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009 - The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse · The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Others

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  Speaker 1: Story nine of Peter Rabbit and Other Tales by Beatrix Potter.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Adrian Stephens. Peter Rabbit
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  Speaker 1: and Other Tales by Beatrix Potter. The Tale of Johnny Townmouse.
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  Speaker 1: Johnny Townmouse was born in a cupboard. Timmy Willie was
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  Speaker 1: born in a garden. Timmy Willie was a little country
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  Speaker 1: mouse who went to town by mistake in a hamper.
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  Speaker 1: The gardener sent vegetables to town once a week by carrier.
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  Speaker 1: He packed them in a big hamper. The gardener left
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  Speaker 1: the hamper by the garden gate so that the carrier
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  Speaker 1: could pick it up. When he passed, Timmy Willie crept
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  Speaker 1: in through a hole in the wicker work, and after
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  Speaker 1: eating some peas, Timmy wis fell fast asleep. He awoke
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  Speaker 1: in a fright while the hamper was being lifted into
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  Speaker 1: the carrier's cart. Then there was a jolting and a
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  Speaker 1: clattering of horses feet. Other packages were thrown in for
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  Speaker 1: Miles and Miles Jolt, Jolt, jolt, and Timmy Willie trembled
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  Speaker 1: amongst the jumbled up vegetables. At last, the cart stopped
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  Speaker 1: at a house, where the hamper was taken out, carried in,
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  Speaker 1: and set down. The cook gave the carrier sixpence. The
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  Speaker 1: back door banged and the cart rumbled away, But there
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  Speaker 1: was no quiet. There seemed to be hundreds of carts passing.
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  Speaker 1: Dogs barked, boys whistled in the street. The cook laughed,
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  Speaker 1: the parlor maid ran up and downstairs, and a canary
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  Speaker 1: sang like a steam engine. Timmy Willie, who had lived
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  Speaker 1: all his life in a garden, was almost frightened to death. Presently,
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  Speaker 1: the cook opened the hamper and began to unpack the vegetables.
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  Speaker 1: Out sprang The terrified Timmy Willie up jumped the cook
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  Speaker 1: on a chair, exclaiming a mouse, a mouse, call the cat,
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  Speaker 1: fetch me the poker, Sarah. Timmy Willie did not wait
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  Speaker 1: for Sarah. With the poker, he rushed along the skirting
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  Speaker 1: board till he came to a little hole, and in
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  Speaker 1: he popped. He dropped half a foot and crashed into
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  Speaker 1: the middle of a mouse dinner party, breaking three glasses.
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  Speaker 1: Who in the world is this, inquired Johnny town Mouse.
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  Speaker 1: But after the first exclamation of surprise. He instantly recovered
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  Speaker 1: his manners with the utmost politeness. He introduced Timmy Willie
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  Speaker 1: to nine other mice, all with long tails and white
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  Speaker 1: neck tires. Timmy Willie's own tail was insignificant. Johnny town
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  Speaker 1: Mouse and his friends noticed it, but they were too
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  Speaker 1: well bred to make personal remarks. Only one of them
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  Speaker 1: asked Timmy Willie if he had ever been in a trap.
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  Speaker 1: The dinner was of eight courses, not much of anything,
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  Speaker 1: but truly elegant. All the dishes were unknown to Timmy Willie,
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  Speaker 1: who would have been a little afraid of tasting them.
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  Speaker 1: Only he was very hungry and very anxious to behave
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  Speaker 1: with company manners. The continual noise upstairs made him so
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  Speaker 1: nervous that he dropped a plate. Never mind, they don't
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  Speaker 1: belong to us, said Johnny. Why don't those youngsters come
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  Speaker 1: back with a dessert. It should be explained that two
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  Speaker 1: young mice who were waiting on the others, went skirmishing
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  Speaker 1: upstairs to the kitchen between courses. Several times they had
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  Speaker 1: come tumbling in, squeaking and laughing. Timmy Willie learnt with
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  Speaker 1: horror that they were being chased by the cat. His
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  Speaker 1: appetite failed. He felt faint. Try some jelly, said Johnny
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  Speaker 1: town Mouse. No, would you rather go to bed? I
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  Speaker 1: will show you a most comfortable sofa pillow. The sofa
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  Speaker 1: pillow had a hole in it. Johnny town Mouse quite
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  Speaker 1: honestly recommended it as the best bed kept exclusively for visitors.
