 | The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies |  |
THE TALE OF
THE FLOPSY BUNNIES
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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!
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WHEN Benjamin Bunny
grew up, he married
his Cousin Flopsy. They had
a large family, and they were
very improvident and cheerful.
I do not remember the separate
names of their children;
they were generally called the
"Flopsy Bunnies.''
[Description: Watercolor illustration of the Flopsy Bunnies playing]
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[Description: Watercolor illustration of Flopsy Bunnies traveling to see Peter Rabbit for cabbage]
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AS there was not always
quite enough to eat,—
Benjamin used to borrow
cabbages from Flopsy's
brother, Peter Rabbit, who
kept a nursery garden.
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SOMETIMES Peter Rabbit
had no cabbages to spare.
[Description: Watercolor illustration; Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit in their garden with no cabbages to spare the Flopsy Bunnies]
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[Description: Watercolor of Flopsy Bunnies going to Mr. McGregor's rubbish heap]
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WHEN this happened, the
Flopsy Bunnies went
across the field to a rubbish
heap, in the ditch outside
Mr. McGregor's garden.
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MR. McGREGOR'S rubbish
heap was a mixture.
There 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 lettuces,
which had "shot'' into flower.
[Description: Watercolor of Flopsy Bunnies gnawing on overgrown lettuce]
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[Description: Watercolor of Flopsy Bunnies overcome by lettuce-gluttony and falling into slothful slumber.]
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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 children.
Before going to sleep he was
sufficiently wide awake to put
a paper bag over his head to
keep off the flies.
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THE little Flopsy Bunnies
slept delightfully in the
warm sun. From the lawn
beyond the garden came the
distant clacketty sound of the
mowing machine. The blue-
bottles 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 Thomasina Tittlemouse,
a woodmouse with a
long tail.)
[Description: Watercolor of Thomasina Tittlemouse, a woodmouse, going through the rubbish heap in search of food. A fly keeps her company.]
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[Description: Watercolor of Thomasina Tittlemouse running across and waking up Benjamin Bunny as he lifts his head from under a newspaper.]
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SHE rustled across the paper
bag, and awakened Benjamin
Bunny.
The mouse apologized
profusely, and said that she knew
Peter Rabbit.
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WHILE she and Benjamin
were talking, close under
the wall, they heard a heavy
tread above their heads; and
suddenly Mr. McGregor
emptied out a sackful of lawn
mowings right upon the top
of the sleeping Flopsy Bunnies!
Benjamin shrank down
under his paper bag. The
mouse hid in a jam pot.
[Description: Mr. McGregor's boots and rubbish dumped on top of the mouse and Benjamin Bunny]
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[Description: Mr. McGregor's boots and rubbish dumped on top of the mouse and Benjamin Bunny]
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THE little rabbits smiled
sweetly in their sleep
under the shower of grass;
they did not awake because
the lettuces had been so
soporific.
They dreamt that their
mother Flopsy was tucking
them up in a hay bed.
Mr. McGregor looked down
after emptying his sack. He
saw some funny little brown
tips of ears sticking up through
the lawn mowings. He stared
at them for some time.
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PRESENTLY a fly settled
on one of them and it
moved.
Mr. McGregor climbed
down on to the rubbish heap—
"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 little in their sleep, but still
they did not wake up.
[Description: Mr. McGregor's hands placing the slumbering bunnies into a burlap bag.]
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[Description: Watercolor of Mr. McGregor tying the brown sack of bunnies and putting it on a wall that overlooks his farm]
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MR. McGREGOR tied up
the sack and left it on
the wall.
He went to put away the
mowing machine.
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WHILE he was gone, Mrs.
Flopsy Bunny (who
had remained at home) came
across the field.
She looked suspiciously at
the sack and wondered where
everybody was?
[Description: Mrs. Flopsy Bunny comes along to Mr. McGregor's farm house and sees the bag of bunnies on the walls]
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[Description: Thomasina Tittlemouse, Flopsy, and Benjamin Bunny try to get the bag of bunnies untied.]
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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.
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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.
[Description: Watercolor of Flopsy, Benjamin, and all the Flopsy Bunnies getting released from the bag. The Flopsy parents refill the bag with refuse.]
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[Description: Watercolor of the Flopsy Bunnies hiding in a bush.]
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THEN they all hid under
a bush and watched for
Mr. McGregor.
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MR. McGREGOR came
back and picked up the
sack, and carried it off.
He carried it hanging down,
as if it were rather heavy.
The Flopsy Bunnies
followed at a safe distance.
[Description: Flopsy Bunnies following Mr. McGregor at a safe distance through his garden.]
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[Description: The Flopsy Bunnies, on the path through the McGregor garden, watch Mr. McGregor go into his house.]
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THEY watched him go into
his house.
And then they crept up to
the window to listen.
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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 flags, and
chuckle—
"One, two, three, four, five,
six leetle rabbits!'' said Mr.
McGregor.
[Description: Watercolor of Flopsy Bunnies outside Mr. McGregor's farmhouse waiting.]
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[Description: Watercolor of the Flopsy Bunnies peering through the window.]
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"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, two, 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.)
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MRS. McGREGOR took
hold of the sack and felt
it. She said she could feel
six, but they must be old rabbits,
because they were so hard and
all different shapes.
"Not fit to eat; but the
skins will do fine 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.''
[Description: Watercolor of Flopsy Bunnies in the window behind a red geranium flowering plants]
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[Description: Watercolor rear-view of the Flopsy Bunnies looking in through the window at the McGregor's dismay]
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MRS. McGREGOR untied
the sack and put her
hand inside.
When she felt the vegetables
she became very very angry.
She said that Mr. McGregor
had "done it a purpose.''
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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.
[Description: Watercolor of the youngest Flopsy Bunny getting hit by a rotten vegetable marrow thrown in a fit of McGregor rage.]
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THEN Benjamin and Flopsy
thought that it was time
to go home.
[Description: Watercolor of the Flopsy Bunnies running home through the McGregor garden.]
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[Description: Watercolor of Thomasina Tittlemouse wearing a rabbit-wool coat.]
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SO Mr. McGregor did not
get his tobacco, and Mrs.
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.
| The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies | |