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THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter Styled by LimpidSoft
THE TALE OF PETERRABBIT
by Beatrix Potter
Styled by LimpidSoft
The Tale of Peter Rabbit: First published1902, Frederick Warne & Co., 1902Printed and bound in Great Britain byWilliam Clowes Limited, Beccles and London.This document is an adaptation of the htmltext supplied by Project Gutenberg [EBook#14838], and is made freely available on theone condition: that it is FREE.
John RedmondSydney, Australia
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Once upon a time there were four littleRabbits, and their names were
“Flopsy,Mopsy,
Cotton-tail,and Peter”.
They lived with their Mother in asand-bank, underneath the root of avery big fir-tree.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
“NOW my dears,” said old Mrs. Rabbitone morning, “you may go into thefields or down the lane, but don’t gointo Mr. McGregor’s garden: yourFather had an accident there; he wasput in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.”
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
“NOW run along, and don’t get intomischief. I am going out.”
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
THEN old Mrs. Rabbit took a basketand her umbrella, and went throughthe wood to the baker’s. She bought aloaf of brown bread and five currantbuns.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
FLOPSY, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, whowere good little bunnies, went downthe lane to gather blackberries:
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
BUT Peter, who was very naughty, ranstraight away to Mr. McGregor’sgarden, and squeezed under the gate!
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
FIRST he ate some lettuces and someFrench beans; and then he ate someradishes;
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
AND then, feeling rather sick, he wentto look for some parsley.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
BUT round the end of a cucumberframe, whom should he meet but Mr.McGregor!
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
MR. McGregor was on his hands andknees planting out young cabbages,but he jumped up and ran after Peter,waving a rake and calling out, “Stopthief!”
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
PETER was most dreadfully frightened;he rushed all over the garden, for hehad forgotten the way back to the gate.
He lost one of his shoes among thecabbages, and the other shoe amongstthe potatoes.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
AFTER losing them, he ran on four legsand went faster, so that I think hemight have got away altogether if hehad not unfortunately run into agooseberry net, and got caught by thelarge buttons on his jacket. It was ablue jacket with brass buttons, quitenew.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
PETER gave himself up for lost, andshed big tears; but his sobs wereoverheard by some friendly sparrows,who flew to him in great excitement,and implored him to exert himself.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
MR. McGregor came up with a sieve,which he intended to pop upon the topof Peter; but Peter wriggled out just intime, leaving his jacket behind him.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
AND rushed into the tool-shed, andjumped into a can. It would have beena beautiful thing to hide in, if it hadnot had so much water in it.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
MR. McGregor was quite sure thatPeter was somewhere in the tool-shed,perhaps hidden underneath aflower-pot. He began to turn them overcarefully, looking under each.
Presently Peter sneezed “Kertyschoo!”Mr. McGregor was after him in notime.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
AND tried to put his foot upon Peter,who jumped out of a window,upsetting three plants. The windowwas too small for Mr. McGregor, andhe was tired of running after Peter. Hewent back to his work.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
PETER sat down to rest; he was out ofbreath and trembling with fright, andhe had not the least idea which way togo. Also he was very damp with sittingin that can.
After a time he began to wander about,going lippity–lippity not very fast, andlooking all round.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
HE found a door in a wall; but it waslocked, and there was no room for a fatlittle rabbit to squeeze underneath.
An old mouse was running in and outover the stone doorstep, carrying peasand beans to her family in the wood.Peter asked her the way to the gate,but she had such a large pea in hermouth that she could not answer. Sheonly shook her head at him. Peterbegan to cry.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
THEN he tried to find his way straightacross the garden, but he becamemore and more puzzled. Presently, hecame to a pond where Mr. McGregorfilled his water-cans. A white cat wasstaring at some gold-fish, she sat very,very still, but now and then the tip ofher tail twitched as if it were alive.Peter thought it best to go awaywithout speaking to her; he had heardabout cats from his cousin, littleBenjamin Bunny.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
HE went back towards the tool-shed,but suddenly, quite close to him, heheard the noise of a hoe–scr-r-ritch,scratch, scratch, scritch. Peterscuttered underneath the bushes. Butpresently, as nothing happened, hecame out, and climbed upon awheelbarrow and peeped over. The firstthing he saw was Mr. McGregor hoeingonions. His back was turned towardsPeter, and beyond him was the gate!
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
PETER got down very quietly off thewheelbarrow; and started running asfast as he could go, along a straightwalk behind some black-currantbushes.
Mr. McGregor caught sight of him atthe corner, but Peter did not care. Heslipped underneath the gate, and wassafe at last in the wood outside thegarden.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
MR. McGregor hung up the little jacketand the shoes for a scare-crow tofrighten the blackbirds.
Peter never stopped running or lookedbehind him till he got home to the bigfir-tree.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
HE was so tired that he flopped downupon the nice soft sand on the floor ofthe rabbit-hole and shut his eyes. Hismother was busy cooking; shewondered what he had done with hisclothes. It was the second little jacketand pair of shoes that Peter had lost ina fortnight!
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
I am sorry to say that Peter was notvery well during the evening.
His mother put him to bed, and madesome camomile tea; and she gave adose of it to Peter!
“One table-spoonful to be taken atbed-time.”
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit
BUT Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tailhad bread and milk and blackberriesfor supper.
THE END
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