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  Speaker 1: But the sofa smelt of cat. Timmy Willie preferred to
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  Speaker 1: spend a miserable night under the fender. It was just
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  Speaker 1: the same the next day. An excellent breakfast was provided
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  Speaker 1: for mice accustomed to eat bacon, but Timmy Willie had
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  Speaker 1: been reared on roots and salad. Johnny town Mouse and
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  Speaker 1: his friends racketed about under the floors and came boldly
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  Speaker 1: out all over the house in the evening. One particularly
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  Speaker 1: loud crash had been caused by Sarah tumbling downstairs with
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  Speaker 1: the tea tray. There were crumbs and sugar and smears
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  Speaker 1: of jam to be collected. In spite of the cat,
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  Speaker 1: Timmy Willie longed to be at home in his peaceful
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  Speaker 1: nest in a sunny bank. The food disagreed with him.
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  Speaker 1: The noise prevented him from sleeping. In a few days,
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  Speaker 1: he grew so thin that Johnny town Mouse noticed it
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  Speaker 1: and questioned him. He listened to Timmy Willis's story and
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  Speaker 1: inquired about the garden. It sounds rather a dull place.
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  Speaker 1: What do you do when it rains. When it rains,
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  Speaker 1: I sit in my little sandy barrow and shell corn
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  Speaker 1: and seeds from my autumn store. I peep out at
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  Speaker 1: the thrustles and blackbirds on the lawn, and my friend
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  Speaker 1: cock Robin. And when the sun comes out again, you
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  Speaker 1: should see my garden in the flowers, roses and pinks
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  Speaker 1: and pansies. No noise except the birds and bees and
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  Speaker 1: the lambs in the meadows. There goes that cat, again,
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed Johnny town Mouse. When they had taken refuge in
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  Speaker 1: the coal cellar, he resumed the conversation. I can, yes,
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  Speaker 1: I am a little disappointed. We have endeavored to entertain you,
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  Speaker 1: Timothy William Oh, yes, yes, you've been most kind. But
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  Speaker 1: I do feel so ill, said Timmy Willy. It may
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  Speaker 1: be that your teeth and digestion are unaccustomed to our food.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps it might be wiser for you to return in
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  Speaker 1: the hamper. Oh oh, cried Timmy Willie. Why, of course,
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  Speaker 1: for the matter of that, we could have sent you
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  Speaker 1: back last week, said Johnny rather huffily. Did you not
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  Speaker 1: know that the hamper goes back empty on Saturdays? So
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  Speaker 1: Timmy Willie said good bye to his new friends and
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  Speaker 1: hid in the hamper with a crumb of cake and
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  Speaker 1: a withered cabbage leaf, And after much jolting, he was
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  Speaker 1: set down safely in his own garden. Sometimes on Saturdays
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  Speaker 1: he went to look at the hamper lying by the gate,
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  Speaker 1: but he knew better than to get in again, and
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  Speaker 1: nobody got out. Though Johnny Townmouse had half promised of
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  Speaker 1: the winter passed, the sun came out again. Timmy Willie
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  Speaker 1: sat by his burrow, warming his little fur coat and
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  Speaker 1: sniffing the smell of violets and spring grass. He had
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  Speaker 1: nearly forgotten his visit to town when up the sandy path,
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  Speaker 1: all spick and span, with a brown leather bag, came
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  Speaker 1: Johnny town Mouse. Timmy Willie received him with open arms.
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  Speaker 1: You have come at the best of all the year.
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  Speaker 1: We will have herb pudding and sit in the sun. Hum,
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  Speaker 1: it's a little damp, said Johnny town Mouse, who was
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  Speaker 1: carrying his tail under his arm out of the mud.
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  Speaker 1: What is that fearful noise? He started violently. That, said
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  Speaker 1: Timmy Willie. That is only a cow. I will beg
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  Speaker 1: a little milk. They're quite harmless unless they happen to
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  Speaker 1: lie down on you. How are all our friends? Johnny's
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  Speaker 1: account was rather middling. He explained why he was paying
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  Speaker 1: his visit so early in the season. The family had
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  Speaker 1: gone to the seaside for Easter. The cook was doing
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  Speaker 1: spring cleaning on board wages, with particular instructions to clear
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  Speaker 1: out the mice. There were four kittens, and the cat
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  Speaker 1: had killed the canary. They say we did it, but
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  Speaker 1: I know better, said Johnny, Town mouse. Whatever is that
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  Speaker 1: fearful racket? That is only the lawn mower. I'll fetch
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  Speaker 1: some of the grass clippings presently to make your bed.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure you had better settle in the country, Johnny. Hum.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see. By Tuesday week the hamper is stopped while
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  Speaker 1: they are at the sea side. I'm sure you will
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  Speaker 1: never want to live in town again, said Timmy Willie.
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  Speaker 1: But he did. He went back in the very next
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  Speaker 1: hamper of vegetables. He said it was too quiet. One
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  Speaker 1: place suits one person, another place suits another person. For
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  Speaker 1: my part, I prefer to live in the cnnor like
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  Speaker 1: Timmy Willie end of the Tale of Johnny Town Mouse.