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013 - The Tale of Mr Tod · The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Others

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  Speaker 1: Story thirteen 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
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Wayne Perry, forest Hill, Maryland, USA.
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  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit and Other Tales by Beatrix Potter, The Tale
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  Speaker 1: of Mister Todd. I have made many books about well
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  Speaker 1: behaved people. Now, for a change, I am going to
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  Speaker 1: make a story about two disagreeable people called Tommy Brock
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  Speaker 1: and mister Todd. Nobody could call mister Todd nice. The
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  Speaker 1: rabbits could not bear him. They could smell him half
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  Speaker 1: a mile off. He was of a wandering habit, and
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  Speaker 1: he had foxy whiskers. They never knew where he would
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  Speaker 1: be next. One day he was living in a stick
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  Speaker 1: house in the coppice, causing terror to the family of
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  Speaker 1: old mister Benjamin Bouncer. Next day he moved into a
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  Speaker 1: pollard willow near the lake, frightening the wild ducks and
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  Speaker 1: the water rats. In winter and early spring, he might
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  Speaker 1: generally be found in an earth amongst the rocks at
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  Speaker 1: the top of bull banks, under oatmeal crag. He had
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  Speaker 1: half a dozen houses, but he was seldom at home.
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  Speaker 1: The houses were not always empty when mister Todd moved out,
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  Speaker 1: because sometimes Tommy Brock moved in without asking leave. Tommy
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  Speaker 1: Brock was a short, briskly fat, waddling person with a grin.
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  Speaker 1: He grinned all over his face. He was not nice
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  Speaker 1: in his habits. He ate wasp nests and frogs and worms,
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  Speaker 1: and he waddled about by moonlight digging things up. His
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  Speaker 1: clothes were very dirty, and as he slept in the daytime,
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  Speaker 1: he always went to bed in his boots, and the
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  Speaker 1: bed which he went to bed in was generally mister Todd's.
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  Speaker 1: Now Tommy Brock did occasionally eat rabbit pie, but it
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  Speaker 1: was only very little young ones occasionally when other food
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  Speaker 1: was really scarce. He was friendly with old mister Bouncer.
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  Speaker 1: They agreed in disliking the wicked Otters and mister Todd.
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  Speaker 1: They often talked over that painful subject. Old mister Bouncer
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  Speaker 1: was stricken in years. He sat in the spring sunshine
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  Speaker 1: outside the burrow in a muffler, smoking a pipe of
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  Speaker 1: rabbit tobacco. He lived with his son, Benjamin Bunny, and
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  Speaker 1: his daughter in law Flopsy, who had a young family.
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  Speaker 1: Old Mister Bouncer was in charge of the family that
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  Speaker 1: afternoon because Benjamin and Flopsy had gone out. The little
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  Speaker 1: rabbit babies were just old enough to open their blue
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  Speaker 1: eyes and kick. They lay in a fluffy bed of
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  Speaker 1: rabbit wool and hay in a shallow burrow separate from
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  Speaker 1: the main rabbit hole. To tell the truth, Old mister
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  Speaker 1: Bouncer had forgotten them. He sat in the sun and
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  Speaker 1: conversed cordially with Tommy Brock, who was passing through the
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  Speaker 1: wood with a sack and a little spud which he
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  Speaker 1: used us for digging, and some mole traps. He complained
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  Speaker 1: bitterly about the scarcity of pheasants eggs and accused mister
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  Speaker 1: Todd of poaching them, and the otters had cleared off
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  Speaker 1: all the frogs while he was asleep in winter. I
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  Speaker 1: have not had a good square meal for a fortnight.
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  Speaker 1: I am living on pig nuts. I shall have to
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  Speaker 1: turn vegetarian and eat my own tail, said Tommy Brock.
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  Speaker 1: It was not much of a joke, but it tickled
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  Speaker 1: old mister Bouncer because Tommy Brock was so fat and
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  Speaker 1: stumpy and grinning so Old mister Bouncer laughed and pressed
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  Speaker 1: Tommy Brock to come inside to taste a slice of
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  Speaker 1: seed cake and a glass of my daughter Flopsy's cowslip wine.
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  Speaker 1: Tommy Brock squeezed himself into the rabbit hole with alacrity.
