The Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Tale of Peter Rabbit is written by Beatrix Potter. And here follows the main Text~

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Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were—

• Flopsy,
• Mopsy,
• Cotton-tail,
• Peter.

They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree.

“Now, my dears,” said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, “you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.”

“Now run along, and don’t get into mischief. I am going out.”

Then old Mrs. Rabbit took a basket and her umbrella, and went through the wood to the baker’s. She bought a loaf of brown bread and five currant buns.

Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries;

But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor’s garden, and squeezed under the gate!

First he ate some lettuces and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes;

And then, feeling rather sick, he went to look for some parsley.

But round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor!

Mr. McGregor was on his hands and knees planting out young cabbages, but he jumped up and ran after Peter, waving a rake and calling out, “Stop thief.”

Peter was most dreadfully frightened; he rushed all over the garden, for he had forgotten the way back to the gate.

He lost one of his shoes among the cabbages, and the other shoe amongst the potatoes.

After losing them, he ran on four legs and went faster, so that I think he might have got away altogether if he had not unfortunately run into a gooseberry net, and got caught by the large buttons on his jacket. It was a blue jacket with brass buttons, quite new.

Peter gave himself up for lost, and shed big tears; but his sobs were overheard by some friendly sparrows, who flew to him in great excitement, and implored him to exert himself.

Mr. McGregor came up with a sieve, which he intended to pop upon the top of Peter; but Peter wriggled out just in time, leaving his jacket behind him.

And rushed into the toolshed, and jumped into a can. It would have been a beautiful thing to hide in, if it had not had so much water in it.

Mr. McGregor was quite sure that Peter was somewhere in the toolshed, perhaps hidden underneath a flower- pot. He began to turn them over carefully, looking under each.

Presently Peter sneezed— “Kertyschoo!” Mr. McGregor was after him in no time,

And tried to put his foot upon Peter, who jumped out of a window, upsetting three plants. The window was too small for Mr. McGregor, and he was tired of running after Peter. He went back to his work.

Peter sat down to rest; he was out of breath and trembling with fright, and he had not the least idea which way to go. Also he was very damp with sitting in that can.

After a time he began to wander about, going lippity—lippity—not very fast, and looking all around.

He found a door in a wall; but it was locked, and there was no room for a fat little rabbit to squeeze underneath.

An old mouse was running in and out over the stone doorstep, carrying peas and beans to her family in the wood. Peter asked her the way to the gate, but she had such a large pea in her mouth that she could not answer. She only shook her head at him. Peter began to cry.

Then he tried to find his way straight across the garden, but he became more and more puzzled. Presently, he came to a pond where Mr. McGregor filled his water-cans. A white cat was staring at some goldfish; she sat very, very still, but now and then the tip of her tail twitched as if it were alive. Peter thought it best to go away without speaking to her; he has heard about cats from his cousin, little Benjamin Bunny.

He went back towards the toolshed, but suddenly, quite close to him, he heard the noise of a hoe— scr-r-ritch, scratch, scratch, scritch. Peter scuttered underneath the bushes. But presently, as nothing happened, he came out, and climbed upon a wheelbarrow, and peeped over. The first thing he saw was Mr. McGregor hoeing onions. His back was turned towards Peter, and beyond him was the gate!

Peter got down very quietly off the wheelbarrow, and started running as fast as he could go, along a straight walk behind some black-currant bushes.

Mr. McGregor caught sight of him at the corner, but Peter did not care. He slipped underneath the gate, and was safe at last in the wood outside the garden.

Mr. McGregor hung up the little jacket and the shoes for a scare-crow to frighten the blackbirds.

Peter never stopped running or looked behind him till he got home to the big fir-tree.

He was so tired that he flopped down upon the nice soft sand on the floor of the rabbit-hole, and shut his eyes. His mother was busy cooking; she wondered what he had done with his clothes. It was the second little jacket and pair of shoes that Peter had lost in a fortnight!

I am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening.

His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter!

