In this is the sequel to the Tale of
Peter
Rabbit; Benjamin Bunny sees Mr and Mrs McGregor going off for a
day out. Benjamin seeks out his cousin, convincing the reluctant Peter
Rabbit that it is perfectly safe to go into the McGregor garden, the place
where all hungry
rabbits know the very best in the way of culinary
delicacies are to be found.
Today was a little different as they were to retrieve Peter’s
coat and
shoes, which Mr McGregor had hung up to frighten the crows.
They climb into the garden, and are surprised to find that Mr McGregor
has put up a hat on top of Peter’s coat and shoes. The hat wouldn’t fit
Peter, nor when it came to it did the coat fit very well, because rain had
shrunk it – and filled the shoes.
Benjamin suggested they collect
onions for Peter’s mother. Peter’s
experiences had left him reluctant to hang about, but he gathered a few
up in his handkerchief. He kept hearing things that made him nervous,
because he didn’t know what they were. Scared and jumpy he dropped
the onions. The two rabbits climbed amongst frames and plants to pick
them up – and that’s when they saw something that made them
scramble rather hurriedly into hiding, with the onions, under a large
basket.
It was the
cat they’d seen. Worst still, she decided to sit on top of the
basket for five whole hours. Cats like to sleep a lot, especially in the sun
(don’t we all?) The armfuls of onions, made both rabbits cry, but they
couldn’t sniff or anything because that would wake the cat.
Rescue came in the shape of Benjamin’s dad who jumped on top of the
astonished cat, and before she could fight back, was shoved into the
greenhouse and the door locked on her. Benjamin’s dad must have been
quite some rabbit, but that didn’t stop him giving Benjamin a beating.
Peter, however, was excused and he rushed home with the onions.
When Mr McGregor returned he could not work out how the cat had got
shut in the greenhouse, nor who had stolen his scarecrow and onions. I
daresay he was relieved to find his hat still there.
A large collection of Beatrix Potter material is held at the Victoria and
Albert Museum in London. This is the result of a bequest by Leslie Linder
on his death in 1973, and of other donations and loans made to the
museum from time to time. Included in the collection is a letter written
in 1893, which is the earliest record of the Peter Rabbit story.
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