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  Speaker 1: Then Old mister Bouncer smoked another pipe and gave Tommy
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  Speaker 1: Brock a cabbage leaf cigar, which was so very strong
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  Speaker 1: that it made Tommy Brock grin more than ever, and
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  Speaker 1: the smoke filled the burrow. Old mister Bouncer coughed and laughed,
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  Speaker 1: and Tommy Brock pup and grinned, and mister Bouncer laughed
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  Speaker 1: and coughed and shut his eyes because of the cabbage smoke.
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  Speaker 1: When Flopsy and Benjamin came back, Old mister Bouncer woke
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  Speaker 1: up Tommy Brock, and all the young rabbit babies had disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Bouncer would not confess that he had admitted anybody
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  Speaker 1: into the rabbit hole, but the smell of badger was undeniable,
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  Speaker 1: and there were round, heavy footmarks in the sand. He
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  Speaker 1: was in disgrace. Flopsy wrung her ears and slapped him.
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin Bunny set off at once after Tommy Brock. There
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  Speaker 1: was not much difficulty in tracking him. He had left
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  Speaker 1: his footmark and gone slowly up the winding footpath through
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  Speaker 1: the wood. Here he had rooted up the moss and
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  Speaker 1: wood sorrel. There he had dug quite a deep hole
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  Speaker 1: for dog Darnell, and had set a mole trap. A
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  Speaker 1: little stream crossed the way. Benjamin skipped lightly over dry foot.
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  Speaker 1: The badger's heavy steps showed plainly in the mud. The
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  Speaker 1: path led to a part of the thicket where the
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  Speaker 1: trees had been cleared. There were leafy oak stumps and
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  Speaker 1: a sea of blue hyacinths. But the smell that made
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin stop was not the smell of flowers. Mister Todd's
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  Speaker 1: stickhouse was before him, and for once mister Todd was
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  Speaker 1: at home. There was not only a foxy flavor. In
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  Speaker 1: proof of it, there was smoke coming out of the
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  Speaker 1: broken pail that served as a chimney. Benjamin Bunny sat up, staring.
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  Speaker 1: His whiskers twitched. Inside the stickhouse, somebody dropped a plate
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  Speaker 1: and said something. Benjamin stamped his foot and bolted. He
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  Speaker 1: never stopped till he came to the other side of
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  Speaker 1: the wood. Apparently Tommy Brock had turned the same way.
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  Speaker 1: Upon the top of the wall, there were again the
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  Speaker 1: marks of badger, and some ravelings of a sack had
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  Speaker 1: caught on a briar. Benjamin climbed over the wall into
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  Speaker 1: a meadow. He found another mole trap, newly set. He
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  Speaker 1: was still upon the track of Tommy Brock. It was
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  Speaker 1: getting late in the afternoon. Rabbits were coming out to
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  Speaker 1: enjoy the evening air. One of them, in a blue
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  Speaker 1: coat by himself, was busily hunting for dandelions. Cousin Peter,
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  Speaker 1: Peter Rabbit. Peter Rabbit, shouted Benjamin, Bunny. The blue coated
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  Speaker 1: rabbit sat up with pricked ears. Whatever's the matter, Cousin Benjamin?
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  Speaker 1: Is it a cat or John Stote ferret? No, no, no,
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  Speaker 1: he's bagged my family, Tommy Brock in a sack. Have
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  Speaker 1: you seen him, Tommy Brock? How many cousin Benjamin, seven,
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  Speaker 1: cousin Peter, and all of them twins. Did he come
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  Speaker 1: this way? Please tell me quick? Yes? Yes, not ten
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  Speaker 1: minutes since he said they were caterpillars. I did think
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  Speaker 1: they were kicking rather hard for caterpillars. Which way? Which
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  Speaker 1: way is he gone? Cousin Peter? He had a sack
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  Speaker 1: with something live in it. I watched him set a
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  Speaker 1: mole trap. Let me use my mind, Cousin Benjamin, tell
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  Speaker 1: me from the beginning. Benjamin did so. My uncle Bouncer
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  Speaker 1: has displayed a lamentable want of discretion for his years,
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  Speaker 1: said Peter reflectively. But there are two hopeful circumstances. Your
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  Speaker 1: family is alive and kicking, and Tommy Brock has had refreshment.
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  Speaker 1: He will probably go to sleep and keep them for breakfast.
