The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck

It's a very fine morning, said Mr. Drake Puddle Duck.

And he and Jemima and Rebecca Puddle Duck set off up the road, keeping step, pit-pat, paddle-pat, pit-pat, waddle-pat.

Then Tabitha Twitchit came down the garden and found her kittens on the wall with no clothes on.

she pulled them off the wall smacked them and took them back to the house my friends will arrive in a minute and you are not fit to be seen i am affronted said mrs tabitha twitchit she sent them upstairs and i am sorry to say she told her friends that they were in bed with the measles which was not true quite the contrary they were not in bed not in the least somehow there were very extraordinary noises overhead which disturbed the dignity and repose of the tea-party and I think that some day I shall have to make another, larger book to tell you more about Tom Kitten.

As for the Puddle Ducks, they went into a pond.

The clothes all came off directly, because there were no buttons, and Mr. Drake Puddle Duck and Jemima and Rebecca have been looking for them ever since.

End of The Tale of Tom Kitten Recording by Valentina Vicelli The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin This is a tale about a tale, a tale that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin.

he had a brother called twinkleberry and a great many cousins they lived in a wood at the edge of a lake in the middle of the lake there is an island covered with trees and nut bushes and amongst those trees stands a hollow oak tree which is the house of an owl who is called old brown one autumn when the nuts were ripe and the leaves on the hazel bushes were golden and green nutkin and twinkleberry and all the other little squirrels came out of the wood and down to the edge of the lake they made little rafts out of twigs and they paddled away over the water to owl island to gather nuts each squirrel had a little sack and a large oar and spread out his tail for a sail they also took with them an offering of three fat mice as a present for old brown and put them down upon his doorstep then twinkle berry and the other little squirrels each made a low bow and said politely old mr brown will you favor us with permission to gather nuts upon your island but nutkin was excessively impertinent in his manners he bobbed up and down like a little red cherry singing

It's a very fine morning, said Mr. Drake Puddle Duck.

And he and Jemima and Rebecca Puddle Duck set off up the road, keeping step, pit-pat, paddle-pat, pit-pat, waddle-pat.

Then Tabitha Twitchit came down the garden and found her kittens on the wall with no clothes on.

she pulled them off the wall smacked them and took them back to the house my friends will arrive in a minute and you are not fit to be seen i am affronted said mrs tabitha she sent them upstairs and i am sorry to say she told her friends that they were in bed with the measles which was not true quite the contrary they were not in bed not in the least somehow there were very extraordinary noises overhead which disturbed the dignity and repose of the tea-party and I think that some day I shall have to make another, larger book to tell you more about Tom Kitten.

As for the Puddle Ducks, they went into a pond.

The clothes all came off directly, because there were no buttons, and Mr. Drake Puddle Duck and Jemima and Rebecca have been looking for them ever since.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin This is a tale about a tale, a tale that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin.

he had a brother called twinkleberry and a great many cousins they lived in a wood at the edge of a lake in the middle of the lake there is an island covered with trees and nut bushes and amongst those trees stands a hollow oak tree which is the house of an owl who is called old brown one autumn when the nuts were ripe and the leaves on the hazel bushes were golden and green nutkin and twinkleberry and all the other little squirrels came out of the wood and down to the edge of the lake they made little rafts out of twigs and they paddled away over the water to owl island to gather nuts each squirrel had a little sack and a large oar and spread out his tail for a sail they also took with them an offering of three fat mice as a present for old brown and put them down upon his doorstep then twinkle berry and the other little squirrels each made a low bow and said politely old mr

But Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail had bread and milk and blackberries for supper.

