The Tale of Mr. Tod: The original and authorized edition: 14 (Beatrix Potter Originals)

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In the middle of the bed under the blanket, was a wet flattened something—much dinged in, in the middle where the pail had caught it (as it were across the tummy). Its head was covered by the wet blanket and it was not snoring any longer. He hurried round the house to get a shovel from the kitchen— "First I will arrange the hole— then I will drag out that person in the blanket . . ." One of my favourite shows ever as a child, 'The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends' still holds up as one of my favourite.

In his book, Goldthwaite writes of Potter’s “deception”, suggesting that those of Potter’s tales that were the most heavily indebted to Harris’s stories open with “pretence of absolute originality”: He peeped through the hinges of the half-open bedroom door. Then he turned and came out of the house in a hurry. His whiskers bristled and his coat collar stood on end with rage. It seems that the only references Potter herself made to her stories being drawn from Harris’s Brer Rabbit tales were in that single journal entry and letter. In his lecture to the Beatrix Potter Society, Hollindale commented on the oddity of this omission: I will wash the tablecloth and spread it on the grass in the sun to bleach. And the blanket must be hung up in the wind; and the bed must be thoroughly disinfected, and aired with a warming-pan; and warmed with a hot-water bottle." He has ‘foxey’ whiskers because he is an actual fox, which is an interesting way of telling us that.)

THE TALE OF MR. TOD

kitchen fender — Here’s a picture of one. It’s made of steel but what is it for? Looks like a guard for the stovetop. CAST OF CHARACTERS

That fox isn’t off his face though. He comes home after a bad night of hunting and he’s wanting some breakfast. When he finds the badger in his bed, he only means to wake him up with a cold water surprise. OPPONENT The first is children’s author John Goldthwaite’s 1996 book, The Natural History of Make-Believe. This was used as a key source in the other important contribution, literary critic Peter Hollindale’s (unpublished) lecture Uncle Remus and Peter Rabbit, delivered in 2003 at the Beatrix Potter Society’s annual general meeting. He lived with his son Benjamin Bunny and his daughter-in-law Flopsy, who had a young family. Old Mr. Bouncer was in charge of the family that afternoon, because Benjamin and Flopsy had gone out. When Potter’s narrator tells us that badgers only occasionally eat rabbit pie and only when there’s nothing else around she is setting up a hierarchy of opposition, with the fox as the most dangerous of all. They crept up to the bedroom window. It was closed and bolted like the kitchen. But there were signs that this window had been recently open; the cobwebs were disturbed, and there were fresh dirty footmarks upon the window-sill.Great was old Mr. Bouncer's relief and Flopsy's joy when Peter and Benjamin arrived in triumph with the young family. The rabbit- babies were rather tumbled and very hungry; they were fed and put to bed. They soon recovered. The world that Peter Rabbit first introduced to us in 1902 is still today one of Beatrix Potter's most popular and well-loved worlds. What started as an endearing story about a bunny rabbit would soon become the first ember for the illustrious series that is 'The World of Beatrix Potter', and a story which has endured retelling after retelling at bedtimes all over the world. Benjamin Bunny came out of the dark tunnel shaking the sand from his ears; he cleaned his face with his paws. Every minute the sun shone warmer on the top of the hill. In the valley there was a sea of white mist, with golden tops of trees showing through. This seems an ironic statement in light of Potter’s own silence around Brer Rabbit and the Uncle Remus tales. Another famous Brer Rabbit fan Beatrix Potter is a much better storyteller when her tales are longer. She delves deeper in to the nature of animals-the darker side of their nature-and her stories are better for it.

As usual, when out of humor, he determined to move house. First he tried the pollard willow, but it was damp; and the otters had left a dead fish near it. Mr. Tod likes nobody’s leavings but his own.Benjamin Bunny’s babies! But how to rescue them? Benjamin and Peter could not open the window nor the strong, heavy door. There was only one way in - through the floor - and that meant digging a tunnel. He hurried round the house to get a shovel from the kitchen—”First I will arrange the hole—then I will drag out that person in the blanket….” This original, authorised version has been lovingly recreated electronically for the first time, with reproductions of Potter's unmistakeable artwork optimised for use on colour devices such as the iPad. Mr. Bouncer would not confess that he had admitted anybody into the rabbit hole. But the smell of badger was undeniable; and there were round heavy footmarks in the sand. He was in disgrace; Flopsy wrung her ears, and slapped him. Harris’s versions of the Brer Rabbit tales were sanitised to entertain white readers. The violence and injustice at the heart of both plantation life and the traditional folktales were tempered. Instead, Harris’s stories offered a more benign view of slavery.