The Classic Tale of Peter Rabbit and Other Cherished Stories
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 15
jacket behind him And rushed into the tool shed 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 tool shed 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 16
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 17