“One table-spoonful to be taken at bed-time.”

But Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail had bread and milk and blackberries for supper.

Exploration of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit

In The Tale of Peter Rabbit, there is a little bunny named Peter Rabbit who has three other siblings named Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail. Peter is the disobedient bunny compared to his well-behaved siblings. Peter likes to go off on his own and go on adventures. Peter lives with his family “in a sandbank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree.” Mrs. Rabbit tells her children where they’re allowed to go and warns them not to go into Mr. McGregor’s garden. But that is just what Peter does. That is how Peter’s father lost his life; Mr. Rabbit went into the garden. While Flopsy, Cottontail, and Mopsy are picking blackberries and their mother is at the baker’s Peter goes into the garden. Peter starts stuffing himself with delicious food to the point where he feels ill. Peter searches for parsley when he sees the gardener, who starts chasing him around. A chase is on, Mr. McGregor is after Peter. Peter loses his shoes and can’t remember how to get out of the garden. Next, Peter loses his jacket and dashes into the tool shed. Mr. McGregor hears him so Peter quickly jumped out of a nearby window. Peter catches his breath and tries to calm down and Mr. McGregor goes back to gardening. Peter subsequently saw a mouse that was busy taking food to her relatives. Peter attempted to figure out a way to get to the gate by asking the mouse for directions. The mouse has a mouth full of food so she couldn’t speak. Feeling hopeless Peter begins to sob.

Peter began to wander around the garden trying to find his way back to the gate when he saw a white cat sitting looking over into a pond’s water where a gold-fish is swimming. The cat sat quietly, watching the fish. Peter remembered what his cousin Benjamin Bunny said about cats and decided to walk away. Peter heard the noise of a hoe and ran under some nearby bushes. Once he realized he was safe he got onto a wheelbarrow and looked over to find Mr. McGregor working, most importantly right past him was the gate. Peter took a path behind bushes to get out but Mr. McGregor spotted him. He continued to go under the gate and he finally got out of the garden. Peter didn’t stop running until he reached his house. When he did reach his house he walked in and just lay on the floor exhausted. His mother noticed that he had misplaced his clothes and shoes.

That night, the three good little bunnies, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail received a nice meal of bread, milk, and blackberries. Peter, on the other hand, had to go straight to bed after finishing his camomile tea.

Critical Analysis

Beatrix Potter was inspired by the Lake District which is where she traveled to for holidays. She loved animals and the plants all around her. “Beatrix and her brother, Bertram, kept many animals in their schoolroom, from mice to birds and lizards to snakes. Beatrix Potter’s pets were often subjects for sketches and paintings and were later to inspire the much-loved characters in her books” (Potter’s life).

Beatrix was influenced by Reverend Rawnsley who shared the same passion as her, nature. Beatrix’s parents rented Wray Castle where Rev. Rawnsley would come and visit. He was one of the people who founded the National Trust and he was the one who motivated her to write books and get them published (Beatrix).

“John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite painter best known for Ophelia, was a friend of Potter’s family and encouraged her work. While her illustrations have none of the gilded ornateness of the Pre-Raphaelites, their influence can be seen in the meticulous attention to detail in her reproduction of nature” (Beatrix).

Beatrix was very sharp-eyed and observant. She looked deeply into the things she drew. It has been said that Beatrix Potter got her inspiration for her characters' names from reading names from tombstones in a cemetery in London (Beatrix).

Potter wrote The Tale of Peter Rabbit in dedication to a young gentleman who had been sick for a while. Several copies of the story were printed by Christmas time and then many more copies were made because of its popularity and demand (Potter’s life).

The main theme in The Tale of Peter Rabbit is that you reap what you sow. Peter Rabbit was specifically told by his mother not to go into Mr. McGregor’s garden. He deliberately disobeyed her and ultimately suffered the consequences. Peter went into Mr. McGregor’s garden and ate so much food that he got very sick. Mr. McGregor saw him and started to chase him all around. Peter got so terrified and was running around frantically trying to get away that he lost his shoes. Peter was trying to find the way out of the garden because while being chased he got disoriented and he lost his way. Peter’s buttons on his jacket got stuck in a gooseberry net fortunately he didn’t lose the jacket altogether. But then Mr. McGregor tries to capture him. Luckily, Peter did escape but he lost his jacket in the process.

