A Collection of Beatrix Potter Stories | Page 2

from his cousin, little
Benjamin Bunny.
HE went back towards the tool-shed, 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 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.
MR. McGREGOR hung up the little jacket and the shoes for a
scare-crow to frighten the blackbirds.
PETER never stopped running or looked behind him till he got home to
the big fir-tree.
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!
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."
BUT Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail had bread and milk and
blackberries, for supper.
THE END

THE TALE OF BENJAMIN BUNNY
FOR THE CHILDREN OF SAWREY FROM OLD MR. BUNNY
ONE morning a little rabbit sat on a bank.
He pricked his ears and listened to the trit-trot, trit-trot of a pony.
A gig was coming along the road; it was driven by Mr. McGregor, and
beside him sat Mrs. McGregor in her best bonnet.
AS soon as they had passed, little Benjamin Bunny slid down into the
road, and set off--with a hop, skip and a jump--to call upon his relations,
who lived in the wood at the back of Mr. McGregor's garden.
THAT wood was full of rabbit holes; and in the neatest sandiest hole of
all, cousins--Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail 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-- "Cotton-tail! Cotton-tail! 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 foot-marks 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.