THE TALE OF SQUIRREL NUTKIN BY BEATRIX POTTER _Author of_ "_The Tale of Peter Rabbit_" [Illustration] FREDERICK WARNE [Illustration] FREDERICK WARNE 1903 by Frederick Warne & Co. Printed and bound in Great Britain by William Clowes Limited, Beccles and London A STORY FOR NORAH [Illustration] This is a Tale about a tail--a tail that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin. He had a brother called Twinkleberry, and a great many cousins: they lived in a wood at the edge of a lake. [Illustration] In the middle of the lake there is an island covered with trees and nut bushes; and amongst those trees stands a hollow oak-tree, which is the house of an owl who is called Old Brown. [Illustration] One autumn when the nuts were ripe, and the leaves on the hazel bushes were golden and green--Nutkin and Twinkleberry and all the other little squirrels came out of the wood, and down to the edge of the lake. [Illustration] They made little rafts out of twigs, and they paddled away over the water to Owl Island to gather nuts. Each squirrel had a little sack and a large oar, and spread out his tail for a sail. [Illustration] They also took with them an offering of three fat mice as a present for Old Brown, and put them down upon his door-step. Then Twinkleberry and the other little squirrels each made a low bow, and said politely-- "Old Mr. Brown, will you favour us with permission to gather nuts upon your island?" [Illustration] But Nutkin was excessively impertinent in his manners. He bobbed up and down like a little red _cherry_, singing-- "Riddle me, riddle me, rot-tot-tote! A little wee man, in a red red coat! A staff in his hand, and a stone in his throat; If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a groat." Now this riddle is as old as the hills; Mr. Brown paid no attention whatever to Nutkin. He shut his eyes obstinately and went to sleep. [Illustration] The squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts, and sailed away home in the evening. [Illustration] But next morning they all came back again to Owl Island; and Twinkleberry and the others brought a fine fat mole, and laid it on the stone in front of Old Brown's doorway, and said-- "Mr. Brown, will you favour us with your gracious permission to gather some more nuts?" [Illustration] But Nutkin, who had no respect, began to dance up and down, tickling old Mr. Brown with a _nettle_ and singing-- "Old Mr. B! Riddle-me-ree! Hitty Pitty within the wall, Hitty Pitty without the wall; If you touch Hitty Pitty, Hitty Pitty will bite you!" Mr. Brown woke up suddenly and carried the mole into his house. [Illustration] He shut the door in Nutkin's face. Presently a little thread of blue _smoke_ from a wood fire came up from the top of the tree, and Nutkin peeped through the key-hole and sang-- "A house full, a hole full! And you cannot gather a bowl-full!" [Illustration] The squirrels searched for nuts all over the island and filled their little sacks. But Nutkin gathered oak-apples--yellow and scarlet--and sat upon a beech-stump playing marbles, and watching the door of old Mr. Brown. [Illustration] On the third day the squirrels got up very early and went fishing; they caught seven fat minnows as a present for Old Brown. They paddled over the lake and landed under a crooked chestnut tree on Owl Island. [Illustration] Twinkleberry and six other little squirrels each carried a fat minnow; but Nutkin, who had no nice manners, brought no present at all. He ran in front, singing-- "The man in the wilderness said to me, 'How many strawberries grow in the sea?' I answered him as I thought good-- 'As many red herrings as grow in the wood.'" But old Mr. Brown took no interest in riddles--not even when the answer was provided for him. [Illustration] On the fourth day the squirrels brought a present of six fat beetles, which were as good as plums in _plum-pudding_ for Old Brown. Each beetle was wrapped up carefully in a dock-leaf, fastened with a pine-needle pin. But Nutkin sang as rudely as ever-- "Old Mr. B! riddle-me-ree Flour of England, fruit of Spain, Met together in a shower of rain; Put in a bag tied round with a string, If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a ring!" Which was ridiculous of Nutkin, because he had not got any ring to give to Old Brown. [Illustration] The other squirrels hunted up and down the nut bushes; but Nutkin gathered robin's pincushions off a briar bush, and stuck them full of pine-needle pins. [Illustration] On the fifth day the squirrels brought a present of wild honey; it was so sweet and sticky that they licked their fingers as they put it down upon the stone. They had stolen it out of a bumble _bees'_ nest on the tippitty top of the hill. But Nutkin skipped up and down, singing-- "Hum-a-bum! buzz! buzz! Hum-a-bum buzz! As I went over Tipple-tine I met a flock of bonny swine; Some yellow-nacked, some yellow backed! They were the very bonniest swine That e'er went over Tipple-tine." [Illustration] Old Mr. Brown turned up his eyes in disgust at the impertinence of Nutkin. But he ate up the honey! [Illustration] The squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts. But Nutkin sat upon a big flat rock, and played ninepins with a crab apple and green fir-cones. [Illustration] On the sixth day, which was Saturday, the squirrels came again for the last time; they brought a new-laid _egg_ in a little rush basket as a last parting present for Old Brown. But Nutkin ran in front laughing, and shouting-- "Humpty Dumpty lies in the beck, With a white counterpane round his neck, Forty doctors and forty wrights, Cannot put Humpty Dumpty to rights!" [Illustration] Now old Mr. Brown took an interest in eggs; he opened one eye and shut it again. But still he did not speak. [Illustration] Nutkin became more and more impertinent-- "Old Mr. B! Old Mr. B! Hickamore, Hackamore, on the King's kitchen door; All the King's horses, and all the King's men, Couldn't drive Hickamore, Hackamore, Off the King's kitchen door." Nutkin danced up and down like a _sunbeam_; but still Old Brown said nothing at all. [Illustration] Nutkin began again-- "Arthur O'Bower has broken his band, He comes roaring up the land! The King of Scots with all his power, Cannot turn Arthur of the Bower!" Nutkin made a whirring noise to sound like the _wind_, and he took a running jump right onto the head of Old Brown!... Then all at once there was a flutterment and a scufflement and a loud "Squeak!" The other squirrels scuttered away into the bushes. [Illustration] When they came back very cautiously, peeping round the tree--there was Old Brown sitting on his door-step, quite still, with his eyes closed, as if nothing had happened. * * * * * _But Nutkin was in his waistcoat pocket!_ [Illustration] This looks like the end of the story; but it isn't. [Illustration] Old Brown carried Nutkin into his house, and held him up by the tail, intending to skin him; but Nutkin pulled so very hard that his tail broke in two, and he dashed up the staircase and escaped out of the attic window. [Illustration] And to this day, if you meet Nutkin up a tree and ask him a riddle, he will throw sticks at you, and stamp his feet and scold, and shout-- "Cuck-cuck-cuck-cur-r-r-cuck-k-k!" THE END --- Provided by LoyalBooks.com ---