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 door-step.
Then Twinkleberry and the other little squirrels each made a low bow, and said politely
Old Mr. Brown, will you favour 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
Riddle me, riddle me, rot-tot-tote!A little wee man, in a red red coat!A staff in his hand,and a stone in his throat;If youll tell me this riddle,Ill give you a groat.Now this riddle is as old as the hills; Mr. Brown paid no attention whatever to Nutkin.
He shut his eyes obstinately and went to sleep.
The squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts, and sailed away home in the evening.
But next morning they all came back again to Owl Island; and Twinkleberry and the others brought a fine fat mole, and laid it on the stone in front of Old Browns doorway, and said
Mr. Brown, will you favour us with your gracious permission to gather some more nuts?
But Nutkin, who had no respect, began to dance up and down, tickling old Mr. Brown with a nettle and singing
Old Mr. B! Riddle-me-ree!Hitty Pitty within the wall,Hitty Pitty without the wall;If you touch Hitty Pitty,Hitty Pitty will bite you!Mr. Brown woke up suddenly and carried the mole into his house.
He shut the door in Nutkins face. Presently a little thread of blue smoke from a wood fire came up from the top of the tree, and Nutkin peeped through the key-hole and sang
A house full, a hole full!And you cannot gather a bowl-full!The squirrels searched for nuts all over the island and filled their little sacks.
But Nutkin gathered oak-apples yellow and scarlet and sat upon a beech-stump playing marbles, and watching the door of old Mr. Brown.
On the third day the squirrels got up very early and went fishing; they caught seven fat minnows as a present for Old Brown.
They paddled over the lake and landed under a crooked chestnut tree on Owl Island.
Twinkleberry and six other little squirrels each carried a fat minnow; but Nutkin, who had no nice manners, brought no present at all. He ran in front, singing
The man in the wilderness said to me,How many strawberries grow in the sea?I answered him as I thought good As many red herringsas grow in the wood.But old Mr. Brown took no interest in riddles not even when the answer was provided for him.
On the fourth day the squirrels brought a present of six fat beetles, which were as good as plums in plum-pudding for Old Brown. Each beetle was wrapped up carefully in a dock-leaf, fastened with a pine-needle pin.
But Nutkin sang as rudely as ever
Old Mr. B! riddle-me-reeFlour of England, fruit of Spain,Met together in a shower of rain;Put in a bag tied round with a string,If youll tell me this riddle,Ill give you a ring!Which was ridiculous of Nutkin, because he had not got any ring to give to Old Brown.
The other squirrels hunted up and down the nut bushes; but Nutkin gathered robins pincushions off a briar bush, and stuck them full of pine-needle pins.
On the fifth day the squirrels brought a present of wild honey; it was so sweet and sticky that they licked their fingers as they put it down upon the stone. They had stolen it out of a bumble bees nest on the tippitty top of the hill.
But Nutkin skipped up and down, singing
Hum-a-bum! buzz! buzz!Hum-a-bum buzz!As I went over Tipple-tineI met a flock of bonny swine;Some yellow-nacked, some yellow backed!They were the very bonniest swineThat eer went over Tipple-tine.Old Mr. Brown turned up his eyes in disgust at the impertinence of Nutkin.
But he ate up the honey!The squirrels filled their little sackswith nuts.
But Nutkin sat upon a big flat rock, and played ninepins with a crab apple and green fir-cones.
On the sixth day, which was Saturday, the squirrels came again for the last time; they brought a new-laid egg in a little rush basket as a last parting present for Old Brown.
But Nutkin ran in front laughing, and shouting
Humpty Dumpty lies in the beck,With a white counterpane round his neck,Forty doctors and forty wrights,Cannot put Humpty Dumpty to rights!Now old Mr. Brown took an interest in eggs; he opened one eye and shut it again. But still he did not speak.
Nutkin became more and more impertinent
Old Mr. B! Old Mr. B!Hickamore, Hackamore,on the Kings kitchen door;All the Kings horses,and all the Kings men,Couldnt drive Hickamore, Hackamore,Off the Kings kitchen door.Nutkin danced up and down like a sunbeam; but still Old Brown said nothing at all.
Nutkin began again
Arthur OBower has broken his band,He comes roaring up the land!The King of Scots with all his power,Cannot turn Arthur of the Bower!Nutkin made a whirring noise to sound like the wind, and he took a running jump right onto the head of Old Brown!..
Then all at once there was a flutterment and a scufflement and a loud Squeak!
The other squirrels scuttered away into the bushes.
When they came back very cautiously, peeping round the tree there was Old Brown sitting on his door-step, quite still, with his eyes closed, as if nothing had happened.
This looks like the end of the story; but it isnt.
Old Brown carried Nutkin into his house, and held him up by the tail, intending to skin him; but Nutkin pulled so very hard that his tail broke in two, and he dashed up the staircase and escaped out of the attic window.
And to this day, if you meet Nutkin up a tree and ask him a riddle, he will throw sticks at you, and stamp his feet and scold, and shout
Cuck-cuck-cuck-cur-r-r-cuck-k-k!
The Tales of the Flopsy Bunnies
It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is soporific.
I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit.
They certainly had a very soporific effect upon the Flopsy Bunnies!
When Benjamin Bunny grew up, he married his Cousin Flopsy. They had a large family, and they were very improvident and cheerful.
I do not remember the separate names of their children; they were generally called the Flopsy Bunnies.
As there was not always quite enough to eat, Benjamin used to borrow cabbages from Flopsys brother, Peter Rabbit, who kept a nursery garden.
Sometimes Peter Rabbit had no cabbages to spare.
When this happened, the Flopsy Bunnies went across the field to a rubbish heap, in the ditch outside Mr. McGregors garden.
Mr. McGregors rubbish heap was a mixture. There were jam pots and paper bags, and mountains of chopped grass from the mowing machine (which always tasted oily), and some rotten vegetable marrows and an old boot or two. One day oh joy! there were a quantity of overgrown lettuces, which had shot into flower.
The Flopsy Bunnies simply stuffed lettuces. By degrees, one after another, they were overcome with slumber, and lay down in the mown grass.
Benjamin was not so much overcome as his children. Before going to sleep he was sufficiently wide awake to put a paper bag over his head to keep off the flies.
The little Flopsy Bunnies slept delightfully in the warm sun. From the lawn beyond the garden came the distant clacketty sound of the mowing machine. The bluebottles buzzed about the wall, and a little old mouse picked over the rubbish among the jam pots.