Peter finally reached his house without his jacket and shoes, worn out from a very tiring day. Peter couldn’t hide the fact from his mother that he was missing his clothing. He did not get to sit and enjoy a nice meal with his siblings that night. Instead, Mrs. Rabbit had to give Peter medicine because he wasn’t feeling very well and she sent him to bed without any dinner.

Peter now has a constant reminder of his disobedience and the bad deed that he did that day in the garden. Mr. McGregor took Peter’s shoes and jacket and used them to make a scare-crow to keep the blackbirds away. Even if Peter’s mother did forgive him, or Peter woke up the next day feeling better than scarecrow will be there day after day always haunting Peter acting as a reminder.

Beatrix Potter uses birds in her writing as symbolism. “Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, the good little bunnies, are accompanied by two chippers, pecking birds whose routine busyness seems to represent the humdrum behavior of those cautious three. On the other hand, the bird observing Peter on his dangerous mission has an air of still, sorrowful speculation. He represents, I imagine, the helplessness and concern we feel for Peter (Taylor 95).”

The birds are not brought up in the story until Peter gets caught up in the gooseberry net. Then they go to him and tell him to get up, it’s because of these little birds that he does get up and he runs away right before Mr. McGregor gets him. The little birds watching over Peter are sparrows, not just “garden-variety birds” like the ones that his siblings had. The sparrows also were there when Peter made his escape out of the garden under the gate. They were “like guiding spirits” to Peter (Taylor 95).

The old mouse that is mentioned briefly in The Tale of Peter Rabbit is not able to give Peter directions when he really needs them; her mouth is too full of food. Peter cries because he was stuck in a bad position, he was trapped in the garden and couldn’t find his way out. “This tiny scene has the exact quality of nightmare: the sense of being trapped and frightened and finding the rest of the world too busy keeping itself alive to help save you (Taylor 96).”

Peter comes to a pond with a white cat facing her back to him. The cat is just sitting peacefully by the pond looking in it spying on a guiltless little goldfish. But Peter recalled what his cousin said…not to go near cats. This sweet little cat, Peter thinks it to be harmful and he turns and goes the other direction (Taylor 96).

The main character in Beatrix Potter’s story The Tale of Peter Rabbit is Peter Rabbit. The naughty little bunny that goes off on his own doing things he shouldn’t. In the story, Peter goes into the garden when his mother tells him not to do to that. Peter gets into an awful lot of trouble and faces the consequences when he gets home. If he had just listened he would’ve been able to enjoy a nice meal with his siblings. Beatrix chose her characters as animals because she had many pets and saw other animals where she lived and would travel to. “A woman ahead of her time, she saw the potential in her most famous character creating the first patented soft toy in 1903, making Peter Rabbit the oldest licensed character” (Potter’s life).

Peter’s siblings are Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail who listen to their mother and get a nice dinner when they return home from picking berries. Peter’s mother, Mrs. Rabbit, has to send Peter straight to bed when he gets home from his exhilarating quest. I’m not sure how she feels about Peter disobeying her, she doesn’t really express too much emotion in the story.

Mr. McGregor is the gardener who chases after Peter and who also killed Peter’s father. Mr. McGregor was planting cabbages when he saw Peter and started to run after him with a rake. That day Peter went into his garden Mr. McGregor chased Peter multiple times. He didn’t catch Peter, fortunately, but he did find Peter’s somewhat new jacket and both of his little shoes. He used those to make a scarecrow.

The little mouse is collecting food for her family and can’t offer directions to Peter when he needs to find his way back to the gate. And the white cat who sat by the pond watching the goldfish was also in the story (The Tale of Peter Rabbit).