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Be good little bunnies
'Now run along, and don't get into mischief. I am going out.'
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Text and Illustrations by Beatrix Potter, 1902
Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were—
Flopsy,
Mopsy,
Cottontail,
and Peter.
Rabbit family home
They lived with their
Mother in a sandbank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree.
Mother gives a warning
'Now my dears,' said Mrs.
Rabbit one morning, 'you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go
into Mr. McGregor's garden: your Father nearly had an accident there; he was almost
put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.'
Be good little bunnies
'Now run along, and don't
get into mischief. I am going out.'
Mrs. Rabbit goes shopping
Then Mrs. Rabbit took a
basket and her umbrella, and went through the wood to the baker's. She bought a
loaf of brown bread and five currant buns.
Bunnies picking berries
Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail,
who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries:
Bad boy Peter
But Peter, who was very
naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden, and squeezed under the
gate!
Peter pigs out
First he ate some lettuces
and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes;
Peter ate too much
And then, feeling rather
sick, he went to look for some parsley.
Peter is discovered
But round the end of a
cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor!
McGregor chases Peter
Mr. McGregor was on his
hands and knees planting out young cabbages, but he jumped up and ran after
Peter, waving a rake and calling out, 'Stop thief!'
Peter loses his shoes
Peter was most dreadfully
frightened; he rushed all over the garden, for he had forgotten the way back to
the gate.
He lost one of his shoes
among the cabbages, and the other shoe amongst the potatoes.
Peter is caught in a net
After losing them, he ran
on four legs and went faster, so that I think he might have got away altogether
if he had not unfortunately run into a gooseberry net, and got caught by the
large buttons on his jacket. It was a blue jacket with brass buttons, quite
new.
Sparrows offer advice
Peter gave himself up for
lost, and shed big tears; but his sobs were overheard by some friendly
sparrows, who flew to him in great excitement, and implored him to exert
himself.
Peter escapes McGregor
Mr. McGregor came up with a
sieve, which he intended to pop upon the top of Peter; but Peter wriggled out
just in time, leaving his jacket behind him.
Peter chooses a wet place to hide
And rushed into the
tool-shed, and jumped into a can. It would have been a beautiful thing to hide
in, if it had not had so much water in it.
'Kertyschoo!'
Mr. McGregor was quite sure
that Peter was somewhere in the toolshed, perhaps hidden underneath a
flower-pot. He began to turn them over carefully, looking under each.
Presently Peter
sneezed—'Kertyschoo!' Mr. McGregor was after him in no time.
Peter tips over pots
And tried to put his foot
upon Peter, who jumped out of a window, upsetting three plants. The window was
too small for Mr. McGregor, and he was tired of running after Peter. He went
back to his work.
Peter looks around for the exit
Peter sat down to rest; he
was out of breath and trembling with fright, and he had not the least idea which
way to go. Also he was very damp with sitting in that can.
After a time he began to
wander about, going lippity—lippity—not very fast, and looking all round.
Peter asks the mouse
He found a door in a wall;
but it was locked, and there was no room for a fat little rabbit to squeeze
underneath.
A mouse was running in and
out over the stone doorstep, carrying peas and beans to her family in the wood.
Peter asked her the way to the gate, but she had such a large pea in her mouth
that she could not answer. She only shook her head at him. Peter began to cry.
Peter encounters a cat
Then he tried to find his
way straight across the garden, but he became more and more puzzled. Presently,
he came to a pond where Mr. McGregor filled his water-cans. A white cat was
staring at some goldfish, she sat very, very still, but now and then the tip of
her tail twitched as if it were alive. Peter thought it best to go away without
speaking to her; he had heard about cats from his cousin, little Benjamin
Bunny.
Peter finds a vantage point
He went back towards the
toolshed, but suddenly, quite close to him, he heard the noise of a
hoe—scr-r-ritch, scratch, scratch, scritch. Peter scuttered underneath the
bushes. But presently, as nothing happened, he came out, and climbed upon a
wheelbarrow and peeped over. The first thing he saw was Mr. McGregor hoeing
onions. His back was turned towards Peter, and beyond him was the gate!
Peter dashes for the gate
Peter got down very quietly
off the wheelbarrow; and started running as fast as he could go, along a
straight walk behind some black-currant bushes.
Mr. McGregor caught sight
of him at the corner, but Peter did not care. He slipped underneath the gate,
and was safe at last in the wood outside the garden.
Scare-crow of rabbit clothes
Mr. McGregor hung up the
little jacket and the shoes for a scarecrow to frighten the blackbirds.
Peter never stopped running
or looked behind him till he got home to the big fir-tree.
Peter is back home
He was so tired that he
flopped down upon the nice soft sand on the floor of the rabbit-hole and shut
his eyes. His mother was busy cooking; she wondered what he had done with his
clothes. It was the second little jacket and pair of shoes that Peter had lost
in a fortnight!
Petered out
I am sorry to say that
Peter was not very well during the evening.
His mother put him to bed,
and made some camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter!
'One table-spoonful to be
taken at bed-time.'
Eating the berries they picked
But Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail
had bread and milk and blackberries for supper.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born Helen Beatrix Potter (1866-1943),
in London, England, she became a highly beloved children's authors of all time.
Potter first tasted success as an illustrator, selling some of her work to be
used for greeting cards. In 1902, publisher Frederick Warne printed The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which launched
her career as a children's author. More than 20 other books for young audiences
soon followed. Potter's tales of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Benjamin
Bunny and others have become children's classics.
Source from the Public Domain:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14838/14838-h/14838-h.htm
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