38 



Birds & Nature Magazine 



Peter Rabbit 



By BEATRIX POTTER 



(Author of ''The Story of Benjamin Bunny.") 



This story of the catastrophe which befell'' Peter Rabbit," who disobeyed his mother and crawled under the gate, has delighted 

 thousands of boys and girls — big and little. It is reprinted here for the many youthful readers of this magazine — though " grown 

 ups " may read it if they wont tell. 



I. 



ONCE-UPON-A-TIME there were 

 four little rabbits, and their 

 names were — 



Flopsy, 

 Mopsy, 

 Cotton-tail, 

 and Peter. 

 They lived with their mother in a sand- 

 bank, underneath the root of a very big fir- 

 tree. 



II. 

 "Now, my dears," said old Mrs. Rabbit 

 one morning, "you may go into the fields 

 or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. 

 McGregor's garden ; your father had an 

 accident there ; he was put in a pie by Mrs. 

 McGregor." 



III. 

 "Now run along, and don't get into 

 mischief. I am going out." 



IV. 



Then old Mrs. Rabbit took a basket and 

 her umbrella, and went through the wood 

 to the baker's. She bought a loaf of brown 

 bread and five currant buns. 



V. 



Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who 

 were good little bunnies, went down the 

 lane to gather blackberries ; 



VI. 



But Peter, who was very naughty, ran 

 straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden, 

 and squeezed under the gate ! 



VII. 



First he ate some lettuce and some 

 French beans; and then he ate some rad- 

 ishes ; 



VIII. 



And then, feeling rather sick, he went 

 to look for some parsley. 



IX. 



But round the end of a cucumber frame, 

 whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor! 



X. 



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!" 



XI. 



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 among the cab- 

 bages, and the other shoe amongst the 



potatoes. 



Xli. 



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 un- 

 fortunately run into a gooseberry net, and 

 got caught by the large buttons on his 

 jacket. It was a blue jacket with brass 

 buttons, quite new. 



XIII. 



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. 



XIV. 



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, 



XV. 



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. 



XVI. 



Mr. McGregor was quite sure that 

 Peter was somewhere in the tool-shed, per- 

 haps hidden underneath a flower-pot. He 