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  Speaker 1: Which way, cousin Benjamin, compose yourself. I know very well
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  Speaker 1: which way, because mister Todd was at home in the
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  Speaker 1: stick house. He has gone to mister Todd's other house
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  Speaker 1: at the top of Bull Banks. I partly know because
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  Speaker 1: he offered to leave any message at sister Cottontail's. He
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  Speaker 1: said he would be passing. Cottontail had married a black
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  Speaker 1: rabbit and gone to live on the hill. Peter hid
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  Speaker 1: his dandelions and accompanied the afflicted parent, who was all
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  Speaker 1: of a twitter. They crossed several fields and began to
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  Speaker 1: climb the hill. The tracks of Tommy Brock were plainly
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  Speaker 1: to be seen. He seemed to have put down the
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  Speaker 1: sack every dozen yards to rest. He must be very puffed.
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  Speaker 1: We are close behind him by the scent. What a
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  Speaker 1: nasty person, said Peter. The sunshine was still warm, slanting
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  Speaker 1: on the hill pastures. Half way up. Cottontail was sitting
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  Speaker 1: in her doorway with four or five half grown little
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  Speaker 1: rabbits playing about her, one black and the other's brown.
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  Speaker 1: Cottontail had seen Tommy Brock passing in the distance. Asked
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  Speaker 1: whether her husband was at home. She replied that Tommy
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  Speaker 1: Brock had rested twice while she watched him. He had
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  Speaker 1: nodded and pointed to the sack and seemed doubled up
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  Speaker 1: with laughing. Come away, Peter, he will be cooking them.
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  Speaker 1: Come quicker, said Benjamin Bunny. They climbed up and up.
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  Speaker 1: He was at home. I saw his black ears peeping
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  Speaker 1: out of the hole. They lived too near the rocks
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  Speaker 1: to quarrel with their neighbors. Come on, cousin, Benjamin. When
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  Speaker 1: they came near the wood at the top of bull Banks,
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  Speaker 1: they went cautiously. The trees grew amongst heaped up rocks,
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  Speaker 1: and there beneath the crag mister Todd had made one
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  Speaker 1: of his homes. It was at the top of a
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  Speaker 1: steep bank. The rocks and bushes overhung it. The rabbits
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  Speaker 1: crept up, carefully, listening and peeping. This house was something
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  Speaker 1: between a cave, a prison, and a tumbled down pig stye.
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  Speaker 1: There was a strong door which was shut and locked.
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  Speaker 1: The setting sun made the window panes glow like red flame,
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  Speaker 1: but the kitchen fire was not a light. It was
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  Speaker 1: neatly laid with dry sticks, as the rabbits could see
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  Speaker 1: when they peeped through the window. Benjamin sighed with relief,
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  Speaker 1: But there were preparations upon the kitchen table which made
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  Speaker 1: him shudder. There was an immense empty pie dish of
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  Speaker 1: blue willow pattern, and a large carving knife and fork
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  Speaker 1: and a chopper. At the other end of the table
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  Speaker 1: was a partly unfolded tablecloth, a plate, a tumbler, a
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  Speaker 1: knife and fork, salt, cellar, mustard, and a chair, in short,
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  Speaker 1: preparations for one person's supper. No person was to be seen,
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  Speaker 1: and no young rabbits. The kitchen was empty and silent.
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  Speaker 1: The clock had run down. Peter and Benjamin flattened their
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  Speaker 1: noses against the window and stared into the dusk. Then
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  Speaker 1: they scrambled round the rocks to the other side of
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  Speaker 1: the house. It was amp and smelly and overgrown with
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  Speaker 1: thorns and briars. The rabbits shivered in their shoes. Oh my,
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  Speaker 1: poor rabbit babies, what a dreadful place. I shall never
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  Speaker 1: see them again, sighed Benjamin. They crept up to the
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  Speaker 1: bedroom window. It was closed and bolted like the kitchen,
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  Speaker 1: but there were signs that this window had been recently open.
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  Speaker 1: The cobwebs were disturbed, and there were fresh, dirty footmarks
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  Speaker 1: upon the window sill. The room inside was so dark
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  Speaker 1: that at first they could make out nothing, but they
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  Speaker 1: could hear a noise, a slow, deep, regular snoring grunt,
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  Speaker 1: And as their eyes became accustomed to the darkness, they
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  Speaker 1: perceived that somebody was asleep on mister Todd's bed, curled
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  Speaker 1: up under the blanket. He has gone to bed in
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  Speaker 1: his boots, whispered Peter. Benjamin, who was all of a twitter,
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  Speaker 1: pulled Peter off the window sill. Tommy brock snores continued,
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  Speaker 1: grunty and regular from mister Todd's bed. Nothing could be
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  Speaker 1: seen of the young family. The sun had set, an
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: owl began to hoot in the wood. There were many
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  Speaker 1: unpleasant things lying about that it much better had been buried.
