speaker 15: bench and looked sideways at one another. Missus Tiggwinkle's hand
- 2:02:41Speaker 15: holding the tea cup was very very brown and very
- 2:02:45Speaker 15: very wrinkly with soap SuDS, and all through her gown
- 2:02:49Speaker 15: and her cap there were hairpins sticking wrong and out,
- 2:02:53Speaker 15: so that Lucy didn't like to sit too near her.
- 2:02:57Speaker 15: When they had finished teeth, they tied up the clothes bundles,
- 2:03:00Speaker 15: and Lucy's pocket handkerchiefs were folded up inside her clean
- 2:03:04Speaker 15: penny and fastened with a silvery safety pin. And then
- 2:03:08Speaker 15: they made up the fire with turf and came out
- 2:03:11Speaker 15: and locked the door and hid the key under the
- 2:03:14Speaker 15: door sill. Then away down the hill trotted Lucy and
- 2:03:18Speaker 15: Missus Tiggywinkle with the bundle of clothes. All the way
- 2:03:22Speaker 15: down the path, little animals came out of the fern
- 2:03:25Speaker 15: to meet them. The very first they met were Peter
- 2:03:29Speaker 15: Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, and she gave them their nice
- 2:03:33Speaker 15: clean clothes, and all the little animals and birds were
- 2:03:35Speaker 15: so very much obliged to dear missus Tiggywinkle, so that
- 2:03:41Speaker 15: at the bottom of the hill, when they came to
- 2:03:43Speaker 15: the stile, there was nothing left to carry except Lucy's
- 2:03:46Speaker 15: one little bundle. Lucy scrambled up the stile with the
- 2:03:50Speaker 15: bundle in her hand, and then she turned to say
- 2:03:52Speaker 15: good night and to thank the washerwoman. But what a
- 2:03:56Speaker 15: very odd thing Missus Tiggywinkle had not weighed, either for
- 2:04:00Speaker 15: thanks or for the washing bill. She was running, running,
- 2:04:04Speaker 15: running up the hill. And where was her white frilled cap,
- 2:04:08Speaker 15: and her shawl, and her gown and her petticoat? And
- 2:04:14Speaker 15: how small she had grown? And how brown and covered
- 2:04:18Speaker 15: with prickles. Why Missus Tiggywinkle was nothing but a hedgehog.
- 2:04:26Speaker 15: Now some people say that little Lucy had been asleep
- 2:04:28Speaker 15: upon the style, But then how could she have found
- 2:04:32Speaker 15: three clean pocket handkins and a penny pinned with a
- 2:04:35Speaker 15: silver safety pin. And besides, I have seen that door
- 2:04:39Speaker 15: into the back of the hill called catbells. And besides,
- 2:04:43Speaker 15: I am very well acquainted with dear missus Tiggywinkle. The
- 2:04:48Speaker 15: Tale of Missus Tittlemouse by Beatrix Potter. Once upon a
- 2:04:56Speaker 15: time there was a wood mouse, and her name was
- 2:04:59Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse. She lived in a bank under a hedge,
- 2:05:04Speaker 15: such a funny house. There were yards and yards of
- 2:05:07Speaker 15: sandy passages leading to storerooms, and nut cellars and seat cellars.
- 2:05:12Speaker 15: All amongst the roots of the hedge. There was a kitchen,
- 2:05:16Speaker 15: a parlor, a pantry, and a larder. Also there is
- 2:05:20Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse's bedroom, where she slept in a little box.
- 2:05:25Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse was a most terribly tidy, particular little mouse,
- 2:05:29Speaker 15: always sweeping and dusting the soft sandy floors. Sometimes a
- 2:05:34Speaker 15: beetle lost its way in the passages. Shoe shoe, little
- 2:05:37Speaker 15: dirty feet, said Missus tittlemouse, clattering her dust pan. And
- 2:05:43Speaker 15: one day a little old woman ran up and down
- 2:05:45Speaker 15: in a red spotty cloak. Your house is on fire,
- 2:05:49Speaker 15: mother ladybird, Fly away home to your children. Another day,
- 2:05:57Speaker 15: a big fat spider came in to shelter from the rain. Beg,
- 2:06:01Speaker 15: pardon is this not miss Muffetts. Go away, you bowl
- 2:06:06Speaker 15: bad spider, leaving ends of cobweb all over my nice
- 2:06:10Speaker 15: clean house. She bundled the spider out at a window.
- 2:06:15Speaker 15: He let himself down the hedge with a long, thin
- 2:06:17Speaker 15: bit of string. Missus Tittlemouse went on her way to
- 2:06:21Speaker 15: a distant storeroom to fetch cherry stones and thistle down
- 2:06:25Speaker 15: seed for supper. All along the passage she sniffed and
- 2:06:29Speaker 15: looked at the floor. I smell a smell of honey?
- 2:06:35Speaker 15: Is it the cowslips outside in the hedge? Am?
- 2:06:39Speaker 12: I sure?
- 2:06:39Speaker 15: I can see the marks of little dirty feet. Suddenly
- 2:06:44Speaker 15: round the corner she met Babbity Bumble. Ziz biz biz,
- 2:06:48Speaker 15: said the bumblebee. Missus Tittlemouse looked at her severely. She
- 2:06:54Speaker 15: wished she had a broom. Good day, Babbity Bumble. I
- 2:06:59Speaker 15: should be glad to buy some beeswax? But what are
- 2:07:02Speaker 15: you doing down here? Why do you always come in
- 2:07:05Speaker 15: at the window and say ziz biz biz. Missus Tittlemouse
- 2:07:09Speaker 15: began to get cross. Ziz whiz whiz, replied Babbity Bumble
- 2:07:14Speaker 15: in a peevish squeak. She sidled down a passage and
- 2:07:18Speaker 15: disappeared into a storeroom which had been used for acorns.
- 2:07:22Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse had eaten the acorns before Christmas. The storeroom
- 2:07:26Speaker 15: ought to have been empty, but it was full of untidy,
- 2:07:30Speaker 15: dry moss. Missus Tittlemouse began to pull out the moss.
- 2:07:35Speaker 15: Three or four other bees put their heads out and
- 2:07:37Speaker 15: buzzed fiercely. I am not in the habit of letting lodgings.
- 2:07:41Speaker 15: This is an intrusion, said Missus Tittlemouse. I will have
- 2:07:45Speaker 15: them turned out. Buzz buzz buzz. I wonder who would
- 2:07:50Speaker 15: help me? Biz whiz whiz. I'll not have mister Jackson.
- 2:07:55Speaker 15: He never wipes his feet. Missus Tittlemos decided to leave
- 2:08:00Speaker 15: the bees till after dinner. When she got back to
- 2:08:03Speaker 15: the parlor, she heard some one coughing in a fat voice,
- 2:08:06Speaker 15: and there sat mister Jackson himself. He was sitting all
- 2:08:10Speaker 15: over a small rocking chair, twiddling his thumbs and smiling
- 2:08:14Speaker 15: with his feet on the fender. He lived in a
- 2:08:17Speaker 15: drain below the hedge, in a very dirty, wet ditch.
- 2:08:22Speaker 15: How do you do, mister Jackson, dearing me, you have
- 2:08:26Speaker 15: got very wet Thank you, thank ye, thank you, Missus Tittlemouse.
- 2:08:29Speaker 15: I'll sit awhile and dry myself, said mister Jackson. He
- 2:08:33Speaker 15: sat and smiled, and the water dripped off his coat tails.
- 2:08:36Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse went round with a mop. He sat such
- 2:08:41Speaker 15: a while that he had to be asked if he
- 2:08:42Speaker 15: would take some dinner. First, she offered him cherry stones.
- 2:08:47Speaker 15: Thank you, thank you, missus tittlemouse. No teeth, no teeth,
- 2:08:51Speaker 15: no teeth, said mister Jackson. He opened his mouth most
- 2:08:55Speaker 15: unnecessarily wide. He certainly had not a tooth in his head.
- 2:09:00Speaker 15: Then she offered him thistle down seed. Tittly, wittily, wittily, poof,
- 2:09:06Speaker 15: poof puff, said mister Jackson. He blew the thistle down
- 2:09:09Speaker 15: all over the room. Think you think you thank you,
- 2:09:12Speaker 15: missus tittlemouse. Now what I really really should like would
- 2:09:16Speaker 15: be a little dish of honey. I am afraid I
- 2:09:20Speaker 15: have not got any, mister Jackson, said Missus Tittlemouse. Tittly, wittily, wittily,
- 2:09:25Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse said the smiling mister Jackson. I can smell it.
- 2:09:30Speaker 15: That is why I came to call. Mister Jackson rose
- 2:09:34Speaker 15: ponderously from the table and began to look into the cupboards.
- 2:09:38Speaker 15: Missus Tittlemouse followed him with a dishcloth to wipe his large,
- 2:09:41Speaker 15: wet footmarks off the parlor floor. When he had convinced
- 2:09:45Speaker 15: himself there was no honey in the cupboards, he began
- 2:09:48Speaker 15: to walk down the passage. Indeed, indeed, you will stick fast,
- 2:09:52Speaker 15: mister Jackson. Tittly wittily wittily, missus tittlemouse. First he squeezed
- 2:09:58Speaker 15: into the pantry, tittly, wittly wittily, no honey, no honey,
- 2:10:03Speaker 15: missus tittlemose. There were three creepy crawley people hiding in
- 2:10:08Speaker 15: the plate rack. Two of them got away, but the
- 2:10:10Speaker 15: littlest one he caught. Then he squeezed into the larder.
- 2:10:15Speaker 15: Miss Butterfly was tasting the sugar, but she flew away
- 2:10:18Speaker 15: out the window. Tittly, wittily whittly, missus tittlemouse, you seem
- 2:10:23Speaker 15: to have plenty of visitors, and without any invitation, said
- 2:10:27Speaker 15: Missus Thomasina Tittlemouse. They went along the sandy passage tittly wittily,
- 2:10:36Speaker 15: buzz whiz whiz. He met Babbitty round a corner and
- 2:10:39Speaker 15: snapped her up and put her down again. I do
- 2:10:42Speaker 15: not like bumblebees. They are all over the bristles, said
- 2:10:45Speaker 15: mister Jackson, wiping his mouth with his coat sleeve. Get
- 2:10:49Speaker 15: out your nasty old toad, shrieked babbity bumble I shall
- 2:10:53Speaker 15: go distracted, scolded missus Tittlemouse. She shut herself up in
- 2:10:57Speaker 15: the nut cellar while mister Jackson pulled out bee's nest.
- 2:11:00Speaker 15: She seemed to have no objection to stings. When missus
- 2:11:05Speaker 15: Tittlemouse ventured to come out, everybody had gone away, But
- 2:11:08Speaker 15: the untidiness was something dreadful. Never did I see such
- 2:11:12Speaker 15: a mess, smears of honey and moss and thistledown and
- 2:11:16Speaker 15: marks of big and little dirty feet all over my
- 2:11:19Speaker 15: nice clean house. She gathered up the moss and the
- 2:11:23Speaker 15: remains of the beeswax. Then she went out and fetched
- 2:11:26Speaker 15: some twigs to partly close up the front door. I
- 2:11:29Speaker 15: will make it too small for mister Jackson. She fetched
- 2:11:33Speaker 15: soft soap and flannel, and a new scrubbing brush from
- 2:11:36Speaker 15: the storeroom. She was too tired to do any more.
