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THE TALE OF BENJAMIN BUNNY by Beatrix Potter Styled by LimpidSoft

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Page 1: THE TALE OF BENJAMIN BUNNY - LimpidSoftlimpidsoft.com/potter/benjamin.pdf · The Tale of Benjamin Bunny AS soon as they had passed, little Benjamin Bunny slid down into the road,

THE TALE OFBENJAMIN BUNNY

by Beatrix Potter

Styled by LimpidSoft

Page 2: THE TALE OF BENJAMIN BUNNY - LimpidSoftlimpidsoft.com/potter/benjamin.pdf · The Tale of Benjamin Bunny AS soon as they had passed, little Benjamin Bunny slid down into the road,

For the children of Sawry from old MrBunny

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny: First published1904, Frederick Warne & Co., 1904Printed and bound in Great Britain byWilliam Clowes Limited, Beccles and London.This document is an adaptation of the htmltext supplied by Project Gutenberg [EBook#14407], and is made freely available on theone condition: that it is FREE.

John RedmondSydney, Australia

[email protected]

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

ONE morning a little rabbit sat on abank.

He pricked his ears and listened to thetrit-trot, trit-trot of a pony.

A gig was coming along the road; itwas driven by Mr. McGregor, andbeside him sat Mrs. McGregor in herbest bonnet.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

AS soon as they had passed, littleBenjamin Bunny slid down into theroad, and set off—with a hop, skip,and a jump—to call upon his relations,who lived in the wood at the back ofMr. McGregor’s garden.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

THAT wood was full of rabbit holes;and in the neatest, sandiest hole of alllived Benjamin’s aunt and hiscousins—Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail,and Peter.

Old Mrs. Rabbit was a widow; sheearned her living by knittingrabbit-wool mittens and muffatees (Ionce bought a pair at a bazaar). Shealso sold herbs, and rosemary tea, andrabbit-tobacco (which is what we calllavender).

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

LITTLE Benjamin did not very muchwant to see his Aunt.

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

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

PETER was sitting by himself. Helooked poorly, and was dressed in ared cotton pocket-handkerchief.

“Peter,” said little Benjamin, in awhisper, “who has got your clothes?”

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

PETER replied, “The scarecrow in Mr.McGregor’s garden,” and describedhow he had been chased about thegarden, and had dropped his shoesand coat.

Little Benjamin sat down beside hiscousin and assured him that Mr.McGregor had gone out in a gig, andMrs. McGregor also; and certainly forthe day, because she was wearing herbest bonnet.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

PETER said he hoped that it wouldrain.

At this point old Mrs. Rabbit’s voicewas heard inside the rabbit hole,calling: “Cotton-tail! Cotton-tail! fetchsome more camomile!”

Peter said he thought he might feelbetter if he went for a walk.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

THEY went away hand in hand, andgot upon the flat top of the wall at thebottom of the wood. From here theylooked down into Mr. McGregor’sgarden. Peter’s coat and shoes wereplainly to be seen upon the scarecrow,topped with an old tam-o’-shanter ofMr. McGregor’s.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

LITTLE Benjamin said: “It spoilspeople’s clothes to squeeze under agate; the proper way to get in is toclimb down a pear-tree.”

Peter fell down head first; but it was ofno consequence, as the bed below wasnewly raked and quite soft.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

IT had been sown with lettuces.

They left a great many odd littlefootmarks all over the bed, especiallylittle Benjamin, who was wearing clogs.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

LITTLE Benjamin said that the firstthing to be done was to get back Peter’sclothes, in order that they might beable to use the pocket-handkerchief.

They took them off the scarecrow.There had been rain during the night;there was water in the shoes, and thecoat was somewhat shrunk.

Benjamin tried on the tam-o’-shanter,but it was too big for him.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

THEN he suggested that they should fillthe pocket-handkerchief with onions,as a little present for his Aunt.

Peter did not seem to be enjoyinghimself; he kept hearing noises.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

BENJAMIN, on the contrary, wasperfectly at home, and ate a lettuceleaf. He said that he was in the habitof coming to the garden with his fatherto get lettuces for their Sunday dinner.

(The name of little Benjamin’s papawas old Mr. Benjamin Bunny.)

The lettuces certainly were very fine.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

PETER did not eat anything; he said heshould like to go home. Presently hedropped half the onions.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

LITTLE Benjamin said that it was notpossible to get back up the pear-treewith a load of vegetables. He led theway boldly towards the other end ofthe garden. They went along a littlewalk on planks, under a sunny, redbrick wall.

The mice sat on their doorstepscracking cherry-stones; they winked atPeter Rabbit and little BenjaminBunny.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

PRESENTLY Peter let thepocket-handkerchief go again.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

THEY got amongst flower-pots, andframes, and tubs. Peter heard noisesworse than ever; his eyes were as bigas lolly-pops!

He was a step or two in front of hiscousin when he suddenly stopped.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

THIS is what those little rabbits sawround that corner!

Little Benjamin took one look, andthen, in half a minute less than notime, he hid himself and Peter and theonions underneath a large basket...

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

THE cat got up and stretched herself,and came and sniffed at the basket.

Perhaps she liked the smell of onions!

Anyway, she sat down upon the top ofthe basket.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

SHE sat there for five hours.

I cannot draw you a picture of Peterand Benjamin underneath the basket,because it was quite dark, and becausethe smell of onions was fearful; it madePeter Rabbit and little Benjamin cry.

The sun got round behind the wood,and it was quite late in the afternoon;but still the cat sat upon the basket.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

AT length there was a pitter-patter,pitter-patter, and some bits of mortarfell from the wall above.

The cat looked up and saw old Mr.Benjamin Bunny prancing along thetop of the wall of the upper terrace.

He was smoking a pipe ofrabbit-tobacco, and had a little switchin his hand.

He was looking for his son.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

OLD Mr. Bunny had no opinionwhatever of cats.

He took a tremendous jump off the topof the wall on to the top of the cat, andcuffed it off the basket, and kicked itinto the greenhouse, scratching off ahandful of fur.

The cat was too much surprised toscratch back.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

WHEN old Mr. Bunny had driven thecat into the greenhouse, he locked thedoor.

Then he came back to the basket andtook out his son Benjamin by the ears,and whipped him with the little switch.

Then he took out his nephew Peter.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

THEN he took out the handkerchief ofonions, and marched out of thegarden.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

WHEN Mr. McGregor returned abouthalf an hour later he observed severalthings which perplexed him.

It looked as though some person hadbeen walking all over the garden in apair of clogs—only the footmarks weretoo ridiculously little!

Also he could not understand how thecat could have managed to shutherself up inside the greenhouse,locking the door upon the outside.

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The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

WHEN Peter got home his motherforgave him, because she was so gladto see that he had found his shoes andcoat. Cotton-tail and Peter folded upthe pocket-handkerchief, and old Mrs.Rabbit strung up the onions and hungthem from the kitchen ceiling, with thebunches of herbs and therabbit-tobacco.

THE END

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