MRS. PETER RABBIT

CONTENTS


CHAPTER

I PETER RABBIT LOSES HIS APPETITE

II PETER RABBIT PLANS A JOURNEY

III HOOTY THE OWL CHANGES HIS HUNTING GROUNDS

IV THE SHADOW WITH SHARP CLAWS

V IN THE OLD PASTURE

VI PETER RABBIT IS STILL LONESOME

VII PETER FINDS TRACKS

VIII THE STRANGE TRACKS IN THE OLD PASTURE

IX AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE

X PETER RABBIT ALMOST DECIDES TO RETURN HOME

XI PETER RABBIT HAS A SUDDEN CHANGE OF MIND

XII PETER LEARNS SOMETHING FROM TOMMY TIT

XIII LITTLE MISS FUZZYTAIL

XIV SOME ONE FOOLS OLD JED THUMPER

XV A PLEASANT SURPRISE FOR PETER

XVI PETER RABBIT'S LOOKING-GLASS

XVII PETER MEETS MISS FUZZYTAIL

XVIII TOMMY TIT PROVES A FRIEND INDEED

XIX OLD MAN COYOTE PAYS A DEBT

XX LITTLE MISS FUZZYTAIL WHISPERS "YES"

XXI PETER AND LITTLE MISS FUZZYTAIL LEAVE THE OLD PASTURE

XXII SAMMY JAY BECOMES CURIOUS

XXIII PETER INTRODUCES MRS. PETER

XXIV DANNY MEADOW MOUSE WARNS PETER RABBIT

XXV PETER RABBIT'S HEEDLESSNESS

XXVI PETER RABBIT LISTENS TO MRS. PETER

XXVII MISTAH MOCKER PLAYS A JOKE ON MRS. PETER

XXVIII NEWS FROM THE OLD BRIAR-PATCH

XXIX JIMMY SKUNK VISITS PETER RABBIT

XXX REDDY FOX LEARNS THE SECRET

XXXI BLACKY THE CROW HAS SHARP EYES

XXXII PETER RABBIT'S NURSERY




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


Every one who could walk, creep, or fly headed for the Old
Briar-patch ..... Frontispiece

He dodged and jumped, and all the time the shadow followed him

That night Old Man Coyote started for the Old Pasture

"The quickest way for me to know is for you to tell me," replied Jimmy




CHAPTER I

PETER RABBIT LOSES HIS APPETITE

Good appetite, you'll always find,
Depends upon your state of mind.
Peter Rabbit.

Peter Rabbit had lost his appetite. Now when Peter Rabbit loses his
appetite, something is very wrong indeed with him. Peter has boasted
that he can eat any time and all the time. In fact, the two things that
Peter thinks most about are his stomach and satisfying his curiosity,
and nearly all of the scrapes that Peter has gotten into have been
because of those two things. So when Peter loses his appetite or his
curiosity, there is surely something the matter with him.

Ever since Old Man Coyote had come to live on the Green Meadows, Peter
had been afraid to go very far from the dear Old Briar-patch where he
makes his home, and where he always feels safe. Now there wasn't any
reason why he should go far from the dear Old Briar-patch. There was
plenty to eat in it and all around it, for sweet clover grew almost up
to the very edge of it, and you know Peter is very fond of sweet clover.
So there was plenty for Peter to eat without running any risk of danger.
With nothing to do but eat and sleep, Peter should have grown fat and
contented. But he didn't.

Now that is just the way with a lot of people. The more they have and
the less they have to worry about, the more discontented they become,
and at last they are positively unhappy. There was little Danny Meadow
Mouse, living out on the Green Meadows; he was happy all the livelong
day, and yet he had no safe castle like the dear Old Briar-patch where
he could always be safe. Every minute of every day Danny had to keep his
eyes wide open and his wits working their very quickest, for any minute
he was likely to be in danger. Old Man Coyote or Reddy Fox or Granny Fox
or Digger the Badger or Mr. Blacksnake was likely to come creeping
through the grass any time, and they are always hungry for a fat Meadow
Mouse. And as if that weren't worry enough, Danny had to watch the sky,
too, for Old Whitetail the Marsh Hawk, or his cousin Redtail, or Blacky
the Crow, each of whom would be glad of a Meadow Mouse dinner. Yet in
spite of all this, Danny was happy and never once lost his appetite.

But Peter Rabbit, with nothing to worry him so long as he stayed in the
Old Briar-patch, couldn't eat and grew more and more unhappy.