- 2:11:40Speaker 15: First she fell asleep in her chair, and then she
- 2:11:42Speaker 15: went to bed. Will it ever be tidy again? Said
- 2:11:46Speaker 15: poor missus tittlemouse. Next morning she got up very early
- 2:11:51Speaker 15: and began a spring cleaning, which lasted a fortnight. She
- 2:11:54Speaker 15: swept and scrubbed and dusted. She rubbed up the furniture
- 2:11:57Speaker 15: with beeswax, and polished her little tins spoons. When it
- 2:12:03Speaker 15: was all beautifully neat and clean, she gave a party
- 2:12:06Speaker 15: to five other little mice without mister Jackson. He smelt
- 2:12:10Speaker 15: the party and came up the bank, but he could
- 2:12:12Speaker 15: not squeeze in at the door, so they handed him
- 2:12:16Speaker 15: out an acorn cupful of honey dew through the window,
- 2:12:20Speaker 15: and he was not at all offended. He sat outside
- 2:12:23Speaker 15: in the sun and said, tiddly wittly witty, your very
- 2:12:27Speaker 15: good health, missus tittlemouse. The end the tale of Missus.
- 2:12:34Speaker 16: Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and
- 2:12:37Speaker 16: their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. They lived
- 2:12:44Speaker 16: with their mother in a sand bank underneath the root
- 2:12:47Speaker 16: of a very big fir tree. Now, my DearS, said
- 2:12:51Speaker 16: old missus Rabbit. One morning, you may go into the
- 2:12:55Speaker 16: fields or down the lane, but don't go into mister
- 2:12:58Speaker 16: McGregor's garden. Had an accident there he was put in
- 2:13:02Speaker 16: a pie by missus mc gregor. Now run along and
- 2:13:06Speaker 16: don't get into mischief. I am going out. Then old
- 2:13:11Speaker 16: missus Rabbit took a basket and her umbrella and went
- 2:13:14Speaker 16: through the wood to the baker's. She bought a loaf
- 2:13:17Speaker 16: of brown bread and five currant buns. Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail,
- 2:13:23Speaker 16: who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to
- 2:13:26Speaker 16: gather blackberries. But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straightway
- 2:13:30Speaker 16: to mister McGregor's garden and squeezed under the gate. First
- 2:13:36Speaker 16: he ate some lettuces and some french beans, and then
- 2:13:39Speaker 16: he ate some radishes, and then, feeling rather sick, he
- 2:13:44Speaker 16: went to look for some parsley, but round the end
- 2:13:47Speaker 16: of a cucumber frame. Whom should he meet but mister
- 2:13:50Speaker 16: mc gregor. Mister mc gregor was on his hands and
- 2:13:54Speaker 16: knees planting out young cabbages. But he jumped up and
- 2:13:57Speaker 16: ran after Peter, waving a rake and calling out stop thief.
- 2:14:02Speaker 16: Peter was most dreadfully frightened. He rushed all over the garden,
- 2:14:06Speaker 16: for he had forgotten the way back to the gate.
- 2:14:10Speaker 16: He lost one of his shoes among the cabbages, and
- 2:14:13Speaker 16: the other shoe amongst the potatoes. After losing them, he
- 2:14:17Speaker 16: ran on four legs and went faster, so that I
- 2:14:19Speaker 16: think he might have got away altogether if he had
- 2:14:22Speaker 16: not unfortunately, run into a gooseberry net and got caught
- 2:14:26Speaker 16: by the large buttons on his jacket. It was a
- 2:14:30Speaker 16: blue jacket with brass buttons. Quite new. Peter gave himself
- 2:14:36Speaker 16: up for lost and shed big tears, but his sobs
- 2:14:39Speaker 16: were overheard by some friendly sparrows, who flew to him
- 2:14:42Speaker 16: in great excitement and implored him to exert himself. Mister
- 2:14:47Speaker 16: mac gregor came up with a sieve which he intended
- 2:14:50Speaker 16: to pop upon the top of Peter, but Peter wriggled
- 2:14:53Speaker 16: out just in time, leaving his jacket behind him, and
- 2:14:57Speaker 16: rushed into the tool shed and jumped into a can.
- 2:15:00Speaker 16: It would have been a beautiful thing to hide in
- 2:15:02Speaker 16: if it had not had so much water in it.
- 2:15:06Speaker 16: Mister MacGregor was quite sure that Peter was somewhere in
- 2:15:09Speaker 16: the duel shed, perhaps hidden underneath a flower pot. He
- 2:15:13Speaker 16: began to turn them over, carefully looking under each. Presently
- 2:15:18Speaker 16: Peter sneezed, could you Mister MacGregor was after him in
- 2:15:22Speaker 16: no time and tried to put his foot upon Peter,
- 2:15:26Speaker 16: who jumped out of a window, upsetting three plants. The
- 2:15:30Speaker 16: window was too small for mister MacGregor, and he was
- 2:15:32Speaker 16: tired of running after Peter. He went back to his work.
- 2:15:37Speaker 16: Peter sat down to rest. He was out of breath
- 2:15:40Speaker 16: and trembling with fright, and he had not the least
- 2:15:43Speaker 16: idea which way to go. Also, he was very damp
- 2:15:47Speaker 16: with sitting in that can. After a time he began
- 2:15:51Speaker 16: to wander about, going lippity lippity, not very fast, and
- 2:15:56Speaker 16: looking all around. He found a door in a wall,
- 2:16:00Speaker 16: but it was locked, and there was no room for
- 2:16:02Speaker 16: a fat little rabbit to squeeze underneath. An old mouse
- 2:16:06Speaker 16: was running in and out over the stone doorstep, carrying
- 2:16:09Speaker 16: peas and beans to her family in the wood. Peter
- 2:16:13Speaker 16: asked her the way to the gate, but she had
- 2:16:15Speaker 16: such a large pea in her mouth that she could
- 2:16:17Speaker 16: not answer. She only shook her head at him. Peter
- 2:16:21Speaker 16: began to cry. Then he tried to find his way
- 2:16:25Speaker 16: straight across the garden, but he became more and more puzzled.
- 2:16:30Speaker 16: Presently he came to a pond where mister MacGregor filled
- 2:16:32Speaker 16: his water cans. A white cat was staring at some goldfish.
- 2:16:37Speaker 16: She sat very very still, but now and then the
- 2:16:41Speaker 16: tip of her tail twitched as if it were alive.
- 2:16:45Speaker 16: Peter thought it best to go away without speaking to her.
- 2:16:48Speaker 16: He had heard about cats from his cousin, Little Benjamin Bunny.
- 2:16:54Speaker 16: He went back towards the tool shed, but suddenly, quite
- 2:16:57Speaker 16: close to him, he heard the noise of a hoe. Oh, scritch, scratch, scratch, scritch.
- 2:17:07Speaker 16: Peter scuttered underneath the bushes, but presently, as nothing happened,
- 2:17:11Speaker 16: he came out and climbed upon a wheelbarrow and peeped over.
- 2:17:16Speaker 16: The first thing he saw was mister MacGregor, howing onions.
- 2:17:20Speaker 16: His back was turned towards Peter, and beyond him was
- 2:17:23Speaker 16: the gate. Peter got down very quietly off the wheelbarrow
- 2:17:27Speaker 16: and started running as fast as he could go along
- 2:17:30Speaker 16: a straight walk behind some black currant bushes. Mister MacGregor
- 2:17:35Speaker 16: caught sight of him at the corner, but Peter did
- 2:17:37Speaker 16: not care. He slipped underneath the gate and was safe
- 2:17:40Speaker 16: at last. In the wood outside the garden, mister MacGregor
- 2:17:44Speaker 16: hung up the little jacket and the shoes for a
- 2:17:47Speaker 16: scarecrow to frighten the blackbirds. Peter never stopped running or
- 2:17:52Speaker 16: looked behind him till he got home to the big
- 2:17:54Speaker 16: fir tree. He was so tired that he flopped down
- 2:17:58Speaker 16: upon the nice soft sild on the floor of the
- 2:18:01Speaker 16: rabbit hole and shut his eyes. His mother was busy cooking.
- 2:18:07Speaker 16: She wondered what he had done with his clothes. It
- 2:18:10Speaker 16: was the second little jacket and pair of shoes that
- 2:18:12Speaker 16: Peter had lost in a fortnight. I am sorry to
- 2:18:17Speaker 16: say that Peter was not very well. During the evening.
- 2:18:21Speaker 16: His mother put him to bed and made some camomeal tea,
- 2:18:25Speaker 16: and she gave a dose of it to Peter one
- 2:18:28Speaker 16: tablespoonful to be taken at bedtime. But Flopsy, Mopsy and
- 2:18:34Speaker 16: Cottontail had bread and milk and blackberries for supper. The
- 2:18:40Speaker 16: end of Peter Rabbit.
- 2:18:43Speaker 17: The tail of Pigling Bland. Once upon a time there
- 2:18:50Speaker 17: was an old pig called on Petty Toes. She had
- 2:18:54Speaker 17: aid of a family four little girl pigs called cross Patch,
- 2:18:58Speaker 17: Suck Suck, Yaki Yawkin, Spot, and four little boy pigs
- 2:19:03Speaker 17: called Alexander, Pigling Bland, Chinchin, and Stumpy Stumpy. It had
- 2:19:09Speaker 17: an accident to his tail. The eight little pigs had
- 2:19:13Speaker 17: very fine appetites. Yes, yes, yes, they eat, and indeed
- 2:19:19Speaker 17: they do eat, said on Petty Toes, looking at her
- 2:19:23Speaker 17: family with pride. Suddenly there were fearful squeals. Alexander had
- 2:19:29Speaker 17: squeezed inside the hoops of the pig trough and stuck
- 2:19:33Speaker 17: on Petty Tooes, and I dragged him out by the
- 2:19:36Speaker 17: hind legs. Chinchin was already in disgrace. It was washing day,
- 2:19:42Speaker 17: and he had eaten a piece of soap. And presently
- 2:19:45Speaker 17: in a basket of clean clothes, we found another dirty
- 2:19:49Speaker 17: little pig. Chut tut tut, whichever is this grunted on
- 2:19:55Speaker 17: Petty Toes. Now, all the pig family are pink or
- 2:20:00Speaker 17: pink with black spots. But this little pig child was
- 2:20:03Speaker 17: smutty black all over. When they had been popped into
- 2:20:07Speaker 17: a tub, it proved to be yok yok. I went
- 2:20:11Speaker 17: into the garden. There I found cross patch and suck
- 2:20:15Speaker 17: suck rooting up carrots. I whipped them myself and led
- 2:20:19Speaker 17: them out by the ears. Cross Patch tried to bite me,
- 2:20:24Speaker 17: Aunt Petty toes On Petty Toes, you are a worthy person,
- 2:20:29Speaker 17: but your family is not well brought up. Every one
- 2:20:33Speaker 17: of them has been in mischief except Spot and pigling Bland. Yes, yes,
- 2:20:39Speaker 17: sighed on Petty Toes, and they drink bucketfuls of milk.
- 2:20:44Speaker 17: I shall have to get another cow. Good little Spot
- 2:20:47Speaker 17: shall stay at home to do the housework, but the
- 2:20:50Speaker 17: others must go. Four little boy pigs and four little
- 2:20:53Speaker 17: girl pigs are too many altogether. Yes, yes, yes, said
- 2:20:58Speaker 17: Aunt Petty toes. There will be more to eat without them.
