THE TALE OF

BENJAMIN BUNNY

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

AUTHOR OF "THE TAIL OF PETER RABBIT," &C.

FREDERICK WARNE & CO., INC.

NEW YORK

Copyright, 1904

BY

FREDERICK WARNE & Co.

Copyright renewed, 1932

FOR THE CHILDREN OF SAWREY

FROM

OLD MR. BUNNY

One morning a little rabbit sat on a bank.

He pricked his ears and listened to the trit-trot, trit-trot of a pony.

A gig was coming along the road; it was driven by Mr. McGregor, and besidehim sat Mrs. McGregor in her best bonnet.

As soon as they had passed, little Benjamin Bunny slid down into the road,and set off—with a hop, skip, and a jump—to call upon his relations, wholived in the wood at the back of Mr. McGregor's garden.

That wood was full of rabbit holes; and in the neatest, sandiest hole ofall lived Benjamin's aunt and his cousins—Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, andPeter.

Old Mrs. Rabbit was a widow; she earned her living by knitting rabbit-woolmittens and muffatees (I once bought a pair at a bazaar). She also soldherbs, and rosemary tea, and rabbit-tobacco (which is what we calllavender).

Little Benjamin did not very much want to see his Aunt.

He came round the back of the fir-tree, and nearly tumbled upon the top ofhis Cousin Peter.

Peter was sitting by himself. He looked poorly, and was dressed in a redcotton pocket-handkerchief.

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