E-text prepared by Robert Cicconetti, Ronald Holder, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original lovely illustrations. See 15575-h.htm or 15575-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h/15575-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/7/15575/15575-h.zip) THE TALE OF SAMUEL WHISKERS Or, The Roly-Poly Pudding by BEATRIX POTTER Author of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" etc. [Illustration] IN REMEMBRANCE OF "SAMMY," THE INTELLIGENT PINK-EYED REPRESENTATIVE OF A PERSECUTED (BUT IRREPRESSIBLE) RACE AN AFFECTIONATE LITTLE FRIEND, AND MOST ACCOMPLISHED THIEF [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] FREDERICK WARNE First published 1908 (Originally published in U.S.A. as _The Roly-Poly Pudding_) [Illustration] [Illustration] Once upon a time there was an old cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who was an anxious parent. She used to lose her kittens continually, and whenever they were lost they were always in mischief! On baking day she determined to shut them up in a cupboard. She caught Moppet and Mittens, but she could not find Tom. Mrs. Tabitha went up and down all over the house, mewing for Tom Kitten. She looked in the pantry under the staircase, and she searched the best spare bedroom that was all covered up with dust sheets. She went right upstairs and looked into the attics, but she could not find him anywhere. It was an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages. Some of the walls were four feet thick, and there used to be queer noises inside them, as if there might be a little secret staircase. Certainly there were odd little jagged doorways in the wainscot, and things disappeared at night--especially cheese and bacon. Mrs. Tabitha became more and more distracted, and mewed dreadfully. [Illustration] [Illustration] While their mother was searching the house, Moppet and Mittens had got into mischief. The cupboard door was not locked, so they pushed it open and came out. [Illustration] They went straight to the dough which was set to rise in a pan before the fire. They patted it with their little soft paws--"Shall we make dear little muffins?" said Mittens to Moppet. [Illustration] But just at that moment somebody knocked at the front door, and Moppet jumped into the flour barrel in a fright. [Illustration] Mittens ran away to the dairy, and hid in an empty jar on the stone shelf where the milk pans stand. The visitor was a neighbour, Mrs. Ribby; she had called to borrow some yeast. Mrs. Tabitha came downstairs mewing dreadfully--"Come in, Cousin Ribby, come in, and sit ye down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin Ribby," said Tabitha, shedding tears. "I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm afraid the rats have got him." She wiped her eyes with her apron.