- 2:21:03Speaker 17: So Chin Chin and Suck Suck went away in a wheelbarrow,
- 2:21:07Speaker 17: and Stumpy Yok Yok and cross Patch rode away in
- 2:21:11Speaker 17: a cart. And the other two little boy pigs, Pigling
- 2:21:15Speaker 17: Bland and Alexander, went to market. We brushed their coats,
- 2:21:20Speaker 17: we curled their tails, and washed their little faces, and
- 2:21:24Speaker 17: wished them goodbye in the yard on Petty Tooes wiped
- 2:21:29Speaker 17: her eyes with a large pocket handkerchief. Then she wiped
- 2:21:34Speaker 17: Pigling Bland's nose and shed tears. Then she wiped Alexander's
- 2:21:40Speaker 17: nose and shed tears. Then she passed the handkerchief to
- 2:21:44Speaker 17: spot on Petty Toe's side, and grunted and addressed those
- 2:21:49Speaker 17: little pigs as follows Now Pigling Bland, Sun, Pigling Bland,
- 2:21:56Speaker 17: you must go to market, take your brother Alexander by
- 2:21:59Speaker 17: the head, and mine your Sunday clothes, and remember to
- 2:22:03Speaker 17: blow your nose. On Petty Toes passed round the handkerchief again.
- 2:22:10Speaker 17: Beware of traps, hen roos, bacon and eggs. Always walk
- 2:22:16Speaker 17: upon your hind legs. Piggling Bland, who was a sedate
- 2:22:21Speaker 17: little pig, looked solemnly at his mother. A tear trickled
- 2:22:25Speaker 17: down his cheek. On petty Toes turned to the other. Now, son, Alexander,
- 2:22:33Speaker 17: take the hand. Wee wee wee, giggled Alexander, take the
- 2:22:38Speaker 17: hand of your brother, Pigling Bland. You must go to
- 2:22:42Speaker 17: the market. Mind wee wee wee, interrupted Alexander again, you
- 2:22:49Speaker 17: put me out, said on petty toes. Observe sign posts
- 2:22:53Speaker 17: and milestones, do not gobble herring bones. And remember, said
- 2:22:58Speaker 17: I impressively, if you once crossed the county boundary, you
- 2:23:03Speaker 17: cannot come back. Alexander, you are not attending. Here are
- 2:23:08Speaker 17: two licenses permitting two pigs to go to market in Lancashire. Attend, Alexander.
- 2:23:15Speaker 17: I have had no end of trouble in getting these
- 2:23:17Speaker 17: papers from the policemen. Pigling Bland listened gravely. Alexander was
- 2:23:24Speaker 17: hopelessly volatile. I pinned the papers for safety inside their
- 2:23:30Speaker 17: waistcoat pockets on petty tooes, gave to each a little
- 2:23:35Speaker 17: bundle and eight conversation peppermints with appropriate moral sentiments, and
- 2:23:40Speaker 17: screws of paper. Then they started Pigling Bland and Alexander
- 2:23:46Speaker 17: trotted along steadily for a mile, at least Pigling Bland did.
- 2:23:52Speaker 17: Alexander made the road half as long again. By skipping
- 2:23:56Speaker 17: from side to side. He danced about and pinned his brother, singing,
- 2:24:02Speaker 17: this pig went to the market, this pig stayed at home.
- 2:24:05Speaker 17: This pig had a bit of meat. Let's see what
- 2:24:08Speaker 17: they have given us for dinner. Pigling, Pigling Bland, and
- 2:24:12Speaker 17: Alexander sat down and untied their bundles. Alexander gobbled up
- 2:24:19Speaker 17: his dinner in no time. He had already eaten all
- 2:24:22Speaker 17: his own peppermints. Give me one of yours, please, Pigling,
- 2:24:28Speaker 17: But I wish to preserve them for emergencies, said Pigling
- 2:24:31Speaker 17: Bland doubtfully. Alexander went into squeals of laughter. Then he
- 2:24:37Speaker 17: pricked Piggling with the pin that had fastened his pig paper,
- 2:24:41Speaker 17: And when Pigling slapped him, he dropped the pin and
- 2:24:45Speaker 17: tried to take Pigling's pin, and the papers got mixed up.
- 2:24:49Speaker 17: Pigling Bland reproved Alexander, but presently they made it up
- 2:24:55Speaker 17: again and trotted away together, singing, Tom Tom, the pipers
- 2:25:00Speaker 17: sun stole a pig, and away he ran. But all
- 2:25:02Speaker 17: the tune that he could play. Was over the hills
- 2:25:04Speaker 17: and far away. What's that, young sirs, stole a pig?
- 2:25:11Speaker 17: Where are your licenses? Said the policeman. They had nearly
- 2:25:15Speaker 17: run against him. Around a corner. Pigling Bland pulled out
- 2:25:19Speaker 17: his paper. Alexander, after fumbling, handed over something scrumply two
- 2:25:27Speaker 17: two and a half ounce conversation, sweety's at three farthings.
- 2:25:32Speaker 17: What's this? This ain't a license. Alexander's nose lengthened visibly.
- 2:25:39Speaker 17: He had lost it. I had one, indeed I had,
- 2:25:43Speaker 17: mister policeman. It's not likely they let you start without.
- 2:25:49Speaker 17: I am passing the farm. You may walk with me.
- 2:25:53Speaker 17: Can I come back to inquired Pigling Bland. I see
- 2:25:58Speaker 17: no reason, young sir. Your paper is all right. Pigling
- 2:26:02Speaker 17: Bland did not like going on alone, and it was
- 2:26:05Speaker 17: beginning to rain. But it is unwise to argue with
- 2:26:09Speaker 17: the police. He gave his brother a peppermint and watched
- 2:26:13Speaker 17: him out of sight. To conclude the adventures of Alexander,
- 2:26:19Speaker 17: the policeman sauntered up to the house about tea time,
- 2:26:22Speaker 17: followed by a damp, subdued little pig. I disposed of
- 2:26:27Speaker 17: Alexander in the neighborhood. He did fairly well. When he
- 2:26:30Speaker 17: had settled down, Pigling Bland went on alone. Dejectedly. He
- 2:26:38Speaker 17: came to crossroads and a sign post to market Town,
- 2:26:43Speaker 17: five miles over the hills, four miles to Pettyito's farm
- 2:26:50Speaker 17: three miles. Pigling Bland was shocked. There was little hope
- 2:26:56Speaker 17: of sleeping in market Town, and tomorrow was the hiring fair.
- 2:27:01Speaker 17: It was deplorable to think how much time had been
- 2:27:03Speaker 17: wasted by the frivolity of Alexander. He glanced wistfully along
- 2:27:09Speaker 17: the road towards the hills, and then set off, walking
- 2:27:14Speaker 17: obediently the other way, buttoning up his coat against the rain.
- 2:27:19Speaker 17: He had never wanted to go, and the idea of
- 2:27:22Speaker 17: standing all by himself in a crowded market to be
- 2:27:26Speaker 17: stared at, pushed and hired by some big strange farmer
- 2:27:31Speaker 17: was very disagreeable. I wish I could have a little
- 2:27:37Speaker 17: garden and grow potatoes, said Pigling Bland. He put his
- 2:27:42Speaker 17: cold hand in his pocket and felt his paper. He
- 2:27:47Speaker 17: put his other hand in his other pocket and felt
- 2:27:50Speaker 17: another paper. Alexander's Pigling squealed, then ran back frantically, hoping
- 2:27:57Speaker 17: to overtake Alexander and the policeman, and he took a
- 2:28:03Speaker 17: wrong turn, several wrong turns, and was quite lost. It
- 2:28:10Speaker 17: grew dark, the wind whistled, the trees creaked and groaned.
- 2:28:16Speaker 17: Piggling Bland became frightened and.
- 2:28:18Speaker 18: Cried, wee, wee wee, I can't find my way home.
- 2:28:24Speaker 18: After an hour's wandering, he got out of the wood.
- 2:28:28Speaker 18: The moon shone through the clouds, and Pigling Bland saw
- 2:28:32Speaker 18: a country that was new to him. The road crossed
- 2:28:37Speaker 18: a moor. Below was a wide valley with a river
- 2:28:41Speaker 18: twinkling in the moonlight, and beyond, in misty distance, lay
- 2:28:47Speaker 18: the hills. He saw a small wooden hut, made his
- 2:28:51Speaker 18: way to it and crept inside. I am afraid it
- 2:28:56Speaker 18: is a hen house.
- 2:28:58Speaker 17: But what can I do? Said Piggling Bland, Wet and
- 2:29:03Speaker 17: cold and quite tired out. Bacon and eggs. Bacon and
- 2:29:08Speaker 17: eggs clucked a hen on a perch, trap trap trap cackle, cackle, cackle,
- 2:29:15Speaker 17: scolded the disturbed cockrel to market, to market. Chickeny jig
- 2:29:23Speaker 17: clucked a broody white hen roosting next to him. Piggling Bland,
- 2:29:28Speaker 17: much alarmed, determined to leave at daybreak. In the meantime,
- 2:29:33Speaker 17: he and the hens fell asleep. In less than an
- 2:29:36Speaker 17: hour they were all awakened. The owner, mister Peter Thomas Piperson,
- 2:29:43Speaker 17: came with a lantern and a hamper to catch six
- 2:29:46Speaker 17: bowls to take to market in the morning. He grabbed
- 2:29:50Speaker 17: the white hen roosting next to the cock. Then his
- 2:29:54Speaker 17: eye fell upon Pigling Bland, squeezed up in a corner.
- 2:29:58Speaker 17: He made a singular remark, HALLO, here's another. Seize Piggling
- 2:30:04Speaker 17: by the scruff of the neck and dropped him into
- 2:30:07Speaker 17: the hamper. Then he dropped in five more dirty, kicking,
- 2:30:12Speaker 17: cackling hens upon the top of Pigling Bland. The hamper,
- 2:30:19Speaker 17: containing six fowls and a young pig, was no light weight.
- 2:30:24Speaker 17: It was taken downhill unsteadily with jerks. Pigling, although nearly
- 2:30:30Speaker 17: scratched to pieces, contrived to hide the papers and peppermints
- 2:30:34Speaker 17: inside his clothes. At last, the hamper was bumped down
- 2:30:39Speaker 17: upon a kitchen floor, the lid was opened and Pigling
- 2:30:43Speaker 17: was lifted out. He looked up, blinking and saw an
- 2:30:47Speaker 17: offensively ugly elderly man grinning from ear to ear. This
- 2:30:54Speaker 17: one's come of himself, whatever, said mister Piperson, turning Piggling's
- 2:31:00Speaker 17: pockets inside out. He pushed the hamper into a corner,
- 2:31:05Speaker 17: threw a sack over it to keep the hens quiet,
- 2:31:08Speaker 17: put a pot on the fire, and unlaced his boots.
- 2:31:12Speaker 17: Pigling Bland drew forward a copy stool and sat on
- 2:31:16Speaker 17: the edge of it, shyly, warming his hands. Mister Piperson
- 2:31:21Speaker 17: pulled off a boot and threw it against the wainscot.
- 2:31:24Speaker 17: At the further end of the kitchen, there was a
- 2:31:27Speaker 17: smothered noise. Shut up, said mister Piperson. Piggling Bland warmed
- 2:31:33Speaker 17: his hands and eyed him. Mister Piperson pulled off the
- 2:31:38Speaker 17: other boot and flung it after the first. There was
- 2:31:42Speaker 17: again a curious noise. Be quiet, will ye, said mister Piperson.
- 2:31:49Speaker 17: Piggling Bland sat on the very edge of the copy stool.
- 2:31:54Speaker 17: Mister Piperson fetched meal from a chest and made porridge
- 2:31:59Speaker 17: its seas to Pigling that something at the further end
- 2:32:02Speaker 17: of the kitchen was taking a suppressed interest in the cooking,
- 2:32:06Speaker 17: but he was too hungry to be troubled by noises.