THE TALE OF TOM KITTEN once upon a time there were three little kittens and their names were mittens tom kitten and moppet they had dear little fur coats of their own and they tumbled about the doorstep and played in the dust but one day their mother mrs tabitha twitchit expected friends to tea so she fetched the kittens indoors to wash and dress them before the fine company arrived first she scrubbed their faces this one is moppet then she brushed their fur this one is mittens then she combed their tails and whiskers this is tom kitten tom was very naughty and he scratched mrs tabitha dressed moppet and mittens in clean pinafores and tuckers and then she took all sorts of elegant uncomfortable clothes out of a chest of drawers in order to dress up her son thomas tom kitten was very fat and he had grown several buttons burst off his mother sewed them on again when the three kittens were ready mrs tabitha unwisely turned them out into the garden to be out of the way while she made hot buttered toast now keep your frocks clean children you must walk on your hind legs keep away from the dirty ash pit and from sally henny penny and from the pigsty and the puddle ducks moppet and mittens walked down the garden path unsteadily presently they trod upon their pinafores and fell on their noses when they stood up there were several green smears let us climb up the rockery and sit on the garden wall said moppet they turned their pinafores back to front and went up with a skip and a jump moppet's white tucker fell down into the road tom kitten was quite unable to jump when walking upon his hind legs and trousers he came up the rockery by degrees breaking the ferns and shedding buttons right and left he was all in pieces when he reached the top of the wall moppet and mittens tried to pull him together his hat fell off and the rest of his buttons burst while they were in difficulties there was a pit pat paddle pat and the three puddle ducks came along the hard high road marching one behind the other and doing the goose step pit pat paddle pat pit pat waddle pat they stopped and stood in a row and stared up at the kittens they had very small eyes and looked surprised then the two duck birds rebecca and jemima puddle duck picked up the hat and tucker and put them on mittens laughed so hard that she fell off the wall moppet and tom descended after her the pinafores and all the rest of tom's clothes came off on the way down come mr drake puddle duck said moppet come and help us to dress him come and button up tom mr drake puddle duck advanced in a slow sideways manner and picked up the various articles but he put them on himself they fitted him even worse than tom kitten it's a very fine morning said mr drake puddle duck and he and jemima and rebecca puddle duck set off up the road keeping step pit pat paddle pat pit pat waddle pat Then Tabitha Twitchit came down the garden and found her kittens on the wall with no clothes on.

she pulled them off the wall smacked them and took them back to the house my friends will arrive in a minute and you are not fit to be seen i am affronted said mrs tabitha twitchit she sent them upstairs and i am sorry to say she told her friends that they were in bed with the measles which was not true quite the contrary they were not in bed not in the least somehow there were very extraordinary noises overhead which disturbed the dignity and repose of the tea-party and I think that some day I shall have to make another, larger book to tell you more about Tom Kitten.

As for the Puddle Ducks, they went into a pond.

The wood was full of rabbit holes, and in the neatest, sandiest hole of all lived Benjamin's aunt and his cousins, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter.

