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| Author | Beatrix Potter |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Beatrix Potter |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Frederick Warne & Co |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Published in English | 1910 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Preceded by | The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies |
| Followed by | Peter Rabbit's Painting Book |
The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse is a book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. It was first published in 1910.
The book tells the story of a wood-mouse named Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse and her efforts to keep her house in order despite numerous uninvited visitors, particularly Mr. Jackson, a sloppy toad. The protagonist Mrs. Tittlemouse first appeared in The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies.
Plot summary
The story chronicles the hardships of the wood-mouse Mrs. Tittlemouse, who tries very hard to keep a tidy house. She turns away several unwanted visitors: beetles, a ladybird, and a big fat spider seeking shelter from the rain. In a distant passage she runs into Babbitty Bumble the bumble bee, and in an unused storeroom she comes across a nest of four more bees, whom she is unable to get out. Upon return to her parlour, she finds the neighbour from the drain below, Mr. Jackson the toad, sitting in her rocking chair, all wet and dripping. He stays over dinner, but the food Mrs. Tittlemouse offers him is not to his pleasing, and she mops up his wet footprints as he rummages for honey. When Mr. Jackson finds the bees he makes a dreadful mess pulling out their nest. Mrs. Tittlemouse spends a fortnight on the spring cleaning, and she fetches some twigs make her front door narrower. She then holds a party for five other little mice, with Mr. Jackson sitting outside drinking honey, as he can no longer fit in the door.
Nursery rhyme references
Mrs. Tittlemouse sends the uninvited ladybird off with a variant of the traditional nursery rhyme Ladybird Ladybird: "Your house is on fire, Mother Ladybird! Fly away home to your children!". She then runs into a spider who asks her: "Beg pardon, is this not Miss Muffet's?", a reference to the nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet.
Adaptions
An animated adaptation of the story, shown interspersed with The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, was featured on The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends in 1992.
External links
- The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse at Project Gutenberg
- The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse (An English-Chinese Bilingual Version) at Language Practitioner