- 2:32:11Speaker 17: Mister Piperson poured out three platefuls for himself for Pigling,
- 2:32:17Speaker 17: and a third. After glaring at Pigling, he put away
- 2:32:22Speaker 17: with much scuffling and locked up Pigling bland Ada's supper Discreetly.
- 2:32:30Speaker 17: After supper, mister Piperson consulted an almanac and felt Pigling's ribs.
- 2:32:37Speaker 17: It was too late in the season for curing bacon,
- 2:32:40Speaker 17: and he grudged his meal. Besides, the hens had seen
- 2:32:45Speaker 17: this pig He looked at the small remains of a
- 2:32:50Speaker 17: flitch side of bacon, and then looked undecidedly at Pigling.
- 2:32:56Speaker 17: He may sleep on the rug, said mister Peter Thomas Piperson.
- 2:33:02Speaker 17: Pigling Bland slept like a top. In the morning, mister
- 2:33:06Speaker 17: Piperson made more porridge. The weather was warmer. He looked
- 2:33:12Speaker 17: how much meal was left in the chest and seemed dissatisfied.
- 2:33:17Speaker 17: You'll likely be moving on again, said he to Pigling Bland.
- 2:33:23Speaker 17: Before Pigling could reply, a neighbor who was giving mister
- 2:33:28Speaker 17: Piperson in the hands a lift, whistled from the gate.
- 2:33:33Speaker 17: Mister Piperson hurried out with the hamper, enjoining Pigling to
- 2:33:37Speaker 17: shut the door behind him and not meddle with naught
- 2:33:41Speaker 17: or I'll come back and skin ye, said mister Piperson.
- 2:33:48Speaker 17: It crossed Pigling's mind that if he had asked for
- 2:33:52Speaker 17: a lift too, he might still have been in time
- 2:33:55Speaker 17: for market, but he distrusted Peter Thomas. After finishing breakfast
- 2:34:02Speaker 17: at his leisure, Pigling had a look round the cottage.
- 2:34:06Speaker 17: Everything was locked up. He found some potato peelings in
- 2:34:10Speaker 17: a bucket in the back kitchen. Piggling ate the peel
- 2:34:14Speaker 17: and washed up the porridge plates in the bucket. He
- 2:34:17Speaker 17: sang while he worked tom with his pipe. Made such
- 2:34:21Speaker 17: a noise he called up of the girls and boys,
- 2:34:24Speaker 17: and they all ran to hear in play over the
- 2:34:27Speaker 17: hills and far away. Suddenly, a little smothered voice chimed
- 2:34:33Speaker 17: in over the hills in a great way off the wind.
- 2:34:37Speaker 17: Sh I'll blow my top not off. Piggling Bland put
- 2:34:42Speaker 17: down a plate which she was wiping, and listened. After
- 2:34:47Speaker 17: a long pause, Piggling went on tiptoe and peep round
- 2:34:51Speaker 17: the door into the front kitchen. There was nobody there.
- 2:34:56Speaker 17: After another pause, Piggling approached the door the lock cupboard
- 2:35:01Speaker 17: and snuffed at the keyhole. It was quite quiet. After
- 2:35:07Speaker 17: another long pause, Piggling pushed a peppermint under the door.
- 2:35:12Speaker 17: It was sucked in immediately. In the course of the day,
- 2:35:16Speaker 17: Piggling pushed in all his remaining six peppermints. When mister
- 2:35:22Speaker 17: Piperson returned, he found Piglings sitting before the fire. He
- 2:35:27Speaker 17: had brushed up the hearth and put on the pot
- 2:35:30Speaker 17: to boil. The meal was not get it able. Mister
- 2:35:35Speaker 17: Piperson was very affable. He slapped Piggling on the back,
- 2:35:40Speaker 17: made lots of porridge, and forgot to lock the meal chest.
- 2:35:44Speaker 17: He did lock the cupboard door, but without properly shutting it.
- 2:35:49Speaker 17: He went to bed early and told Piggling upon no
- 2:35:52Speaker 17: account to disturb him. Next day, before twelve o'clock, Piggling
- 2:35:58Speaker 17: Bland sat by the fire, eating his supper all at once.
- 2:36:05Speaker 17: At his elbow, a little voice spoke, my name is Pickwick.
- 2:36:11Speaker 17: Make me more porridge please. Pigling Bland jumped and looked round.
- 2:36:19Speaker 17: A perfectly lovely little black Berkshire pig stood smiling beside him.
- 2:36:26Speaker 17: She had twinkly little screwed up eyes, a double chin,
- 2:36:30Speaker 17: and a short turned up nose. She pointed at Pigling's plate.
- 2:36:36Speaker 17: He hastily gave it to her. And fled to the
- 2:36:39Speaker 17: meal chest. How did you come here, asked pigling Bland. Stolen,
- 2:36:46Speaker 17: replied Pigwig, with her mouth full, Pigling helped himself to
- 2:36:51Speaker 17: meal without scruple. What for bacon hams, replied pigwigs cheerful.
- 2:37:02Speaker 17: Why on earth don't you run away? Exclaimed the horrified Pigling.
- 2:37:08Speaker 17: I shall after supper, said Pigwig. Decidedly. Pigling Bland made
- 2:37:16Speaker 17: more porridge and watched her shyly. She finished a second plate,
- 2:37:21Speaker 17: got up and looked about her as though she were
- 2:37:24Speaker 17: going to start. You can't go in the dark, said
- 2:37:28Speaker 17: pigling Bland. Pigwig looked anxious. Do you know your way
- 2:37:34Speaker 17: by daylight?
- 2:37:37Speaker 19: I know we can see this little white house from
- 2:37:39Speaker 19: the hills across the river. Which way are you going,
- 2:37:43Speaker 19: mister pig.
- 2:37:46Speaker 17: To market? I have two pig papers. I might take
- 2:37:50Speaker 17: you to the bridge, if you have no objection, said Pigling,
- 2:37:54Speaker 17: much confused and sitting on the edge of his copy stool.
- 2:37:59Speaker 17: Pigwig's gratitude was such and she asked so many questions
- 2:38:03Speaker 17: that it became embarrassing to pigling Bland. He was obliged
- 2:38:09Speaker 17: to shut his eyes and pretend to sleep. She became quiet,
- 2:38:14Speaker 17: and there was a smell of peppermint. I thought you
- 2:38:18Speaker 17: would eaten them, said Pigling, waking suddenly, only the corners,
- 2:38:24Speaker 17: replied Pigwig, studying the sentiments with much interest by the firelight.
- 2:38:30Speaker 17: I wish you wouldn't. He might smell them through the ceiling,
- 2:38:34Speaker 17: said the alarm Pigling. Pigwig put back the sticky peppermints
- 2:38:39Speaker 17: into her pocket, sing something she demanded. I am sorry,
- 2:38:46Speaker 17: I have a toothache, said Pigling, much dismayed. Then I
- 2:38:52Speaker 17: will sing, replied Pigwig.
- 2:38:56Speaker 19: You will not mind if I say iddy to ditty.
- 2:38:59Speaker 19: I've forgotten some of the words.
- 2:39:05Speaker 17: Piggling Bland made no objection. He sat with his eyes
- 2:39:09Speaker 17: half shut and watched her. She wagged her head and
- 2:39:14Speaker 17: rocked about, clapping time and singing in a sweet, little
- 2:39:18Speaker 17: grunty voice. A funny old mother pig lived in a sty,
- 2:39:24Speaker 17: and three little piggies had she titty to ditty the
- 2:39:30Speaker 17: ditty umph um um, and the little piggy said wee weee.
- 2:39:37Speaker 17: She sang successfully through three or four verses, only at
- 2:39:41Speaker 17: every verse her head nodded a little lower, and her
- 2:39:45Speaker 17: little twinkly eyes closed up. Those three little piggies.
- 2:39:50Speaker 19: Grew piggy and lean and lean. It might very well be,
- 2:39:56Speaker 19: for somehow they couldn't say hmmm, And they would and
- 2:40:00Speaker 19: say wee wee wee.
- 2:40:03Speaker 17: But somehow they couldn't say. Pigwig's head bob lower and
- 2:40:10Speaker 17: lower until she rolled over a little round ball, fast
- 2:40:15Speaker 17: asleep on the hearth rug. Pigling bland on tiptoe, covered
- 2:40:21Speaker 17: her up with a Nannie mcasser. He was afraid to
- 2:40:26Speaker 17: go to sleep himself. For the rest of the night,
- 2:40:29Speaker 17: he sat listening to the chirping of the crickets and
- 2:40:32Speaker 17: to the snores of mister Piperson overhead. Early in the morning,
- 2:40:38Speaker 17: between dark and daylight, Pigling tied up his little bundle
- 2:40:42Speaker 17: and woke up Pigwig. She was excited and half frightened.
- 2:40:49Speaker 20: But it's dark.
- 2:40:50Speaker 17: How can we find our way? The cock has crowed.
- 2:40:55Speaker 17: We must start before the hens come out, they might
- 2:40:58Speaker 17: shout to mister Piperson. Pigwigs sat down again and commenced
- 2:41:05Speaker 17: to cry, come away, Pigwig, we can see when we
- 2:41:09Speaker 17: get used to it.
- 2:41:11Speaker 3: Come.
- 2:41:11Speaker 17: I can hear them clucking. Pigglin had never said shut
- 2:41:16Speaker 17: to a hen in his life being peaceable. Also, he
- 2:41:21Speaker 17: remembered the hamper. He opened the house door quietly and
- 2:41:27Speaker 17: shut it after them. There was no garden. The neighborhood
- 2:41:31Speaker 17: of mister Piperson's was all scratched up by fowls. They
- 2:41:36Speaker 17: slipped away, hand in hand across an untiny field to
- 2:41:40Speaker 17: the road. Tom Tom, the Piper's son, stole a pig,
- 2:41:44Speaker 17: and away he ran. But all the tune that he
- 2:41:47Speaker 17: could play was over the hills and far away. Come Pigwig.
- 2:41:53Speaker 17: We must get to the bridge before folks are stirring.
- 2:41:58Speaker 17: Why do he want to go to the market at, Pigling,
- 2:42:01Speaker 17: inquired Pigwig. The sun rose while they were crossing the moor,
- 2:42:07Speaker 17: a dazzling of light over the tops of the hills.
- 2:42:11Speaker 17: The sunshine crept down the slopes into the peaceful green valleys.
- 2:42:17Speaker 17: Were little white cottages nestled in gardens and orchids. That's
- 2:42:23Speaker 17: wes Morland, said Pigwig. She dropped Pigling's hand and commenced
- 2:42:28Speaker 17: to dance, singing. Presently, I don't want I want to
- 2:42:35Speaker 17: grow potatoes. Have a peppermint, said Pigwig. Pigling Blan refused
- 2:42:43Speaker 17: quite crossly. Does your poor toothy hurt, inquired Pigwig. Pigling
- 2:42:52Speaker 17: Bland grunted. Pigwig ate the peppermin herself and followed the
- 2:42:57Speaker 17: opposite side of the road. Pigwig, keep under the wall.
- 2:43:02Speaker 17: There's a man plowing. Pigwig crossed over. They hurried down
- 2:43:08Speaker 17: the hill toward the county boundary. Suddenly Pigling stopped. He
- 2:43:16Speaker 17: heard wheels slowly jogging up the road. Below them came
- 2:43:21Speaker 17: a tradesman's cart. The reins flapped on the horse's back.
