Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries; but Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight to Mr. McGregor"s garden, and squeezed under the gate.
First he ate some lettuces and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes; and then, feeling rather sick, he went to look for some parsley.
But round the end of a cuc.u.mber frame, whom should he meet but Mr.
McGregor!
Mr. McGregor was on his hands and knees planting out young cabbages, but he jumped up and ran after Peter, waving a rake and calling out, "Stop thief!"
Peter was most dreadfully frightened; he rushed all over the garden, for he had forgotten the way back to the gate.
He lost one of his shoes amongst the cabbages, and the other shoe amongst the potatoes.
After losing them, he ran on four legs and went faster, so that I think he might have got away altogether if he had not unfortunately run into a gooseberry net, and got caught by the large b.u.t.tons on his jacket. It was a blue jacket with bra.s.s b.u.t.tons, quite new.
Peter gave himself up for lost, and shed big tears; but his sobs were overheard by some friendly sparrows, who flew to him in great excitement, and implored him to exert himself.
Mr. McGregor came up with a sieve, which he intended to pop upon the top of Peter; but Peter wriggled out just in time, leaving his jacket behind him, and rushed into the tool-shed, and jumped into a can. It would have been a beautiful thing to hide in, if it had not had so much water in it.
Mr. McGregor was quite sure that Peter was somewhere in the tool-shed, perhaps hidden underneath a flower-pot. He began to turn them over carefully, looking under each.
Presently Peter sneezed--"Kerty-schoo!" Mr. McGregor was after him in no time, and tried to put his foot upon Peter, who jumped out of a window, upsetting three plants. The window was too small for Mr. McGregor, and he was tired of running after Peter. He went back to his work.
Peter sat down to rest; he was out of breath and trembling with fright, and he had not the least idea which way to go. Also he was very damp with sitting in that can.
After a time he began to wander about, going lippity--lippity--not very fast, and looking all around.
He found a door in a wall; but it was locked, and there was no room for a fat little rabbit to squeeze underneath.
An old mouse was running in and out over the stone doorstep, carrying peas and beans to her family in the wood. Peter asked her the way to the gate, but she had such a large pea in her mouth that she could not answer. She only shook her head at him. Peter began to cry.
Then he tried to find his way straight across the garden, but he became more and more puzzled. Presently, he came to a pond where Mr. McGregor filled his water-cans. A white cat was staring at some goldfish; she sat very, very still, but now and then the tip of her tail twitched as if it were alive. Peter thought it best to go away without speaking to her; he had heard about cats 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 a 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 doze 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.
387
The next selection ill.u.s.trates well the kind of stories in the _Bedtime Story_ series of twenty volumes by Thornton Waldo Burgess (1874--). The books of this series are ent.i.tled _Adventures of Johnny Chuck_, _Adventures of Buster Bear_, _Adventures of Ol" Mistah Buzzard_, etc. These books and the _Old Mother West Wind_ series of eight volumes by the same author are enjoyed by children in the second and third grades. Mr.
Burgess is an American author who has been editor of several American magazines. (The following selection is from _Old Mother West Wind_, by permission of the publishers, Little, Brown & Co., Boston.)
JOHNNY CHUCK FINDS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD
THORNTON W. BURGESS
Old Mother West Wind had stopped to talk with the Slender Fir Tree.
"I"ve just come across the Green Meadows," said Old Mother West Wind, "and there I saw the Best Thing in the World."
Striped Chipmunk was sitting under the Slender Fir Tree and he couldn"t help hearing what Old Mother West Wind said. "The Best Thing in the World--now what can that be?" thought Striped Chipmunk. "Why, it must be heaps and heaps of nuts and acorns! I"ll go and find it."
So Striped Chipmunk started down the Lone Little Path through the wood as fast as he could run. Pretty soon he met Peter Rabbit.
"Where are you going in such a hurry, Striped Chipmunk?" asked Peter Rabbit.
"Down in the Green Meadows to find the Best Thing in the World," replied Striped Chipmunk, and ran faster.
"The Best Thing in the World," said Peter Rabbit, "why, that must be a great pile of carrots and cabbage! I think I"ll go and find it."
So Peter Rabbit started down the Lone Little Path through the wood as fast as he could go after Striped Chipmunk.
As they pa.s.sed the great hollow tree Bobby c.o.o.n put his head out. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" asked Bobby c.o.o.n.
"Down in the Green Meadows to find the Best Thing in the World!" shouted Striped Chipmunk and Peter Rabbit, and both began to run faster.
"The Best Thing in the World," said Bobby c.o.o.n to himself, "why, that must be a whole field of sweet milky corn! I think I"ll go and find it."
So Bobby c.o.o.n climbed down out of the great hollow tree and started down the Lone Little Path through the wood as fast as he could go after Striped Chipmunk and Peter Rabbit, for there is nothing that Bobby c.o.o.n likes to eat so well as sweet milky corn.
At the edge of the wood they met Jimmy Skunk.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" asked Jimmy Skunk.
"Down in the Green Meadows to find the Best Thing in the World!" shouted Striped Chipmunk and Peter Rabbit and Bobby c.o.o.n. Then they all tried to run faster.
"The Best Thing in the World," said Jimmy Skunk. "Why, that must be packs and packs of beetles!" And for once in his life Jimmy Skunk began to hurry down the Lone Little Path after Striped Chipmunk and Peter Rabbit and Bobby c.o.o.n.
They were all running so fast that they didn"t see Reddy Fox until he jumped out of the long gra.s.s and asked: