The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Exerpts from the story written by Beatrix Potter, with comments by Jean

"Once upon a time there were 4 little rabbits, and their names were - Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter..."

Yesterday Adam and I met a little bunny who might be named Peter, and this is the tale.

"'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.'"

Nice way of saying your father got caught and eaten, isn't it! Starting here, just substitute "Jean" for Mr. McGregor, and you will get the idea of what happened in our garden yesterday evening.

To shorten the story a little bit, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail all went to pick blackberries in the lane, but Peter....

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

Adam and I walked out to the garden to do an inspection of our crop of vegetables (and get him to settle down and possibly sleep). The dog came with.

"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."

And when we got out to the garden, there was the little baby bunny sitting right next to the parsley plants in my garden. Hmmm.

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

We walked past the squash plants, and there the little varmint was! Skip ahead to Mr. McGregor as he

"...jumped up and ran after Peter, waving a rake and calling out, 'Stop, thief!'"

Only I had 20 lbs of baby in my arms instead of a rake, so I couldn't very well shake the baby at the rabbit. I also didn't want the dog to come over and eat the rabbit, so I was just trying to herd it out of my garden. This involved walking towards it while holding Adam, talking about how little bunnies needed to go and find other things to eat than my beets, tomatoes, beans, parsley, etc.

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

I had that poor little baby rabbit in such a panic that it was dashing from one end of the garden to the other trying to get away from me. But it didn't want to leave the cover of the plants to get across the yard. Every time it would get close to the edge of the garden, it would double back past me at a run, then slow down when it got to the opposite side of the garden.

"...Peter sat down to rest; he was out of breath, and trembling with fright, and had not the least idea which way to go..."

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

I finally stopped chasing the little bunny, because it was useless to just chase it back and forth. I think it gave the little guy a chance to get its heart rate down from 1000 bpm to almost normal.

I MIGHT have left it in the garden had it not recovered enough to take a nibble from a bean plant. That was when I decided he really needed to exit the garden.

"...He went back towards the tool shed, but suddenly, quite close to him, he heard the noise of a hoe-scr-r-ritch, scratch, scratch, scritch. Peter scuttered beneath 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."

Our yard is fenced, but there are PLENTY of spaces for little rabbits to get through. Little bunny's life was complicated by his fear of open space, me, and the dog. Up until now the dog was totally oblivious to our dilemma, that could change at any moment. I was pretty sure she would decide that the bunny would make a good chew toy. This would result in a big dog chasing through my garden, and a dead bunny, neither of which I wanted. And I was still holding Adam.

"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 gate, but Peter did not care. He slipped underneath the gate, and was safe at last in the wood outside the garden."

I regret to say that our little bunny was not nearly as smart as Peter. It finally left the garden and dashed across the yard to the fence, where it promptly ran straight into the fence and bounced off. Then it went over and huddled in the corner with its furry little tail out.

At that point I took pity on it, collected the dog, and went into the house. Adam was getting heavy.

"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 on the nice soft sand on the floor of the rabbit-hole and shut his eyes."

Let this be a cautionary tale for all little bunnies who think about going into my garden. Although I do kind of hope the little bunny made it home ok.