- 2:43:26Speaker 17: The grocer was reading a newspaper. Take that peppermint out
- 2:43:31Speaker 17: of your mouth, Pigwig, we may have to run. Don't
- 2:43:35Speaker 17: say one word. Leave it to me. And in sight
- 2:43:38Speaker 17: of the bridge, said poor Pigling, nearly crying. He began
- 2:43:44Speaker 17: to walk frightfully lame, holding Pigwig's arm. The grocer, intent
- 2:43:51Speaker 17: upon his newspaper, might have passed them if his horse
- 2:43:55Speaker 17: had not shied and snorted. He pulled the cart crossways
- 2:44:00Speaker 17: and held down his whip. Hello, where are you going
- 2:44:03Speaker 17: to Piggling Bland stared at him vacantly. Are you deaf?
- 2:44:09Speaker 17: Are you going to market? Piggling nodded slowly. I thought
- 2:44:14Speaker 17: as much it was yesterday. Show me your license. Piggling
- 2:44:20Speaker 17: stared at the off hind shoe of the grocer's horse,
- 2:44:24Speaker 17: which had picked up a stone. The grocer flicked his
- 2:44:28Speaker 17: whip papers pig License. Piggling fumbled in all his pockets
- 2:44:34Speaker 17: and handed up the papers. The grocer read them, but
- 2:44:38Speaker 17: still seemed dissatisfied. This here, pig is a young lady.
- 2:44:43Speaker 17: Is her name Alexander? Pigwig opened her mouth and shut
- 2:44:49Speaker 17: it again. Pigling coughed asthmatically. The grocer ran his finger
- 2:44:55Speaker 17: down the advertisement column of his newspaper, loss stolen or
- 2:45:01Speaker 17: strayed ten s reward. He looked suspiciously at Pigwig. Then
- 2:45:11Speaker 17: he stood up in the trap and whistled for the plowman.
- 2:45:16Speaker 17: You wait here, Will I drive on and speak to him,
- 2:45:19Speaker 17: said the grocer, gathering up the reins. He knew that
- 2:45:23Speaker 17: pigs are slippery, but surely such a very lame pig
- 2:45:28Speaker 17: could never run. Not yet, Pigwig, He will look back.
- 2:45:34Speaker 17: The grocer did so. He saw the two pigs stalk
- 2:45:37Speaker 17: still in the middle of the road. Then he looked
- 2:45:41Speaker 17: over at his horse's heels. It was lame also. The
- 2:45:46Speaker 17: stone took some time to knock out. After he got
- 2:45:49Speaker 17: to the plowman. Now pigwig, now said Pigling Bland. Never
- 2:45:56Speaker 17: did any pigs run as these pigs ran. They they
- 2:46:00Speaker 17: raced and squealed and pelted down the long white hill
- 2:46:03Speaker 17: towards the bridge. Little fat Pigwig's petticoats fluttered and her
- 2:46:09Speaker 17: feet went pitter patter, pitter, as she bounded and jumped.
- 2:46:13Speaker 17: They ran, and they ran, and they ran down the
- 2:46:16Speaker 17: hill and across a short cut on level green turf
- 2:46:19Speaker 17: at the bottom, between pebble beds and rushes. They came
- 2:46:24Speaker 17: to the river. They came to the bridge. They crossed
- 2:46:27Speaker 17: it hand in hand. Then over the hills, and far
- 2:46:31Speaker 17: away she danced with Pigling Bland.
- 2:46:35Speaker 20: The tail of squirrel Netkin a story for Norah. This
- 2:46:40Speaker 20: is a tail about a tail, a tail that belonged
- 2:46:44Speaker 20: to a little red squirrel. In his name was Nutkin.
- 2:46:49Speaker 20: He had a brother called Twinkleberry, and a great many cousins.
- 2:46:53Speaker 20: They lived in a wood at the edge of a lake.
- 2:46:56Speaker 20: In the middle of the lake there is an island
- 2:46:59Speaker 20: covered which trees and nuts and bushes, And amongst those
- 2:47:03Speaker 20: trees stands a hollow oak tree, which is the house
- 2:47:07Speaker 20: of an owl who is called old Brown one autumn,
- 2:47:12Speaker 20: when the nuts were ripe and the leaves on the
- 2:47:15Speaker 20: hazel bushes were golden and green. Nutkin and Twinkleberry and
- 2:47:20Speaker 20: all the other little squirrels came out of the wood
- 2:47:23Speaker 20: and down to the edge of the lake. They made
- 2:47:26Speaker 20: little rafts out of twigs, and they paddled away over
- 2:47:30Speaker 20: the water to Owl Island to gather nuts. Each squirrel
- 2:47:35Speaker 20: had a little sack and a large ore, and spread
- 2:47:39Speaker 20: out his tail for a sail. They also took with
- 2:47:42Speaker 20: them an offering of three fat mice as a present
- 2:47:46Speaker 20: for Old Brown, and put them down upon his doorstep.
- 2:47:51Speaker 20: Then Twinkleberry and the other little squirrels each made a
- 2:47:55Speaker 20: low bow and said politely, old mister Brown, will you
- 2:48:00Speaker 20: favor us with permission to gather nuts upon your island.
- 2:48:04Speaker 20: But Nutkin was excessively impertinent in his manners. He bobbed
- 2:48:09Speaker 20: up and down like a little red cherry, singing, riddle me,
- 2:48:13Speaker 20: riddle me, rot tot toat a littley man in a
- 2:48:16Speaker 20: red red coat, a staff in his hand and a
- 2:48:20Speaker 20: stone in his throat. If you'll tell me this riddle,
- 2:48:23Speaker 20: I'll give you a groat. Now this riddle is as
- 2:48:27Speaker 20: old as the hills mister Brown paid no attention whatever
- 2:48:31Speaker 20: to Nutkin. He shut his eyes obstinately and went to sleep.
- 2:48:36Speaker 20: The squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts and sailed
- 2:48:40Speaker 20: home in the evening. But next morning they all came
- 2:48:43Speaker 20: back again to Owl Island, and Twinkleberry and the others
- 2:48:47Speaker 20: brought a fine fat mole and laid it on the
- 2:48:51Speaker 20: stone in front of old Brown's doorway, and said, mister Brown,
- 2:48:56Speaker 20: will you favor us with your gracious permission to gather
- 2:48:59Speaker 20: some more nuts. But Nutkin, who had no respect, began
- 2:49:03Speaker 20: to dance up and down, tickling old mister Brown with
- 2:49:06Speaker 20: a nettle and singing, old mister b riddle me ree,
- 2:49:11Speaker 20: hitty pity within the wall, hitty pity without the wall.
- 2:49:15Speaker 20: If you touch hitty pity, hitty pity will bite you.
- 2:49:19Speaker 20: Mister Brown woke up suddenly and carried the mole into
- 2:49:22Speaker 20: his house. He shut the door in Nutkin's face. Presently,
- 2:49:27Speaker 20: a little thread of blue smoke from a wood fire
- 2:49:31Speaker 20: came up from the top of the tree, and Nutkin
- 2:49:34Speaker 20: peeped through the keyhole and sang, a house full, a
- 2:49:38Speaker 20: hole full, and you cannot gather a bowlful. The squirrels
- 2:49:43Speaker 20: searched for nuts all over the island and filled their
- 2:49:46Speaker 20: little sacks. But Nutkin gathered oak apples, yellow and scarlet,
- 2:49:52Speaker 20: and sat upon a beech stump, playing marbles and watching
- 2:49:56Speaker 20: the door of old mister Brown. On the third day,
- 2:50:00Speaker 20: the squirrels got up very early and went fishing. They
- 2:50:03Speaker 20: caught seven fat minnows. As a present for Old Brown,
- 2:50:07Speaker 20: they paddled over the lake and landed under a crooked
- 2:50:11Speaker 20: chestnut tree on Owl Island. Twinkleberry and six other little
- 2:50:17Speaker 20: squirrels each carried a fat minnow. But Nutkin, who had
- 2:50:21Speaker 20: no nice manners, brought no present at all. He ran
- 2:50:25Speaker 20: in front singing. The man in the wilderness said to me,
- 2:50:29Speaker 20: how may strawberries grow in the sea? I answered him
- 2:50:33Speaker 20: as I thought good, as many red herrings as grow
- 2:50:36Speaker 20: in the wood. But old mister Brown took no interest
- 2:50:40Speaker 20: in riddles, not even when the answer was provided for him.
- 2:50:45Speaker 20: On the fourth day, the squirrels brought a present of
- 2:50:48Speaker 20: six fat beetles, which were as good as plums in
- 2:50:52Speaker 20: plum pudding, for Old Brown. Each beetle was wrapped up
- 2:50:56Speaker 20: carefully in a dock leaf, fastened with a pine needle pin.
- 2:51:01Speaker 20: But Nutkins sang as rudely as ever Old mister b
- 2:51:06Speaker 20: riddle me rie, flower of England, fruit of Spain, met
- 2:51:10Speaker 20: together in a shower of rain, put in a bag
- 2:51:13Speaker 20: tied round with a string. If you'll tell me this riddle,
- 2:51:17Speaker 20: I'll give you a ring, which was ridiculous of Nutkin
- 2:51:22Speaker 20: because he had not got any ring to give to
- 2:51:25Speaker 20: Old Brown. The other squirrels hunted up and down the
- 2:51:28Speaker 20: nut bushes, but Nutkin gathered Robin's pincushions off a briar
- 2:51:33Speaker 20: bush and stuck them full of pine needle pins. On
- 2:51:38Speaker 20: the fifth day, the squirrels brought a present of wild honey.
- 2:51:42Speaker 20: It was so sweet and sticky that they licked their
- 2:51:45Speaker 20: fingers as they put it down upon the stone. They
- 2:51:48Speaker 20: had stolen it out of a bumble bees ness on
- 2:51:51Speaker 20: the tippitty top of the hill. But Nutkins skipped up
- 2:51:54Speaker 20: and down, singing, humma bum buzz buzz, humma bum buzz.
- 2:52:00Speaker 20: All I went over tipple tine, I met a flock
- 2:52:03Speaker 20: of bonny swine, some yellow nackt some yellow backed. They
- 2:52:09Speaker 20: were the very bonniest swine that ear went over the
- 2:52:13Speaker 20: tipple tine. Old mister Brown turned up his eyes in
- 2:52:17Speaker 20: disgust at the impertinence of Nutkin, but he ate up
- 2:52:22Speaker 20: the honey. The squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts,
- 2:52:26Speaker 20: but Nutkins sat upon a big flat rock and played
- 2:52:30Speaker 20: nine pins with a crab, apple and green fir cones.
- 2:52:34Speaker 20: On the sixth day, which was Saturday, the squirrels came
- 2:52:38Speaker 20: again for the last time. They brought a new laid
- 2:52:41Speaker 20: egg in a little rush basket as a last parting
- 2:52:45Speaker 20: present for Old Brown. But Nutkin ran in front, laughing
- 2:52:49Speaker 20: and shouting, Humpty Dumpty lies in the beck with a
- 2:52:53Speaker 20: white counterpane round his neck. Forty doctors and forty rights
- 2:52:57Speaker 20: cannot put Humpty Dumpty too rights. Now old mister Brown
- 2:53:02Speaker 20: took an interest in eggs. He opened one eye and
- 2:53:05Speaker 20: shut it again, but still he did not speak. Nutkin
- 2:53:10Speaker 20: became more and more impertinent. Old mister b Old, mister
- 2:53:15Speaker 20: b hiccamore hackamore on the King's kitchen door. All the
- 2:53:19Speaker 20: King's horses and all the king's men couldn't drive hiccamore
- 2:53:23Speaker 20: hackamore off the King's kitchen door. Nutkin danced up and
- 2:53:28Speaker 20: down like a sunbeam, but still Old Brown said nothing
- 2:53:32Speaker 20: at all. Nutkin began again. Arthur o'bower has broken his band.
