The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin
Category: Children
Genres: Fairytale
Level 2.3 8:00 m 5.1 mb
The best nuts are all on an island that belongs to Old Owl. The squirrels all have to travel there by raft and give gifts to Old Owl to allow them to harvest there without being eaten. Squirrel Nutkin is a rebel, though and instead rudely taunts the large owl. Squirrel Nutkin quickly learns this may be the last mistake he ever makes...

The Tale Of
Squirrel Nutkin

by
Beatrix Potter


The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

They also took with them an offering of three fat mice as a present for Old Brown, and they 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?”

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

The squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts, and sailed away home in the evening.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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?”

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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. He shut the door in Nutkin’s face.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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!
You cannot gather a bowl-full!”

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.”

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

Old Mr. Brown turned up his eyes in disgust at the impertinence of Nutkin. But he ate up the honey!

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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!”

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

Now old Mr. Brown took an interest in eggs; he opened one eye and shut it again. But still he did not speak.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

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.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin
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