And Mr. Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise brought a salad with him in a string bag.
And instead of a nice dish of minnows, they had a roasted gra.s.shopper with lady-bird sauce, which frogs consider a beautiful treat; but _I_ think it must have been nasty!
THE STORY OF A FIERCE BAD RABBIT
This is a fierce bad Rabbit; look at his savage whiskers and his claws and his turned-up tail.
This is a nice gentle Rabbit. His mother has given him a carrot.
The bad Rabbit would like some carrot.
He doesn't say "Please." He takes it!
And he scratches the good Rabbit very badly.
The good Rabbit creeps away and hides in a hole. It feels sad.
This is a man with a gun.
He sees something sitting on a bench. He thinks it is a very funny bird!
He comes creeping up behind the trees.
And then he shoots--BANG!
This is what happens--
But this is all he finds on the bench when he rushes up with his gun.
The good Rabbit peeps out of its hole . . .
. . . and it sees the bad Rabbit tearing past--without any tail or whiskers!
THE STORY OF MISS MOPPET
This is a p.u.s.s.y called Miss Moppet; she thinks she has heard a mouse!
This is the Mouse peeping out behind the cupboard and making fun of Miss Moppet. He is not afraid of a kitten.
This is Miss Moppet jumping just too late; she misses the Mouse and hits her own head.
She thinks it is a very hard cupboard!
The Mouse watches Miss Moppet from the top of the cupboard.
Miss Moppet ties up her head in a duster and sits before the fire.
The Mouse thinks she is looking very ill. He comes sliding down the bellpull.
Miss Moppet looks worse and worse. The Mouse comes a little nearer.
Miss Moppet holds her poor head in her paws and looks at him through a hole in the duster. The Mouse comes VERY close.
And then all of a sudden--Miss Moppet jumps upon the Mouse!
And because the Mouse has teased Miss Moppet--Miss Moppet thinks she will tease the Mouse, which is not at all nice of Miss Moppet.
She ties him up in the duster and tosses it about like a ball.
But she forgot about that hole in the duster; and when she untied it-- there was no Mouse!
He has wriggled out and run away; and he is dancing a jig on top of the cupboard!
THE TALE OF TOM KITTEN
[Dedicated to All Pickles, --Especially to Those That Get upon My Garden Wall]
Once upon a time there were three little kittens, and their names were Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet.
They had dear little fur coats of their own; and they tumbled about the doorstep and played in the dust.
But one day their mother--Mrs.
Tabitha Twitchit--expected friends to tea; so she fetched the kittens indoors, to wash and dress them, before the fine company arrived.
First she scrubbed their faces (this one is Moppet).