- 2:53:38Speaker 20: He comes roaring up the land. The King of Scots,
- 2:53:41Speaker 20: with all his power, cannot turn Arthur off the bower.
- 2:53:46Speaker 20: Nutkin made a whirring noise to round like the wind,
- 2:53:50Speaker 20: and he took a running jump right on to the
- 2:53:52Speaker 20: head of Old Brown. Then all at once there was
- 2:53:55Speaker 20: a flutterment, and a scufflement, and a loud squeak. The
- 2:54:00Speaker 20: other squirrels scuttered away into the bushes. When they came back,
- 2:54:05Speaker 20: very cautiously, peeping round the tree, there was Old Brown
- 2:54:09Speaker 20: sitting on his door step, quite still, with his eyes closed,
- 2:54:14Speaker 20: as if nothing had happened. But Nutkin was in his
- 2:54:19Speaker 20: waistcoat pocket. This looks like the end of the story,
- 2:54:23Speaker 20: but it isn't. Old Brown carried Nutkin into his house
- 2:54:27Speaker 20: and held em up by the tail, intending to skin him.
- 2:54:31Speaker 20: But Nutkin pulled so very hard that his tail broke
- 2:54:34Speaker 20: in two, and he dashed up the staircase and escaped
- 2:54:38Speaker 20: out of the attic window. And to this day, if
- 2:54:42Speaker 20: you meet Nutkin up a tree and ask him a riddle,
- 2:54:46Speaker 20: he will throw sticks at you and stamp his feet
- 2:54:49Speaker 20: and scold and shout.
- 2:54:51Speaker 3: Ccuck a co co co co co co cock.
- 2:54:55Speaker 21: Once upon a time. There was a little, fat, comfortable,
- 2:54:59Speaker 21: grace squirrel called Timmy Tiptoes. He had a nest thatched
- 2:55:05Speaker 21: with leaves in the top of a tall tree, and
- 2:55:09Speaker 21: he had a little squirrel wife called Goody. Timmy Tiptoes
- 2:55:15Speaker 21: sat out enjoying the breeze. He whisked his tail and
- 2:55:19Speaker 21: chuckled little wife Goody. The nuts are ripe. We must
- 2:55:24Speaker 21: lay up a store for winter and spring. Goody Tiptoes
- 2:55:29Speaker 21: was busy pushing moss under the thatch. The nest is
- 2:55:33Speaker 21: so snug, we shall be sound asleep all winter. Then
- 2:55:38Speaker 21: we shall wake up all the thinner when there is
- 2:55:41Speaker 21: nothing to eat in spring time, replied prudent Timothy. When
- 2:55:46Speaker 21: Timmy and Goody Tiptoes came to the nut thicket, they
- 2:55:49Speaker 21: found other squirrels were there already. Timmy took off his
- 2:55:54Speaker 21: jacket and hung it on a twig. They worked away
- 2:55:57Speaker 21: quietly by themselves. Every day they made several journeys and
- 2:56:02Speaker 21: picked up quantities of nuts. They carried them away in
- 2:56:06Speaker 21: bags and stored them in several hollow stumps near the
- 2:56:10Speaker 21: tree where they had built their nest. When these stumps
- 2:56:13Speaker 21: were full, they began to empty the bags into a
- 2:56:16Speaker 21: hole high up a tree that had belonged to a woodpecker.
- 2:56:21Speaker 21: The nuts rattled down, down down inside. How shall you
- 2:56:27Speaker 21: ever get them out again? It is like a money box,
- 2:56:31Speaker 21: said goody, I shall be much thinner before a spring time,
- 2:56:35Speaker 21: my love, said timmy tiptoes, peeping into the hole. They
- 2:56:40Speaker 21: did collect quantities because they did not lose them. Squirrels
- 2:56:46Speaker 21: who bury their nuts in the ground lose more than
- 2:56:49Speaker 21: half because they cannot remember the place. The most forgetful
- 2:56:54Speaker 21: squirrel in the wood was called silvertail. He began to dig,
- 2:56:59Speaker 21: and he could not remember. And then he dug again
- 2:57:02Speaker 21: and found some nuts that did not belong to him,
- 2:57:05Speaker 21: And there was a fight, and other squirrels began to dig.
- 2:57:10Speaker 21: The whole wood was in commotion. Unfortunately, just at this time,
- 2:57:16Speaker 21: a flock of little birds flew by from bush to bush,
- 2:57:20Speaker 21: searching for green caterpillars and spiders. There were several sorts
- 2:57:25Speaker 21: of little birds, twittering different songs. The first one sang,
- 2:57:30Speaker 21: who's been digging up my nuts? Who's been digging up
- 2:57:33Speaker 21: my nuts? And another sang little bit of bread and
- 2:57:37Speaker 21: no cheese, A little bit of bread and no cheese.
- 2:57:41Speaker 21: The squirrels followed and listened. The first little bird flew
- 2:57:45Speaker 21: into the bush where Timmy and Goody Tiptoes were quietly
- 2:57:48Speaker 21: tying up their bags, and it sang.
- 2:57:51Speaker 6: Who's been digging up my nuts?
- 2:57:53Speaker 21: Who's been digging up my nuts? Timmy Tiptoes went on
- 2:57:57Speaker 21: with his work without replying. Indeed, the little bird did
- 2:58:00Speaker 21: not expect an answer. It was only singing its natural song,
- 2:58:04Speaker 21: and it meant nothing at all. But when the other
- 2:58:08Speaker 21: squirrels heard that song, they rushed upon Timmy Tiptoes and
- 2:58:12Speaker 21: cuffed him and scratched him and upset his bag of nuts.
- 2:58:16Speaker 21: The innocent little bird, which had caused all the mischief,
- 2:58:19Speaker 21: flew away in a fright. Timmy rolled over and over,
- 2:58:25Speaker 21: and then turned tail and fled toward his nest, followed
- 2:58:28Speaker 21: by a crowd of squirrels shouting, who's been digging up
- 2:58:31Speaker 21: my nuts? They caught him, and they dragged him up
- 2:58:35Speaker 21: the very same tree where there was the little round hole,
- 2:58:38Speaker 21: and they pushed him in. The hole was much too
- 2:58:42Speaker 21: small for Timmy Tiptoe's figure. They squeezed him in dreadfully.
- 2:58:47Speaker 21: It was a wonder they didn't break his ribs. We
- 2:58:50Speaker 21: will leave him here till he confesses, said silvertail squirrel,
- 2:58:55Speaker 21: and he shouted into the hole, who's been digging up
- 2:58:58Speaker 21: my nuts? Timmy Tiptoes made no reply. He had tumbled
- 2:59:03Speaker 21: down inside the tree upon half a peck of nuts
- 2:59:07Speaker 21: belonging to himself. He lay quite stunned and still. Goody
- 2:59:12Speaker 21: Tiptoes picked up the nut bags and went home. She
- 2:59:16Speaker 21: made a cup of tea for Timmy, but he didn't come,
- 2:59:19Speaker 21: and didn't come. Goody Tiptoes passed a lonely and unhappy night.
- 2:59:26Speaker 21: Next morning, she ventured back to the nut bushes to
- 2:59:29Speaker 21: look for him, but the other unkind squirrels drove her away.
- 2:59:35Speaker 21: She wondered all over the wood, calling Timmy Tiptoes, Timmy Tiptoes, Oh,
- 2:59:41Speaker 21: where is Timmy Tiptoes. In the meantime, Timmy Tiptoes came
- 2:59:47Speaker 21: to his senses. He found himself tucked up in a
- 2:59:50Speaker 21: little moss bed, very much in the dark, feeling sore.
- 2:59:55Speaker 21: It seemed to be underground. Timmy coughed and groaned because
- 3:00:00Speaker 21: his ribs hurt him. There was a chirpy noise, and
- 3:00:05Speaker 21: a small striped chipmunk appeared with a nightlight and hoped
- 3:00:08Speaker 21: he felt better. It was most kind to Timmy Tiptoes.
- 3:00:13Speaker 21: It lent him its nightcap, and the house was full
- 3:00:16Speaker 21: of provisions. The chipmunk explained that it had rained nuts
- 3:00:21Speaker 21: through the top of the tree. Besides, I found a
- 3:00:24Speaker 21: few buried. It laughed and chuckled when it heard Timmy's story.
- 3:00:29Speaker 21: While Timmy was confined to bed, it enticed him to
- 3:00:31Speaker 21: eat quantities. But how shall I ever get through that
- 3:00:35Speaker 21: hole unless I find myself My wife will be anxious.
- 3:00:41Speaker 21: Just another nut or two nuts, Let me crack them
- 3:00:44Speaker 21: for you, said the chipmunk. Timmy Tiptoes grew fatter and fatter.
- 3:00:49Speaker 21: Now Goody Tiptoes had set to work again by herself.
- 3:00:53Speaker 21: She did not put any more nuts into the woodpecker's hole,
- 3:00:57Speaker 21: because she had always doubted how they could be got
- 3:01:00Speaker 21: out again. She hid them under a tree root. They
- 3:01:05Speaker 21: rattled down, down, down, Once when Goody emptied an extra
- 3:01:09Speaker 21: big bagful, there was a decided squeak, And the next
- 3:01:13Speaker 21: time Goody bought another bagful, a little striped chipmunk scrambled
- 3:01:18Speaker 21: out in a hurry. It's getting perfectly full. Up downstairs.
- 3:01:22Speaker 21: The sitting room is full, and they are rolling along
- 3:01:24Speaker 21: the passage, and my husband, Chippy Hackee, has run away
- 3:01:28Speaker 21: and left me. What is the explanation of these showers
- 3:01:31Speaker 21: of nuts? I'm sure I beg your pardon. I did
- 3:01:35Speaker 21: not know that anybody lived there, said missus Goody Tiptoes.
- 3:01:39Speaker 21: But where is Chippy Hackee. My husband, Timmy Tiptoes, has
- 3:01:43Speaker 21: run away too. I know where Chippy Hackey is, a
- 3:01:47Speaker 21: little bird told me, said missus Chippy Hackee, And she
- 3:01:52Speaker 21: led the way to the woodpecker's tree, and they listened
- 3:01:55Speaker 21: at the hole. Down below, there was a noise of nutcrackers,
- 3:01:59Speaker 21: and a fat squirrel voice and a thin squirrel voice
- 3:02:03Speaker 21: were singing together. My little old man and I fell out.
- 3:02:07Speaker 21: How shall we bring this matter about? Bring it about
- 3:02:11Speaker 21: as well as you can, and get you gone, you
- 3:02:13Speaker 21: little old man. You could squeeze in through that little
- 3:02:18Speaker 21: round hole, said Goody Tiptoes. Yes I could, said the chipmunk.
- 3:02:24Speaker 21: But my husband Chippy Hackee bites. Down below there was
- 3:02:30Speaker 21: a noise of cracking nuts and nibbling, and then the
- 3:02:33Speaker 21: fat squirrel voice and the thin squirrel voice sang for
- 3:02:36Speaker 21: the diddlum day day diddle dum die day, diddle diddle
- 3:02:39Speaker 21: dum day. Then Goody peeped in at the hole and
- 3:02:43Speaker 21: called down Timmy Tiptoes. Oh five, Timmy Tiptoes. And Timmy replied,
- 3:02:50Speaker 21: is that you Goody Tiptoes?
- 3:02:52Speaker 11: Why?
- 3:02:52Speaker 21: Certainly he came up and kissed Goody through the hole,
- 3:02:57Speaker 21: but he was so fat that he could not get out.
