Produced by Some of these pages were OCR'd by Charles Keller for Tina with OmniPage The Original Peter Rabbit Books By BEATRIX POTTER A LIST OF THE TITLES [*indicates included here] *The Tale of Peter Rabbit The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin The Tailor of Gloucester *The Tale of Benjamin Bunny *The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle *The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse *The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck *The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit *The Tale of Two Bad Mice The Tale of Tom Kitten The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse *The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes *The Tale of Mr. Tod *The Tale of Pigling Bland *The Roly Poly Pudding *The Pie and the Patty-pan *Ginger and Pickles *The Story of Miss Moppet Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes The Tale of Little Pig Robinson?? THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT BY BEATRIX POTTER 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. "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." "NOW run along, and don't get into mischief. I am going out." THEN old Mrs. Rabbit took a basket and her umbrella, to the baker's. She bought a loaf of brown bread and five currant buns. FLOPSY, Mopsy, and Cottontail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries; BUT Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden and squeezed under the gate! FIRST he ate some lettuces and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes; AND then, feeling rather sick, he went to look for some parsley. BUT round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor! 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!" 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 cabbages, and the other shoe amongst the potatoes. 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 unfortunately 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. 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. 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.