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  Speaker 1: Rabbit bones and skulls, and chicken's legs, and other horrors.
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  Speaker 1: It was a shocking place, and very dark. They went
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  Speaker 1: back to the front of the house and tried in
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  Speaker 1: every way to move the bolt of the kitchen window.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: They tried to push up a rusty nail between the
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  Speaker 1: window sashes, but it was of no use, especially without
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  Speaker 1: a light. They sat side by side outside the window,
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  Speaker 1: whispering and listening. In half an hour the moon rose
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  Speaker 1: over the wood. It shone full and clear and cold
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  Speaker 1: upon the house, amongst the rocks, and in at the
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  Speaker 1: kitchen window, but alas no little rabbit babies were to
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  Speaker 1: be seen. The moonbeams twinkled on the carving knife and
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  Speaker 1: the pie dish, and made a path of brightness across
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  Speaker 1: the dirty floor. The light showed a little door in
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  Speaker 1: a wall beside the kitchen fireplace, a little iron door
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  Speaker 1: belonging to a brick oven of that old fashioned sort
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  Speaker 1: that used to be heated with faggots of wood, And
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  Speaker 1: presently at the same moment, Peter and Benjamin noticed that
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  Speaker 1: whenever they shook the window, the little door opposite shook
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  Speaker 1: in answer. The young family were alive, shut up in
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  Speaker 1: the oven. Benjamin was so excited that it was a
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  Speaker 1: mercy he did not awake Tommy Brock, whose snores continued
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  Speaker 1: solemnly in mister Todd's bed. But there really was not
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  Speaker 1: very much comfort in the discovery. They could not open
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  Speaker 1: the window, and although the young family was alive, the
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  Speaker 1: little rabbits were quite incapable of letting themselves out. They
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  Speaker 1: were not old enough to crawl. After much whispering, Peter
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  Speaker 1: and Benjamin decided to dig a tunnel. They began to
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  Speaker 1: burrow a yard or two lower down the bank. They
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  Speaker 1: hoped that they might be able to work between the
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  Speaker 1: large stones under the house. The kitchen floor was so
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  Speaker 1: dirty that it was impossible to say whether it was
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  Speaker 1: made of earth or flags. They dug and dug for hours.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: They could not tunnel straight on account of stones, but
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  Speaker 1: by the end of the night they were under the
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  Speaker 1: kitchen floor. Benjamin was on his back scratching upwards. Peter's
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: claws were worn down. He was outside the tunnel shuffling
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  Speaker 1: sand away. He called out that it was morning sunrise,
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  Speaker 1: and that the jays were making a noise down below
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  Speaker 1: in the woods. Benjamin Buddy came out of the dark tunnel,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: shaking the sand from his ears. He cleaned his face
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  Speaker 1: with his paws every minute. The sun shone warmer. On
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  Speaker 1: the top of the hill in the valley there was
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: a sea of white mist, with golden tops of trees
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  Speaker 1: showing through again from the fields down below. In the mist,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: there came the angry cry of a jay, followed by
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the sharp, yelping bark of a fox. Then those two
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  Speaker 1: rabbits lost their heads completely. They did the most foolish
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  Speaker 1: thing that they could have done. They rushed into their
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  Speaker 1: short new tunnel and hid themselves at the top end
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: of it under mister Tod's kitchen floor. Mister Tod was
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: coming up bull banks, and he was in the very
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: worst of tempers. First he had been upset by breaking
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  Speaker 1: the plate. It was his own fault, but it was
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: a china plate, the last of the dinner service that
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: had belonged to his grandmother, Old Vixen Tod. Then the
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: midges had been very bad and he had failed to
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: catch a hen pheasant on her nest, and it had
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: contained only five eggs, two of them addled. Mister Todd
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: had had an unsatisfactory night as usual, when out of humor,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: he determined to move house First, he tried the pollard willow,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: but it was damp and the otters had left a
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: dead fish near it. Mister Todd likes nobody's leavings, but
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: his own. He made his way up the hill. His
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: temper was not improved by noticing unmistakable marks of badger.