- 3:03:01Speaker 21: Chippy Hackee was not too fat, but he did not
- 3:03:04Speaker 21: want to come. He stayed below and chuckled. And so
- 3:03:08Speaker 21: it went on for a fortnight till a big wind
- 3:03:12Speaker 21: blew off the top of the tree and opened up
- 3:03:15Speaker 21: the hole and let in the rain. Then Timmy Tiptoes
- 3:03:18Speaker 21: came out and went home with an umbrella. But Chippy
- 3:03:22Speaker 21: Hackee continued to camp out for another week, although it
- 3:03:26Speaker 21: was uncomfortable. At last, a large bear came walking through
- 3:03:30Speaker 21: the wood. Perhaps he also was looking for nuts. He
- 3:03:35Speaker 21: seemed to be sniffing around. Chippy Hackee went home in
- 3:03:38Speaker 21: a hurry. And when Chippy Hackee got home, he found
- 3:03:42Speaker 21: he had caught a cold in his head, and he
- 3:03:45Speaker 21: was more uncomfortable still. And now Timmy and Goody Tiptoes
- 3:03:51Speaker 21: keep their nut store fastened up with a little padlock.
- 3:03:55Speaker 21: And whenever that little bird sees the chipmunks, he sings,
- 3:03:59Speaker 21: Who's been digging up my nuts? Who's been digging up
- 3:04:02Speaker 21: my nuts? But nobody ever answers.
- 3:04:06Speaker 22: Once upon a time there were three little kittens, and
- 3:04:09Speaker 22: their names were Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet. They had
- 3:04:14Speaker 22: dear little fur coats of their own, and they tumbled
- 3:04:17Speaker 22: about the doorstep and played in the dust. But one
- 3:04:20Speaker 22: day their mother, Missus Tabitha Twitchet, expected friends to tea,
- 3:04:26Speaker 22: so she fetched the kittens indoors to wash and dress
- 3:04:29Speaker 22: them before the fine company arrived. First she scrubbed their faces.
- 3:04:34Speaker 22: This one is Moppet. Then she brushed their fur. This
- 3:04:38Speaker 22: one is Mittens. Then she combed their tails and whiskers.
- 3:04:42Speaker 22: This is tom Kitten. Tom was very naughty and he scratched.
- 3:04:48Speaker 22: Missus Tabitha addressed Moppet and Mittens in clean pinafores and tuckers,
- 3:04:53Speaker 22: And then she took all sorts of elegant, uncomfortable clothes
- 3:04:56Speaker 22: out of a chest of drawers in order to dress
- 3:04:58Speaker 22: up her son. Thomas. Tom Kitten, was very fat, and
- 3:05:03Speaker 22: he had grown several buttons burst off. His mother sewed
- 3:05:08Speaker 22: them on again. When the three kittens were ready, Missus
- 3:05:12Speaker 22: Tabitha unwisely turned them out into the garden to be
- 3:05:15Speaker 22: out of the way while she made hot buttered toast.
- 3:05:18Speaker 22: Now keep your frocks clean, children, You must walk on
- 3:05:21Speaker 22: your hind legs, keep away from the dirty ash bit,
- 3:05:25Speaker 22: and from Sally Henny Penny, and from the pig sty
- 3:05:29Speaker 22: and the puddle ducks. Moppet and Mittens walked down the
- 3:05:33Speaker 22: garden path unsteadily. Presently they trod upon their pinafores and
- 3:05:38Speaker 22: fell on their noses. When they stood up, there were
- 3:05:41Speaker 22: several green smears. Let us climb up the rockery and
- 3:05:46Speaker 22: sit on the garden wall, said Moppet. They turned their
- 3:05:50Speaker 22: pinafores back to front and went up. With a skip
- 3:05:53Speaker 22: and a jump. Moppet's white tucker fell down into the road.
- 3:05:59Speaker 22: Tom Kitten was quite unable to jump when walking upon
- 3:06:02Speaker 22: his hind legs and trousers. He came up the rockery
- 3:06:05Speaker 22: by degrees, breaking the ferns and shedding buttons right and left.
- 3:06:10Speaker 22: He was all in pieces when he reached the top
- 3:06:13Speaker 22: of the wall. Mapa and Mittens tried to pull them together.
- 3:06:17Speaker 22: His hat fell off and the rest of his buttons burst.
- 3:06:22Speaker 22: While they were in difficulties, there was a pit paddle
- 3:06:26Speaker 22: pat and the three puddle ducks came along the hard
- 3:06:29Speaker 22: high road, marching one behind the other and doing the
- 3:06:32Speaker 22: goose step pit pat, paddle pat, pit pat, wattle pat.
- 3:06:37Speaker 22: They stopped and stood in a row and stared up
- 3:06:40Speaker 22: at the kittens. They had very small eyes and looked surprised.
- 3:06:45Speaker 22: Then the two duck birds, Rebecca and Jemima puddle Duck,
- 3:06:49Speaker 22: picked up the hat and tucker and put them on.
- 3:06:54Speaker 22: Mittens laughed so that she fell off the wall. Mop
- 3:06:57Speaker 22: and Tom descended after her. The pins and all the
- 3:07:01Speaker 22: rest of tom clothes came off on the way down.
- 3:07:06Speaker 22: Come mister Drake, puddle Duck, said Moppett, Come and help
- 3:07:10Speaker 22: us to dress him. Come and button up Tom. Mister
- 3:07:13Speaker 22: Drake Puddleduck advanced in a slow sideways manner and picked
- 3:07:17Speaker 22: up the various articles, but he put them on himself.
- 3:07:22Speaker 22: They fitted him even worse than Tom kitten. So very
- 3:07:26Speaker 22: fine morning, said mister Drake Puddleduck, And he and Jemima
- 3:07:31Speaker 22: and Rebecca puddle Duck set off up the road, keeping
- 3:07:34Speaker 22: step pit pat, paddle pat, pit pat, wattle pat. Then
- 3:07:40Speaker 22: Tabitha Twitchet came down the garden and found her kittens
- 3:07:44Speaker 22: on the wall with no clothes on She pulled them
- 3:07:46Speaker 22: off the wall, smacked them and took them back to
- 3:07:49Speaker 22: the house. My friends will arrive in a minute, and
- 3:07:53Speaker 22: you are not fit to be seen. I am affronted,
- 3:07:56Speaker 22: said missus tabbitha twitchet. She sent them upstairs, and I
- 3:08:00Speaker 22: am sorry to say she told her friends that they
- 3:08:03Speaker 22: were in bed with the measles, which was not true.
- 3:08:06Speaker 22: Quite the contrary, they were not in bed, not in
- 3:08:09Speaker 22: the least. Somehow, there were very extraordinary noises overhead which
- 3:08:15Speaker 22: disturbed the dignity and repose of the tea party. And
- 3:08:20Speaker 22: I think that some day I shall have to make
- 3:08:22Speaker 22: another larger book to tell you more about Tom Kitten.
- 3:08:26Speaker 22: As for the puddle Ducks, they went into a pond.
- 3:08:30Speaker 22: The clothes all came off directly because there were no buttons,
- 3:08:33Speaker 22: and mister Drake Puddle Duck, and Jemima and Rebecca have
- 3:08:38Speaker 22: been looking for them ever since.
- 3:08:41Speaker 23: Once upon a time there was a very beautiful doll's house.
- 3:08:46Speaker 23: It was red brick with white windows, and it had
- 3:08:50Speaker 23: real muslin curtains and a front door and a chimney.
- 3:08:56Speaker 23: It belonged to two dolls called Lucinda and Jane. At
- 3:09:00Speaker 23: least they belonged to Lucinda, but she never ordered meals.
- 3:09:05Speaker 23: Jane was the cook, but she never did any cooking
- 3:09:09Speaker 23: because the dinner had been bought ready made in a
- 3:09:12Speaker 23: box full of shavings. There were two red lobsters, and
- 3:09:19Speaker 23: a ham, a fish, a pudding, and some pears and oranges.
- 3:09:26Speaker 23: They would not come off the plates, but they were
- 3:09:28Speaker 23: extremely beautiful. One morning, Lucinda and Jane had gone out
- 3:09:35Speaker 23: for a drive in the doll's preambulator. There was no
- 3:09:40Speaker 23: one in the nursery and it was very quiet. Presently,
- 3:09:45Speaker 23: there was a little scuffling scratching noise in the corner
- 3:09:50Speaker 23: near the fireplace, where there was a hole under the
- 3:09:53Speaker 23: skirting board. Tom Thumb put out his head for a
- 3:09:59Speaker 23: moment and then popped it in again. Tom Thumb was
- 3:10:04Speaker 23: a mouse. A minute afterwards, hunka Manka, his wife, put
- 3:10:11Speaker 23: her head out too, and when she saw that there
- 3:10:14Speaker 23: was no one in the nursery, she ventured out on
- 3:10:17Speaker 23: the oilcloth under the coal box. The doll's house stood
- 3:10:22Speaker 23: at the other side of the fireplace. Tom Thumb and
- 3:10:26Speaker 23: Hunkamunca went cautiously across the heart rug. They pushed the
- 3:10:35Speaker 23: front door. It was not fast. Tom Thumb and Hunka
- 3:10:41Speaker 23: Manka went upstairs and peeped into the dining room. Then
- 3:10:45Speaker 23: they squeaked with joy. Such a lovely dinner was laid
- 3:10:50Speaker 23: out upon the table. They were tin spoons and lead
- 3:10:54Speaker 23: knives and forks, and two dolly chairs, all so convenient.
- 3:11:02Speaker 23: Tom Thumb set to work at once to carve the ham.
- 3:11:06Speaker 23: It was a beautiful, shiny yellow streaked with red. The
- 3:11:13Speaker 23: knife crumpled up and hurt him. He put his finger
- 3:11:17Speaker 23: to his mouth. It is not boiled enough. It is hard.
- 3:11:22Speaker 23: You have a try, Hunkamuncah. Hunkamunkah stood up in her
- 3:11:27Speaker 23: chair and chopped at the ham with another lead knife.
- 3:11:33Speaker 23: It's as hard as the ham's at the cheesemongers, said
- 3:11:35Speaker 23: Hunka Munka. The ham broke off the plate with a
- 3:11:39Speaker 23: jerk and rolled under the table let it alone. Said
- 3:11:45Speaker 23: Tom Thumb, Give me some fish, Hunkamuncah. Hunkamunca tried every
- 3:11:52Speaker 23: tin spoon in turn. The fish was glued to the dish.
- 3:11:58Speaker 23: Then Tom Thumb lost his temper. He put the ham
- 3:12:02Speaker 23: in the middle of the floor and hit it with
- 3:12:05Speaker 23: the tongs and with the shovel bang bang, smash, smash,
- 3:12:11Speaker 23: the ham flew all into pieces, for underneath the shiny paint,
- 3:12:16Speaker 23: it was made of nothing but plaster. There was no
- 3:12:20Speaker 23: end to the rage and disappointment of Tom Thumb and Hunkamunka.
