THE TALE OF TOM KITTEN

THE TALE OF

TOM KITTEN

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

Author of

"The Tale of Peter Rabbit", &c.

DEDICATED

TO ALL

PICKLES,

ESPECIALLY TO THOSE THAT

GET UPON MY GARDEN WALL

Once upon a time there were three little kittens, and their names were Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet.

They had dear little fur coats of their own; and they tumbled about the doorstep and played in the dust.

But one day their mother Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit expected friends to tea; so she fetched the kittens indoors, to wash and dress them, before the fine company arrived.

First she scrubbed their faces (this one is Moppet).

Then she brushed their fur, (this one is Mittens).

Then she combed their tails and whiskers (this is Tom Kitten).

Tom was very naughty, and he scratched.

Mrs. Tabitha dressed Moppet and Mittens in clean pinafores and tuckers; and then she took al sorts of elegant uncomfortable clothes out of a chest of drawers, in order to dress up her son Thomas.

Tom Kitten was very fat, and he had grown; several buttons burst off. His mother sewed

them on again.

When the three kittens were ready, Mrs. Tabitha unwisely turned them out into the garden, to be out of the way while she made hot buttered toast.

"Now keep your frocks clean, children! You must walk on your hind legs. Keep away from the dirty ash-pit, and from Sal y Henny Penny, and from the pig-stye and the Puddle-Ducks."

Moppet and Mittens walked down the garden path unsteadily. Presently they trod upon their pinafores and fel on their noses.

When they stood up there were several green smears!

"Let us climb up the rockery, and sit on the garden wal ," said Moppet.

They turned their pinafores back to front, and went up with a skip and a jump; Moppet's

white tucker fel down into the road.

Tom Kitten was quite unable to jump when walking upon his hind legs in trousers. He came

up the rockery by degrees, breaking the ferns, and shedding buttons right and left.

He was al in pieces when he reached the top of the wal .

Moppet and Mittens tried to pul him together; his hat fel off, and the rest of his buttons burst.

While they were in difficulties, there was a pit pat paddle pat! and the three Puddle-Ducks came along the hard high road, marching one behind the other and doing the goose

step pit pat paddle pat! pit pat waddle pat!

They stopped and stood in a row, and stared up at the kittens. They had very smal eyes

and looked surprised.

Then the two duck-birds, Rebeccah and Jemima Puddle-Duck, picked up the hat and tucker

and put them on.

Mittens laughed so that she fel off the wal . Moppet and Tom descended after her; the

pinafores and al the rest of Tom's clothes came off on the way down.

"Come! Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck," said Moppet "Come and help us to dress him! Come and button up Tom!"

Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck advanced in a slow sideways manner, and picked up the various

articles.

But he put them on himself! They fitted him even worse than Tom Kitten.

"It's a very fine morning!" said Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck.

And he and Jemima and Rebeccah Puddle-Duck set off up the road, keeping step pit pat,

paddle pat! pit pat, waddle pat!

Then Tabitha Twitchit came down the garden and found her kittens on the wal with no

clothes on.

She pul ed them off the wal , smacked them, and took them back to the house.

"My friends wil arrive in a minute, and you are not fit to be seen; I am affronted," said Mrs.

Tabitha Twitchit.

She sent them upstairs; and I am sorry to say she told her friends that they were in bed with the measles; which was not true.

Quite the contrary; they were not in bed: not in the least.

Somehow there were very extraordinary noises over-head, which disturbed the dignity and

repose of the tea party.

And I think that some day I shal have to make another, larger, book, to tel you more about Tom Kitten!

As for the Puddle-Ducks they went into a pond.

The clothes al came off directly, because there were no buttons.

And Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck, and Jemima and Rebeccah, have been looking for them ever

since.