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The Tale Of The Flopsy Bunnies
By
Beatrix Potter
FOR
ALL LITTLE FRIENDS
OF
MR. MCGREGOR & PET=
ER
& BENJAMIN
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 Co=
usin
Flopsy. They had a large family, and they were very improvident and cheerfu=
l.
I do not remember the separate names of their
children; they were generally called the "Flopsy Bunnies." As the=
re
was not always quite enough to eat,--Benjamin used to borrow cabbages from
Flopsy's brother, Peter Rabbit, who kept a nursery garden.
Sometimes Peter Rabbit had no cabbages to spar=
e.
When this happened, the Flopsy Bunnies went ac=
ross
the field to a rubbish heap, in the ditch outside Mr. McGregor's garden.
Mr. McGregor's rubbish heap was a mixture. The=
re
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 lettu=
ces,
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 child=
ren.
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 so=
und
of the mowing machine. The bluebottles buzzed about the wall, and a little =
old
mouse picked over the rubbish among the jam pots.
(I can tell you her name, she was called Thoma=
sina
Tittlemouse, a woodmouse with a long tail.)
She rustled across the paper bag, and awakened
Benjamin Bunny.
The mouse apologized profusely, and said that =
she
knew Peter Rabbit.
While she and Benjamin were talking, close und=
er
the wall, they heard a heavy tread above their heads; and suddenly Mr. McGr=
egor
emptied out a sackful of lawn mowings right upon the top of the sleeping Fl=
opsy
Bunnies! Benjamin shrank down under his paper bag. The mouse hid in a jam p=
ot.
The little rabbits smiled sweetly in their sle=
ep
under the shower of grass; they did not awake because the lettuces had been=
so
soporific.
They dreamt that their mother Flopsy was tucki=
ng
them up in a hay bed.
Mr. McGregor looked down after emptying his sa=
ck.
He saw some funny little brown tips of ears sticking up through the lawn
mowings. He stared at them for some time.
Presently a fly settled on one of them and it
moved.
Mr. McGregor climbed down on to the rubbish he=
ap--
"One, two, three, four! five! six leetle
rabbits!" said he as he dropped them into his sack. The Flopsy Bunnies
dreamt that their mother was turning them over in bed. They stirred a littl=
e in
their sleep, but still they did not wake up.
Mr. McGregor tied up the sack and left it on t=
he
wall.
He went to put away the mowing machine.
While he was gone, Mrs. Flopsy Bunny (who had
remained at home) came across the field.
She looked suspiciously at the sack and wonder=
ed
where everybody was?
Then the mouse came out of her jam pot, and
Benjamin took the paper bag off his head, and they told the doleful tale.
Benjamin and Flopsy were in despair, they could
not undo the string.
But Mrs. Tittlemouse was a resourceful person.=
She
nibbled a hole in the bottom corner of the sack.
The little rabbits were pulled out and pinched=
to
wake them.
Their parents stuffed the empty sack with three
rotten vegetable marrows, an old blacking-brush and two decayed turnips.
Then they all hid under a bush and watched for=
Mr.
McGregor.
Mr. McGregor came back and picked up the sack,=
and
carried it off.
He carried it hanging down, as if it were rath=
er
heavy.
The Flopsy Bunnies followed at a safe distance=
.
The watched him go into his house.
And then they crept up to the window to listen=
.
Mr. McGregor threw down the sack on the stone
floor in a way that would have been extremely painful to the Flopsy Bunnies=
, if
they had happened to have been inside it.
They could hear him drag his chair on the flag=
s,
and chuckle--
"One, two, three, four, five, six leetle
rabbits!" said Mr. McGregor.
"Eh? What's that? What have they been
spoiling now?" enquired Mrs. McGregor.
"One, two, three, four, five, six leetle =
fat
rabbits!" repeated Mr. McGregor, counting on his fingers--"one, t=
wo,
three--"
"Don't you be silly; what do you mean, you
silly old man?"
"In the sack! one, two, three, four, five,
six!" replied Mr. McGregor.
(The youngest Flopsy Bunny got upon the
window-sill.)
Mrs. McGregor took hold of the sack and felt i=
t.
She said she could feel six, but they must be old rabbits, because they wer=
e so
hard and all different shapes.
"Not fit to eat; but the skins will do fi=
ne
to line my old cloak."
"Line your old cloak?" shouted Mr.
McGregor--"I shall sell them and buy myself baccy!"
"Rabbit tobacco! I shall skin them and cut
off their heads."
Mrs. McGregor untied the sack and put her hand
inside.
When she felt the vegetables she became very v=
ery
angry. She said that Mr. McGregor had "done it a purpose."
And Mr. McGregor was very angry too. One of the
rotten marrows came flying through the kitchen window, and hit the youngest
Flopsy Bunny.
It was rather hurt.
Then Benjamin and Flopsy thought that it was t=
ime
to go home.
So Mr. McGregor did not get his tobacco, and M=
rs.
McGregor did not get her rabbit skins.
But next Christmas Thomasina Tittlemouse got a
present of enough rabbit-wool to make herself a cloak and a hood, and a
handsome muff and a pair of warm mittens.