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  Speaker 1: No one else grubs up the moss so wantonly as
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Tommy Brock. Mister Todd slapped his stick upon the earth
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: and fumed. He guessed where Tommy Brock had gone to.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: He was further annoyed by the jay bird, which followed
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: him persistently. It flew from tree to tree and scolded,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: warning every rabbit within a hearing that either a cat
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: or a fox was coming up the plantation. Once, when
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: it flew screaming over his head, mister Todd snapped at
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: it and barked. He approached his house very carefully with
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: a large rusty key. He sniffed and his whiskers bristled.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: The house was locked up, but mister Todd had his
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: doubts whether it was empty. He turned the rusty key
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: in the lock. The rabbits below could hear it. Mister
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Todd opened the door cautiously and went in the sight
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: that met mister Todd's eyes. In mister Tod's kitchen made
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: mister Tod furious. There was mister Tod's chair, and mister
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Todd's pie dish, and his knife and fork, and mustard
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: and salt cellar, and his tablecloth that he had left
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: folded up in the dresser, all set out for supper
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: or breakfast, without doubt for that odious Tommy Brock. There
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: was a smell of fresh earth and dirty badger, which
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: fortunately overpowered all smell of rabbit. But what absorbed mister
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Todd's attention was a noise, a deep, slow, regular snoring,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: grunting noise, coming from his own bed. He peeped through
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: the hinges of the half open bedroom door. Then he
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: turned and came out of the house in a hurry.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: His whiskers bristled, and his coat collar stood on end
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: with rage. For the next twenty minutes, mister Todd kept
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: creeping cautiously into the house and retreating hurriedly out again.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: By degrees, he ventured further in right into the bedroom.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: When he was outside the house he scratched up the
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: earth with fury, But when he was inside he did
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: not like the look of Tommy Brock's teeth. He was
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: lying on his back with his mouth open, grinning from
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: ear to ear. He snored peacefully and regularly, but one
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: eye was not perfectly shut. Mister Todd came in and
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: out of the bedroom twice. He brought in his walking stick,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: and once he brought in the coal scuttle, but he
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: thought better of it and took them away. When he
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: came back after removing the coal scuttle, Tommy Brock was
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: lying a little more sideways, but he seemed even sound
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: or asleep. He was an incurably indolent person. He was
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: not in the least afraid of mister Tod. He was
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: simply too lazy and comfortable to move. Mister Todd came
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: back yet again into the bedroom with a clothes line.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: He stood a minute watching Tommy Brock and listening attentively
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: to the snores. They were very loud, indeed, but seemed
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: quite natural. Mister Todd turned his back towards the bed
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: and undid the window. It creaked. He turned round with
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: a jump. Tommy Brock, who had opened one eye, shut
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: it hastily. The snores continued. Mister Todd's proceedings were peculiar
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: and rather uneasy, because the bed was between the window
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: and the door of the bedroom. He opened the window
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: a little way and pushed out the greater part of
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: the clothes line on to the window sill. The rest
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: of the line, with a hook at the end, remained
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: in his hand. Tommy Brock snored conscientiously. Mister Todd stood
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: and looked at him for a minute, then he left
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the room again. Tommy Brock opened both eyes and looked
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: at the rope and grinned. There was a noise outside
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the window. Tommy Brock shut his eyes in a hurry.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Mister Todd had gone out of the front door and
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: round to the back of the house. On the way
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: he stumbled over the rabbit burrow. If he had had
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: any idea who was inside it, he would have pulled
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: them out quickly. His foot went through the tunnel, nearly
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: upon the top of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin, but fortunately
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: he thought that it was some more of Tommy Brock's work.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: He took up the coil of line from the sill,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: listened for a moment, and then tied the rope to
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: a tree. Tommy Brock watched him with one eye through
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the window. He was puzzled. Mister Todd fetched a large,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: heavy pailful of water from the spring and staggered with
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: it through the kitchen into his bedroom. Tommy Brock snored
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: industriously with rather a snort. Mister Todd put down the
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: pail beside the bed, took up the end of rope
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: with the hook, hesitated and looked at Tommy Brock. The
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: snores were almost apoplectic, but the grin was not quite
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: so big. Mister Todd gingerly mounted a chair by the
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: head of the bedstead. His legs were dangerously near to
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Tommy Brock's teeth. He reached up and put the end
