The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix PotterPotter, Beatrix
General
The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter
Potter, Beatrix
Animals -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories, English; Short stories
Now Goody Tiptoes had set to
work again by herself. She did not
put any more nuts into the woodpecker's
hole, because she had always
doubted how they could be
got out again. She hid them under
a tree root; they rattled down,
down, down. Once when Goody
emptied an extra big bagful, there
was a decided squeak; and next
time Goody brought another bagful,
a little striped Chipmunk
scrambled out in a hurry.
"It is getting perfectly full-up
downstairs; the sitting room is
full, and they are rolling along the
passage; and my husband, Chippy
Hackee, has run away and left me.
What is the explanation of these
showers of nuts?"
"I am sure I beg your pardon; I
did not know that anybody lived
here," said Mrs. Goody Tiptoes;
"but where is Chippy Hackee? My
husband, Timmy Tiptoes, has run
away too." "I know where Chippy
is; a little bird told me," said Mrs.
Chippy Hackee.
She led the way to the woodpecker's
tree, and they listened at
the hole.
Down below there was a noise
of nutcrackers, and a fat squirrel
voice and a thin squirrel voice
were singing together--
"My little old man and I fell out,
How shall we bring this matter about?
Bring it about as well as you can,
And get you gone, you little old man!"
"You could squeeze in, through
that little round hole," said Goody
Tiptoes. "Yes, I could," said the
Chipmunk, "but my husband,
Chippy Hackee, bites!"
Down below there was a noise
of cracking nuts and nibbling; and
then the fat squirrel voice and the
thin squirrel voice sang--
"For the diddlum day
Day diddle durn di!
Day diddle diddle dum day!"
Then Goody peeped in at the
hole, and called down--"Timmy
Tiptoes! Oh fie, Timmy Tiptoes!"
And Timmy replied, "Is that you,
Goody Tiptoes? Why, certainly!"
He came up and kissed Goody
through the hole; but he was so fat
that he could not get out.
Chippy Hackee was not too fat,
but he did not want to come; he
stayed down below and chuckled.
And so it went on for a fort-
night; till a big wind blew off
the top of the tree, and opened
up the hole and let in the rain.
Then Timmy Tiptoes came
out, and went home with an
umbrella.
But Chippy Hackee continued
to camp out for another
week, although it was
uncomfortable.
At last a large bear came
walking through the wood.
Perhaps he also was looking
for nuts; he seemed to be
sniffing around.
Chippy Hackee went home
in a hurry!
And when Chippy Hackee
got home, he found he had
caught a cold in his head; and
he was more uncomfortable
still.
And now Timmy and
Goody Tiptoes keep their nut
store fastened up with a little
padlock.
And whenever that little
bird sees the Chipmunks, he
sings--"Who's-been-digging-
up MY-nuts? Who's been dig-
ging-up MY-nuts?" But nobody
ever answers!
THE TALE OF
MR. TOD
[For William Francis of Ulva--Someday!]
I have made many books about
well-behaved people. Now, for a
change, I am going to make a story
about two disagreeable people,
called Tommy Brock and Mr. Tod.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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