- 3:12:24Speaker 23: They broke up the pudding, the lobsters, the pears, and
- 3:12:27Speaker 23: the oranges. As the fish would not come off the plate,
- 3:12:31Speaker 23: they put it into the red hot, crinkly paper fire
- 3:12:34Speaker 23: in the kitchen, but it would not burn either. Tom
- 3:12:38Speaker 23: Thumb went up to the kitchen chimney and looked out
- 3:12:41Speaker 23: at the top. There was no soot. While Tom Thumb
- 3:12:46Speaker 23: was up the chimney, Hunka Munka had another disappointment. She
- 3:12:49Speaker 23: found some tiny canisters upon the dresser labeled rice coffee Sago,
- 3:12:56Speaker 23: but when she turned them upside down, there was nothing
- 3:12:58Speaker 23: inside but red and blue beads. Then those mice set
- 3:13:06Speaker 23: to work to do all the mischief they could, especially
- 3:13:08Speaker 23: Tom Thumb. He took Jane's clothes out of the chest
- 3:13:12Speaker 23: to drawers in her bedroom and he threw them out
- 3:13:16Speaker 23: of the top floor window. But hun Kamnka had a
- 3:13:20Speaker 23: frugal mind. After pulling half the feathers out of Lucinda's bolster,
- 3:13:26Speaker 23: she remembered that she herself was in want of a
- 3:13:28Speaker 23: feather bed. With Tom Thumb's assistance, she carried the bolster
- 3:13:35Speaker 23: downstairs and across the hearth rug. It was difficult to
- 3:13:39Speaker 23: squeeze the bolster into the mousehole, but they managed it somehow.
- 3:13:45Speaker 23: Then Haunkamunca went back and fetched a chair, a bookcase,
- 3:13:49Speaker 23: a bird cage, and several small odds and ends. The
- 3:13:54Speaker 23: bookcase and the bird cage refused to go into the mousehole.
- 3:13:58Speaker 23: Hunkamunca left them behind the coal box and went to
- 3:14:02Speaker 23: fetch a cradle. Hankamunca was just returning with another chair
- 3:14:08Speaker 23: when suddenly there was a noise of talking outside upon
- 3:14:11Speaker 23: the landing, the mice rushed back to their hole, and
- 3:14:15Speaker 23: the dolls came into the nursery. What a sight met
- 3:14:19Speaker 23: the eyes of Jane and Lucinda. Lucinda sat upon the
- 3:14:24Speaker 23: upset kitchen stove and stared, and Jane leant against the
- 3:14:29Speaker 23: kitchen dresser and smiled, but neither of them made any remark.
- 3:14:34Speaker 23: The bookcase and the bird cage were rescued from under
- 3:14:37Speaker 23: the coal box, but Hankamunca has got the cradle and
- 3:14:41Speaker 23: some of Lucinda's clothes. She also has some useful pots
- 3:14:46Speaker 23: and pans, and several other useful things. The little girl
- 3:14:50Speaker 23: that the doll's house belonged to said, I will get
- 3:14:54Speaker 23: a doll and dressed like a policeman. But the nurse said,
- 3:14:59Speaker 23: I will say a mouse trap. So that is the
- 3:15:02Speaker 23: story of the Too Bad Mice. But they were not
- 3:15:06Speaker 23: so very very naughty after all, because Tom Thumb paid
- 3:15:10Speaker 23: for everything he broke. He found a crooked sixpence under
- 3:15:14Speaker 23: the hearth rug, and upon Christmas Eve he and Hankamunka
- 3:15:18Speaker 23: stuffed it into one of the stockings of Lucine and Jane.
- 3:15:22Speaker 23: And very early every morning, before everyone is awake, Hanka
- 3:15:26Speaker 23: Munca comes with her dust pan and her broom to
- 3:15:30Speaker 23: sweep up the dolly's house. And of the Tale of
- 3:15:34Speaker 23: the Too Bad Mice the.
- 3:15:37Speaker 4: Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies for all little friends of
- 3:15:42Speaker 4: mister McGregor and Peter and Benjamin. It is said that
- 3:15:48Speaker 4: the effect of eating too much lettuce is suporific. I
- 3:15:53Speaker 4: have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces, but then I
- 3:15:57Speaker 4: am not a rabbit. They certainly had a very soporific
- 3:16:01Speaker 4: effect upon the flopsy bunnies. When Benjamin Bunny grew up
- 3:16:06Speaker 4: he married his cousin Flopsy. They had a large family,
- 3:16:10Speaker 4: and they were very improvident and cheerful. I do not
- 3:16:14Speaker 4: remember the separate names of their children. They were generally
- 3:16:18Speaker 4: called the Flopsy Bunnies. As there was not always quite
- 3:16:22Speaker 4: enough to eat, Benjamin used to borrow cabbages from Flopsy's brother,
- 3:16:27Speaker 4: Peter Rabbit, who kept a nursery garden. Sometimes Peter Rabbit
- 3:16:32Speaker 4: had no cabbages to spare. When this happened, the Flopsy
- 3:16:36Speaker 4: bunnies went across the field to a rubbish heap in
- 3:16:40Speaker 4: the ditch outside mister McGregor's garden. Mister McGregor's rubbish heap
- 3:16:47Speaker 4: was a mixture. There were jam pots and paper bags,
- 3:16:51Speaker 4: and mountains of chopped grass from the mowing machine which
- 3:16:55Speaker 4: always tasted oily, and some rotten vegetable marrows, and an
- 3:17:00Speaker 4: old boot or two. One day, Oh joy, there were
- 3:17:05Speaker 4: a quantity of overgrown lettuces which had shot into flower.
- 3:17:11Speaker 4: The Flopsy bunnies simply stuffed themselves with lettuces by degrees
- 3:17:17Speaker 4: one after another. They were overcome with slumber and lay
- 3:17:21Speaker 4: down in the moan grass. Benjamin was not so much
- 3:17:26Speaker 4: overcome as his children. Before going to sleep, he was
- 3:17:31Speaker 4: sufficiently wide awake to put a paper bag over his
- 3:17:34Speaker 4: head to keep off the flies. The little flopsy bunnies
- 3:17:39Speaker 4: slept delightfully in the warm sun. From the lawn beyond
- 3:17:44Speaker 4: the garden came the distant, glockety sound of the mowing machine.
- 3:17:50Speaker 4: The blue bottles buzzed about the wall, and a little
- 3:17:53Speaker 4: old mouse picked over the rubbish among the jam pots.
- 3:17:57Speaker 4: I can tell you her name. She was called Tomasina tittlemouse,
- 3:18:02Speaker 4: a wood mouse with a long tail. She rustled across
- 3:18:06Speaker 4: the paper bag and awakened Benjamin Bunny. The mouse apologized
- 3:18:12Speaker 4: profusely and said that she knew Peter Rabbit. While she
- 3:18:16Speaker 4: and Benjamin were talking close under the wall, they heard
- 3:18:21Speaker 4: a heavy tread above their heads, and suddenly mister McGregor
- 3:18:26Speaker 4: emptied out a sackful of lawnmowings, right upon the top
- 3:18:30Speaker 4: of the sleeping flopsy bunnies. Benjamin shrank down under his
- 3:18:34Speaker 4: paper bag. The mouse hid in a jam pot. The
- 3:18:39Speaker 4: little rabbit smiled sweetly in their sleep under the shower
- 3:18:43Speaker 4: of grass. They did not awake because the lettuces had
- 3:18:46Speaker 4: been so soporific. They dreamt that their mother Flopsy was
- 3:18:51Speaker 4: tucking them up in a hay bed. Mister McGregor looked
- 3:18:55Speaker 4: down after emptying his sack. He saw some funny little
- 3:18:59Speaker 4: brown tips of ears sticking up through the lawnmowings. He
- 3:19:03Speaker 4: stared at them for some time. Presently a fly settled
- 3:19:09Speaker 4: on one of them, and it moved. Mister McGregor climbed
- 3:19:13Speaker 4: down on to the rubbish sheep. One, two, three, four, five,
- 3:19:19Speaker 4: six little rabbits, said he as he dropped them into
- 3:19:23Speaker 4: his sack. The flopsy bunnies dreamt that their mother was
- 3:19:28Speaker 4: turning them over in bed. They stirred a little in
- 3:19:31Speaker 4: their sleep, but still they did not wake up. Mister
- 3:19:36Speaker 4: McGregor tied up the sack and left it on the wall.
- 3:19:39Speaker 4: He went to put away the mowing machine. When he
- 3:19:43Speaker 4: was gone, Missus Flopsy Bunny, who had remained at home,
- 3:19:47Speaker 4: came across the field. She looked suspiciously at the sack
- 3:19:51Speaker 4: and wondered where everybody was. Then the mouse came out
- 3:19:55Speaker 4: of her jam pot, and Benjamin took the paper bag
- 3:19:58Speaker 4: off his head, and they told the doleful tale. Benjamin
- 3:20:03Speaker 4: and Flopsy were in despair. They could not undo the string,
- 3:20:07Speaker 4: but Missus Tittlemouse was a resourceful person. She nibbled a
- 3:20:11Speaker 4: hole in the bottom corner of the sack. The little
- 3:20:15Speaker 4: rabbits were pulled out and pinched to wake them. Their
- 3:20:20Speaker 4: parents stuffed the empty sack with three rotten vegetable marrows,
- 3:20:25Speaker 4: an old blacking brush, and two decayed turnips. Then they
- 3:20:31Speaker 4: all hid under a bush and watched for mister McGregor.
- 3:20:35Speaker 4: Mister McGregor came back and picked up the sack and
- 3:20:39Speaker 4: carried it off. He carried it hanging down as if
- 3:20:43Speaker 4: it were rather heavy. The flopsy bunnies followed at a
- 3:20:47Speaker 4: safe distance. They watched him go into his house, and
- 3:20:52Speaker 4: then they crept up to the window to listen. Mister
- 3:20:56Speaker 4: McGregor threw down the sack on the stone floor in
- 3:21:00Speaker 4: a way that would have been extremely painful to the
- 3:21:02Speaker 4: flopsy bunnies if they had happened to have been inside it.
- 3:21:06Speaker 4: They could hear him drag his chair on the flags
- 3:21:09Speaker 4: and chuckle. One two three, four five six little rabbits
- 3:21:15Speaker 4: said mister McGregor, Eh, what's that? What have they been
- 3:21:19Speaker 4: spoiling now? Inquired missus McGregor. One two three, four five
- 3:21:25Speaker 4: six little fat rabbits repeated mister McGregor, counting on his fingers, one, two, three,
- 3:21:33Speaker 4: don't you be silly? What do you mean, you silly
- 3:21:36Speaker 4: old man in the sack? One two three, four five, six,
- 3:21:42Speaker 4: replied mister McGregor. The youngest flopsy bunny got upon the
- 3:21:46Speaker 4: windows still. Missus McGregor took hold of the sack and
- 3:21:51Speaker 4: felt it. She said she could feel six. But they
- 3:21:54Speaker 4: must be old rabbits because they were so hard and
- 3:21:58Speaker 4: all different shapes, not fit to eat. But the skins
- 3:22:02Speaker 4: will do fine to line my old cloak, line your
- 3:22:06Speaker 4: old cloak, shouted mister McGregor. I shall sell them and
- 3:22:10Speaker 4: buy myself backy rabbit tobacco. I shall skin them and
- 3:22:16Speaker 4: cut off their heads. Missus mc gregor untied the sack
- 3:22:20Speaker 4: and put her hand inside. When she felt the vegetables,
- 3:22:24Speaker 4: she became very, very angry. She said that mister mc
- 3:22:29Speaker 4: gregor had done it a purpose, and mister mc gregor
- 3:22:33Speaker 4: was very angry too. One of the rotten marrows came
- 3:22:37Speaker 4: flying through the kitchen window and hit the youngest flopsy bunny.
- 3:22:42Speaker 4: It was rather hurt. Then Benjamin and Flopsy thought that
- 3:22:47Speaker 4: it was time to go home. So mister mc gregor
- 3:22:50Speaker 4: did not get his tobacco, and missus mc gregor did
- 3:22:53Speaker 4: not get her rabbit skins, but next Christmas, Tomasina tittlemouse
- 3:22:58Speaker 4: got a present of another rabbit wool to make herself
- 3:23:01Speaker 4: a cloak and a hood, and a handsome muff and
- 3:23:05Speaker 4: a pair of warm mittens.