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: of rope with the hook over the head of the
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: tester bed, where the curtains ought to hang. Mister Tod's
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: curtains were folded up and put away, owing to the
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: house being unoccupied, so was the counterpane. Tommy Brock was
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: covered with a blanket. Only mister Todd, standing on the
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: unsteady chair, looked down upon him attentively. He really was
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: a first prize sound sleeper. It seemed as though nothing
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: would waken him, not even the flapping rope across the bed.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Mister Todd descended safely from the chair and endeavored to
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: get up again with a pail of water. He intended
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: to hang it from the hook dangling over the head
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: of Tommy Brock, in order to make a sort of
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: shower bath worked by a string through the window. But naturally,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: being a thin legged person, though vindictive and sandy whiskered,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: he was quite unable to lift the heavy weight to
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: the level of the hook and rope. He very nearly
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: overbalanced himself. The snores became more and more apoplectic. One
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: of Tommy Brock's hind legs twitched under the blanket, but
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: still he slept on peacefully. Mister Tod and the pail
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: descended from the chair without accident. After considerable thought, he
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: emptied the water into a wash basin and jug. The
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: empty pail was not too heavy for him. He slung
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: it up, wobbling over the head of Tommy Brock. Surely
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: there never was such a sleeper. Mister Tod got up
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: and down, down and up on the chair. As he
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: could not lift the whole pail full of water at once,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: he fetched the milk jug and ladled quarts of water
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: into the pail by degrees. The pail got fuller and fuller,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: and swung like a pendulum. Occasionally a drop splashed over,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: But still Tommy Brock snored regularly and never moved except
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: one eye. At last, mister Todd's preparations were complete. The
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: pail was full of water. The rope was tightly strained
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: over the top of the bed and across the window
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: sill to the tree outside. It will make a great
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: mess in my bedroom, but I could never sleep in
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: that bed again without a spring cleaning of some sort,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: said mister Todd. Mister Todd took a last look at
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the badger and softly left the room. He went out
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: of the house, shutting the front door. The rabbits hurt
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: his footsteps over the tunnel. He ran round behind the house,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: intending to undo the rope in order to let fall
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: the pail full of water upon Tommy Brock. I will
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: wake him up with an unpleasant surprise, said mister Todd.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: The moment he had gone, Tommy brought God up in
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: a hurry. He rolled mister Todd's dressing gown into a bundle,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: put it into the bed beneath the pail of water
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: instead of himself, and left the room, also grinning immensely.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: He went into the kitchen, lighted the fire, and boiled
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the kettle. For the moment, he did not trouble himself
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: to cook the baby rabbits. When mister Tod got to
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the tree, he found that the weight and strain had
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: dragged the knot so tight that it was past untying.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: He was obliged to gnaw it with his teeth. He
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: chewed and gnawed for more than twenty minutes. At last
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the rope gave way with such a sudden jerk that
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: it nearly pulled his teeth out and quite knocked him
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: over backwards. Inside the house there was a great crash
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: and splash, and the noise of a pail rolling over
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: and over, but no screams. Mister Todd was mystified. He
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: sat quite still and listened attentively. Then he peeped in
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: at the window. The water was dripping from the bed.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: The pail had rolled into a corner in the middle
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: of the bed. Under the blanket was a wet, flattened
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: something much dinged in in the middle where the pail
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: had caught it as it were across the tummy. Its
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: head was covered by the wet blanket, and it was
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: not snoring any longer. There was nothing stirring and no
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: sound except the drop, drop drip of the water trickling
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: from the mattress. Mister Todd watched it for half an hour.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: His eyes glistened. Then he cut a caper and became
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: so bold that he even tapped at the window. But
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the bundle never moved. Yes, there was no doubt about it.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: It had turned out even better than he had planned.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: The pail had hit poor old Tommy Brock and killed
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: him dead. I will bury that nasty person in the
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: hole which he has dug. I will bring my bedding
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: out and dry it in the sun, said mister Todd.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: I will wash the tablecloth and spread it on the
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: grass in the sun to bleach. And the blanket must
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: be hung up in the wind. And the bed must
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: be thoroughly disinfected and aired with a warming pan and
