The Tale of Two Bad Mice (Beatrix Potter Originals)

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One morning Lucinda and Jane had gone out for a drive in the doll’s perambulator. There was no one in the nursery, and it was very quiet. Presently there was a little scuffling, scratching noise in a corner near the fireplace, where there was a hole under the skirting-board. The tale begins with "once upon a time" and a description of a "very beautiful doll's-house" belonging to a doll called Lucinda and her cook-doll Jane. Jane never cooks because the doll's-house food is made of plaster and was "bought ready-made, in a box full of shavings". Though the food will not come off the plates, it is "extremely beautiful". It was while The Tale of Two Bad Mice was being prepared for publication that Beatrix Potter and Norman Warne fell in love with each other. They got engaged in July 1905. The marriage never took place because Norman Warne died suddenly of lymphatic leukemia on August 25, 1905.

So that is the story of the two Bad Mice,--but they were not so very very naughty after all, because Tom Thumb paid for everything he broke. Are you seeking more books like this? Read our review of the Ten Best Children’s Books About Feelings and Emotions Short story for kids by Beatrix Potter She was very unfashionably dressed; and wore a coat and skirt and hat, and carried a man's umbrella. She came up to the nursery dressed in her outdoor clothes and asked if she might borrow the policeman doll; Nanny hunted for the doll and eventually found it. It was at least a foot high, and quite out of proportion to the doll's house." [8] The dolls, Lucinda and Jane, and their house While Tom Thumb was up the chimney, Hunca Munca had another disappointment. She found some tiny canisters upon the dresser, labeled— Rice—Coffee—Sago—but when she turned them upside down, there was nothing inside except red and blue beads.

Helen Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, mycologist, and conservationist who is best known for her children's books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit. But I'm a tough broad. I knew this holiday season would be a little rougher than most but I knew I could handle it. Then a few weeks ago I received the news that my best friend and partner would be spending the holidays away from home. As hard as I try to remain positive, cheery, and hopeful, knowing that I won't be spending my Christmas with the person I love most in this world is the eggnog my demons are toasting with in my honor. Some days are better than others, and today has been the worst of all. I came home trying really hard to be Tiny Tim on the outside, while Scrooge was taking over my heart. Hunka Munka was not so wasteful. After pulling out half the feathers from Lucinda’s pillows she decided that she needed a feather bed and, with Tom Thumb’s help, carried the pillows downstairs and across the rug. It was difficult squeezing them into the mouse-hole, but they managed it somehow. Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) loved the countryside and spent much of her childhood drawing and studying animals. 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit', first published in 1902, was her first book. She later went on to publish more than twenty tales and collections of rhymes. Between 1992 and 1996, a number of Beatrix Potter's tales were turned into an animated television series and broadcast by the BBC, titled The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends. One of the episodes is an adaptation of both The Tale of Two Bad Mice and The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse. In the episode, Hunca Munca is voiced by Felicity Kendal and Tom Thumb is voiced by Rik Mayall. It first aired on the BBC on June 29, 1994.

The Tale of Two Bad Mice is number five in Beatrix Potter's series of 23 little books, the titles of which are as follows: This year is a little different. Three people who were present at my holiday table last year are no longer with us. My friend Eric passed last February. My grandmother passed in March, and my uncle passed in May. All three were relatively unexpected. Never in a million years would I have guessed that last Christmas would be the last holiday I would spend with any of them. Food first," she said, her eyes fixed on the table. "It looks good, doesn't it?" Tom had to agree. The sight of the glazed ham made his mouth water, and the lobsters were if anything even more appetizing. Why not? They had plenty of time. He seized a knife and started to carve the ham. In 1977 Schmid & Co. of Toronto and Randolph, Massachusetts was granted licensing rights to Beatrix Potter, and released two music boxes in 1981: one topped with a porcelain figure of Hunca Munca, and the other with Hunca Munca and her babies. Beginning in 1983, Schmid released a series of small, flat hanging Christmas ornaments depicting various Potter characters including several Hunca Muncas. In 1991, three music boxes were released: Hunca Munca and Tom Thumb in the dolls' bed (playing " Beautiful Dreamer"); Tom Thumb instructing his children about the dangers of mouse traps (" You've Got a Friend"); Hunca Munca spilling the beads from the pantry canister (" Everything is Beautiful"); and the two mice trying to cut the plaster ham ("Close to You"). Another music box released the same year played " Home! Sweet Home!" and depicted the exterior of the doll house, and, when reversed, the interior of the house with the bedroom upstairs and the dining room downstairs. Three separate mouse figurines could be placed here and there in the house. [27] Translations and reprints [ edit ] One day, when the house is empty, the two naughty mice, Tom Thumb and his wife, Hunca Munca, make themselves at home, only to find that the delicious looking ham that they were planning to devour is made of plaster, and the fish is glued to the plate!

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The doll’s-house stood at the other side of the fire-place. Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca went cautiously across the hearthrug. They pushed the front door—it was not fast. In 1971, Hunca Munca and Tom Thumb appeared in a segment of the Royal Ballet film The Tales of Beatrix Potter, and, in 1995, the tale was adapted to animation and telecast on the BBC anthology series The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends. The Victorian era in which Potter lived was a time when there was much awareness and debate of the value of social responsibility. A number of Potter's tales, including Mrs Tittlemouse and Peter Rabbit, suggest that Potter came down firmly against social help in favour of individual responsibility. The Two Bad Mice break the taboo of ownership by entering and stealing from the house. They take responsibility for this of their own choice, through cleaning and paying for the damage they have done. It is also interesting that the nurse wants to punish them in a far more severe manner, by killing them in a trap.

In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit and became secretly engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne, causing a breach with her parents, who disapproved of his social status. Warne died before the wedding. Then there was no end to the rage and disappointment of Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca. They broke up the pudding, the lobsters, the pears and the oranges.The landscape that Peter Rabbit first introduced to us in 1902 is still today one of Beatrix Potter's most popular and well-loved worlds. What started as an endearing story about a bunny rabbit would soon become the first ember for the illustrious series that is 'The World of Beatrix Potter', and a story which has endured retelling after retelling at bedtimes all over the world. Then the two naughty mice set to work to cause as much mischief as they could - especially Tom Thumb. He took Jane’s clothes out of all the drawers in her bedroom and threw them out of the top floor window.