THE TALE OF

BENJAMIN BUNNY

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

AUTHOR OF "THE TAIL OF PETER RABBIT," &C.

FREDERICK WARNE & CO., INC.

NEW YORK

Copyright, 1904

BY

FREDERICK WARNE & Co.

Copyright renewed, 1932

FOR THE CHILDREN OF SAWREY

FROM

OLD MR. BUNNY

One morning a little rabbitsat on a bank.

He pricked his ears andlistened to the trit-trot, trit-trot of a pony.

A gig was coming along theroad; it was driven by Mr.McGregor, and beside him satMrs. McGregor in her best

bonnet.

As soon as they had passed,little Benjamin Bunny sliddown into the road, and set

—off with a hop, skip, and a—jump to call upon his

relations, who lived in thewood at the back of Mr.

'McGregor s garden.

That wood was full of rabbitholes; and in the neatest,sandiest hole of all lived

'Benjamin s aunt and his cousins—Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail,and Peter.

Old Mrs. Rabbit was a widow;

she earned her living byknitting rabbit-wool mittensand muffatees (I once boughta pair at a bazaar). She alsosold herbs, and rosemary tea,and rabbit-tobacco (which iswhat we call lavender).

Little Benjamin did not very

much want to see his Aunt.

He came round the back ofthe fir-tree, and nearlytumbled upon the top of hisCousin Peter.

Peter was sitting by himself.He looked poorly, and wasdressed in a red cotton

pocket-handkerchief.

"Peter," said little Benjamin, ina whisper, "who has got yourclothes?"

Peter replied, "The scarecrow'in Mr. McGregor s garden," and

described how he had beenchased about the garden, andhad dropped his shoes and

coat.

Little Benjamin sat downbeside his cousin and assuredhim that Mr. McGregor hadgone out in a gig, and Mrs.McGregor also; and certainlyfor the day, because she waswearing her best bonnet.

Peter said he hoped that itwould rain.

'At this point old Mrs. Rabbit svoice was heard inside therabbit hole, calling: "Cotton-tail! Cotton-tail! fetch somemore camomile!"

Peter said he thought hemight feel better if he wentfor a walk.

They went away hand inhand, and got upon the flattop of the wall at the bottomof the wood. From here theylooked down into Mr.

' 'McGregor s garden. Peter scoat and shoes were plainlyto be seen upon thescarecrow, 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 wayto get in is to climb down apear-tree."

Peter fell down head first;

but it was of no consequence,as the bed below was newlyraked and quite soft.

It had been sown withlettuces.

They left a great many oddlittle footmarks all over thebed, especially little Benjamin,

who was wearing clogs.

Little Benjamin said that thefirst thing to be done was to

'get back Peter s clothes, inorder that they might be ableto use the pocket-handkerchief.

They took them off the

scarecrow. There had beenrain during the night; therewas water in the shoes, andthe coat was somewhat shrunk.

'Benjamin tried on the tam-o -shanter, but it was too bigfor him.

Then he suggested that they

should fill the pocket-handkerchief with onions, as alittle present for his Aunt.

Peter did not seem to beenjoying himself; he kepthearing noises.

Benjamin, on the contrary,was perfectly at home, and

ate a lettuce leaf. He saidthat he was in the habit ofcoming to the garden with hisfather to get lettuces fortheir Sunday dinner.

'(The name of little Benjamin spapa was old Mr. BenjaminBunny.)

The lettuces certainly werevery fine.

Peter did not eat anything; hesaid he should like to go home.Presently he dropped half theonions.

Little Benjamin said that itwas not possible to get backup the pear-tree with a loadof vegetables. He led the wayboldly towards the other endof the garden. They wentalong a little walk on planks,under a sunny, red brick wall.

The mice sat on theirdoorsteps cracking cherry-stones; they winked at PeterRabbit and little BenjaminBunny.

Presently Peter let thepocket-handkerchief go again.

They got amongst flower-pots,and frames, and tubs. Peterheard noises worse than ever;his eyes were as big as lolly-pops!

He was a step or two infront of his cousin when hesuddenly stopped.

This is what those littlerabbits saw round that corner!

Little Benjamin took one look,and then, in half a minute lessthan no time, he hid himselfand Peter and the onionsunderneath a large basket....

The cat got up and stretchedherself, and came and sniffedat the basket.

Perhaps she liked the smell ofonions!

Anyway, she sat down uponthe top of the basket.

She sat there for five hours.I cannot draw you a pictureof Peter and Benjaminunderneath the basket,because it was quite dark, andbecause the smell of onionswas fearful; it made PeterRabbit and little Benjamin cry.

The sun got round behind thewood, and it was quite latein the afternoon; but still thecat sat upon the basket.

At length there was a pitter-patter, pitter-patter, and somebits of mortar fell from thewall above.

The cat looked up and sawold Mr. Benjamin Bunnyprancing along the top of thewall of the upper terrace.

He was smoking a pipe ofrabbit-tobacco, and had alittle switch in his hand.

He was looking for his son.

Old Mr. Bunny had no opinionwhatever of cats.

He took a tremendous jumpoff the top of the wall on tothe top of the cat, andcuffed it off the basket, andkicked it into the greenhouse,scratching off a handful offur.

The cat was too muchsurprised to scratch back.

When old Mr. Bunny haddriven the cat into thegreenhouse, he locked thedoor.

Then he came back to thebasket and took out his sonBenjamin by the ears, andwhipped him with the little

switch.

Then he took out his nephewPeter.

Then he took out thehandkerchief of onions, andmarched out of the garden.

When Mr. McGregor returnedabout half an hour later heobserved several things whichperplexed him.

It looked as though someperson had been walking allover the garden in a pair of

—clogs only the footmarks

were too ridiculously little!

Also he could not understandhow the cat could havemanaged to shut herself upinside the greenhouse, lockingthe door upon the outside.

When Peter got home hismother forgave him, becauseshe was so glad to see that

he had found his shoes andcoat. Cotton-tail and Peterfolded up the pocket-handkerchief, and old Mrs.Rabbit strung up the onionsand hung them from thekitchen ceiling, with thebunches of herbs and therabbit-tobacco.

THE END