old mrs rabbit was a widow she earned her living by knitting rabbit-wool mittens and muffetees i once bought a pair at a bazaar she also sold herbs and rosemary tea and rabbit tobacco which is what we call lavender little benjamin did not very much want to see his aunt he came round the back of the fir-tree and nearly tumbled upon the top of his cousin peter peter was sitting by himself he looked poorly and was dressed in a red cotton pocket-handkerchief peter said little benjamin in a whisper who has got your clothes peter replied the scarecrow in mr mcgregor's garden and described how he had been chased about the garden and had dropped his shoes and coat little benjamin sat down beside his cousin and assured him that mr mcgregor had gone out in a gig and mrs mcgregor also and certainly for the day because she was wearing her best bonnet peter said he hoped that it would rain at this point old mrs rabbit's voice was heard inside the rabbit hole calling cottontail cottontail fetch some more camomile peter said he thought he might feel better if he went for a walk they went away hand in hand and got upon the flat top of the wall at the bottom of the wood from here they looked down into mr mcgregor's garden peter's coat and shoes were plainly to be seen upon the scarecrow topped with an old tam o shanter of mr mcgregor's little benjamin said it spoils people's clothes to squeeze under a gate the proper way to get in is to climb down a pear tree peter fell down head first but it was of no consequence as the bed below was newly raked and quite soft it had been sown with lettuces they left a great many odd little footmarks all over the bed especially little benjamin who was wearing clogs little benjamin said that the first thing to be done was to get back peter's clothes in order that they might be able to use the pocket-handkerchief they took them off the scarecrow there had been rain during the night there was water in the shoes and the coat was somewhat shrunk benjamin tried on the tam o'shanter but it was too big for him then he suggested that they should fill the pocket-handkerchief with onions as a little present for his aunt peter did not seem to be enjoying himself he kept hearing noises benjamin on the contrary was perfectly at home and ate a lettuce leaf he said that he was in the habit of coming to the garden with his father to get lettuces for their sunday dinner the name of little benjamin's papa was old mr benjamin bunny the lettuces certainly were very fine peter did not eat anything he said he should like to go home presently he dropped half the onions little benjamin said that it was not possible to get back up the pear tree with a load of vegetables he led the way boldly towards the other end of the garden they went along a little walk on planks under a sunny red brick wall the mice sat on their doorstep cracking cherry stones they winked at peter rabbit and little benjamin bunny presently peter rabbit let the pocket handkerchief go again they got amongst flower-pots and frames and tubs peter heard noises worse than ever his eyes were as big as lollypops he was a step or two in front of his cousin when he suddenly stopped this is what those little rabbits saw round the corner little benjamin took one look and then in half a minute less than no time he hid himself and peter and the onions underneath a large basket the cat got up and stretched herself and came and sniffed at the basket perhaps she liked the smell of onions anyway she sat down on top of the basket she sat there for five hours i cannot draw you a picture of peter and benjamin underneath the basket because it was quite dark and because the smell of onions was fearful it made peter rabbit and little benjamin cry the sun got round behind the wood and it was quite late in the afternoon but still the cat sat upon the basket at length there was a pitter patter pitter patter and some bits of mortar fell from the wall above the cat looked up and saw old mr benjamin bunny prancing along the top of the wall of the upper terrace he was smoking a pipe of rabbit tobacco and had a little switch in his hand he was looking for his son old mr bunny had no opinion whatever of cats he took a tremendous jump off the top of the wall on to the top of the cat and cuffed it off the basket and kicked it into the greenhouse scratching off a handful of fur the cat was too surprised to scratch back when old mr bunny had driven the cat into the greenhouse he locked the door then he came back to the basket and took out his son benjamin by the ears and whipped him with the little switch then he took out his nephew peter then he took out the handkerchief of onions and marched out of the garden when mr mcgregor returned about half an hour later he observed several things which perplexed him it looked as though some person had been walking all over the garden in a pair of clogs only the footmarks were too ridiculously little also he could not understand how the cat could have managed to shut herself up inside the greenhouse locking the door upon the outside when peter got home his mother forgave him because she was so glad to see that he had found his shoes and coat cottontail and peter folded up the pocket-handkerchief and old mrs rabbit strung up the onions and hung them from the kitchen ceiling with the bunches of herbs and the rabbit tobacco the end end of the tale of benjamin bunny

Peter Rabbit and Other Tales by Beatrix Potter The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck what a funny sight it is to see a brood of ducklings with a hen listen to the story of jemima puddle duck who was annoyed because the farmer's wife would not let her hatch her own eggs her sister-in-law mrs rebecca puddle duck was perfectly willing to leave the hatching to some one else i have not the patience to sit on a nest for twenty-eight days and no more have you jemima you would let them go cold you know you would i wished i wish to hatch my own eggs i will hatch them all by myself quacked jemima puddle duck she tried to hide her eggs but they were always found and carried off jemima puddle duck became quite desperate she determined to make a nest right away from the farm she set off on a fine spring afternoon along the cart road that leads over the hill she was wearing a shawl and a poke bonnet when she reached the top of the hill she saw a wood in the distance she thought that it looked a safe quiet spot jemima puddle duck was not much in the habit of flying she ran downhill a few yards flapping her shawl and then she jumped off into the air she flew beautifully when she had got a good start she skimmed along over the tree-tops until she saw an open place in the middle of the wood where the trees and brushwood had been cleared jemima alighted rather heavily and began to waddle about in search of a convenient dry nesting place She rather fancied a tree stump amongst some tall foxgloves.

But, seated upon the stump, she was startled to find an elegantly dressed gentleman reading a newspaper.