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: warmed with a hot water bottle. I will get soft
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: soap and monkey soap, and all sorts of soap and soda,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: and scrubbing brushes, and persian powder and carbolic to remove
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the smell. I must have a disinfecting Perhaps I may
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: have to burn sulfur. He hurried round the house to
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: get a shovel from the kitchen. First, I will arrange
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the hole and I will drag out that person in
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the blanket. He opened the door. Tommy Brock was sitting
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: at mister Tod's kitchen table, pouring out tea from mister
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Todd's teapot into mister Todd's tea cup. He was quite
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: dry himself and grinning, and he threw the cup of
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: scalding tea all over mister Todd. Then mister Todd rushed
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: upon Tommy Brock, and Tommy Brock grappled with mister Tod
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: amongst the broken crockery, and there was a terrific battle
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: all over the kitchen. To the rabbits underneath, it sounded
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: as if the floor would give way at each crash
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: of falling furniture. They crept out of their tunnel and
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: hung about amongst the rocks and bushes, listening anxiously. Inside
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the house, the racket was fearful. The rabbit babies in
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: the oven woke up trembling. Perhaps it was fortunate they
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: were shut up inside. Everything was upset except the kitchen table,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: and everything was broken except the mantelpiece and the kitchen fender.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: The crockery was smashed to atoms. The chairs were broken,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: and the window and the clock fell with a crash,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: and there were handfuls of mister Todd's sandy whiskers. The
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: vases fell off the mantelpiece, the cannisters fell off the shelf,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: the kettle fell off the hob. Tommy Brock put his
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: foot in a jar of raspberry jam, and the boiling
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: water out of the kettle fell upon the tail of
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: mister Todd. When the kettle fell, Tommy Brock, who was
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: still grinning, happened to be uppermost, and he rolled mister
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Todd over and over like a log out at the door.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Then the snarling and worrying went on outside, and they
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: rolled over the bank and down the hill, bumping over
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: the rocks. There will never be any love lost between
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Tommy Brock and mister Todd. As soon as the coast
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: was clear, Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny came out of
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: the bushes. Now for it, Run in, cousin, Benjamin, run
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: in and get them, while I watch at the door.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: But Benjamin was frightened. Oh oh, they are coming back. No,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: they are not. Yes, they are what dreadful bad language.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: I think they have fallen down the stone quarry. Still
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Benjamin hesitated, and Peter kept pushing him. Be quick, It's
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: all right. Shut the oven door, cousin, Benjamin, so that
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: he won't miss them. Decidedly, there were lively doings in
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: mister todd kitchen. At home in the rabbit Hole, things
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: had not been quite comfortable. After quarreling at supper, Flopsy
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: and old mister Bouncer had passed a sleepless night and
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: quarreled again at breakfast. Old mister Bouncer could no longer
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: deny that he had invited company into the rabbit hole,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: but he refused to reply to the questions and reproaches
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: of Flopsy. The day passed heavily. Old mister Bouncer, very sulky,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: was huddled up in a corner, barricaded with a chair.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Flopsy had taken away his pipe and hidden the tobacco.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: She had been having a complete turnout and spring cleaning
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: to relieve her feelings. She had just finished. Old mister Bouncer,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: behind his chair, was wondering anxiously what she would do next.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: In mister Todd's kitchen, amongst the wreckage, Benjamin Bunny picked
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: his way to the oven nervously through a thick cloud
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: of dust. He opened the oven door, felt inside, and
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: found something warm and wriggling. He lifted it out carefully
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: and rejoined Peter, Rabbit, I've got them. Can we get awake?
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Shall we hide cousin Peter. Peter pricked his ears. Distant
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: sounds of fighting still echoed in the wood. Five minutes afterwards,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: two breathless rabbits came scudding away down bull banks, half carrying,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: half dragging a sack between them, bumpety bump over the grass.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: They reached home safely and burst into the rabbit hole.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Great was old mister Bouncer's relief and Flopsy's joy. When
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Peter and Benjamin arrived in Triumph with the young family.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: The rabbit babies were rather tumbled and very hungry. They
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: were fed and put to bed. They soon recovered a
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: long new pipe, and a fresh supply of rabbit tobacco
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: was presented to mister Bouncer. He was rather upon his dignity,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: but he accepted. Old mister Bouncer was forgiven, and they
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: all had dinner. Then Peter and Benjamin told their story,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: but they had not waited long enough to be able
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: to tell the end of the battle between Tommy Brock
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: and mister Todd. The End End of the Tale of
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Mister Todd. Recording by Wayne Perry, Forest Hill, Maryland, USA,