Potter, Beatrix | Old Mr. Bunny had no opinion whatever of cats.

Property from the Collection of Robin Bradley Martin

Potter, Beatrix

The Tale of Benjamin Bunny: a group of twelve original watercolor and ink drawings on silk, numbered and captioned by the artist

A series of 12 watercolor drawings on squares of fringed white silk (each ca. 150 x 150), ca. 1910, numbered I–XII and captioned in ink by the artist, depicting episodes from Potter’s The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904). Each drawing tipped to an individual mat; very lightly soiled, the last rather more so, points of tipping just visible. Housed in a half maroon morocco folding-case.

The drawings comprise:

I. "Peter."—said little Benjamin, in a whisper—who has got your clothes?" Peter replied—"The scarecrow in Mr. McGregor's garden." 

II. They went away hand in hand, and got upon the wall. From here they could plainly see Peter's coat and shoes upon the scarecrow, topped with an old tom-o-shanter of Mr. McGregor's.

III. The first thing to be done was to get back Peter’s clothes, that thy might use the pocket-handkerchief. They took them off the scarecrow. There had been rain in the night, water was in the shoes and the coat was some what shrunk. 

IV. Benjamin suggested that they should fill the pocket-handkerchief with onions, as a little present for his Aunt. Peter did not enjoy himself; he kept hearing noices, and presently dropped half the onions.

V. They got amongst flowerpots, and frames and tubs; Peter heard noices worse than ever. He was a step or two in front of his cousin, when he suddenly stopped.

VI. This is what those little rabbits saw round that corner! Little Benjamin took one look, and then he hid himself and Peter and the onions underneath a large basket.

VII. The cat got up and stretched herself and came and sniffed at the basket. Perhaps she liked the smell of onions. Anyway the cat sat on the top of the basket.

VIII. She sat there for five hours ******** The sun got round behind the wood and it was quite late in the afternoon but still the cat sat upon the basket. 

IX. At last there was a pitter-patter, pitter-patter, and some bit of mortar fell from the wall above. The cat looked up and saw Mr. Benjamin Bunny prancing along, smoking a pipe of rabbit-tobacco, and with a little switch in his hand. He was looking for his son.

X. Old Mr. Bunny had no opinion whatever of cats. He took a tremendous jump off the top of the wall on to the top of the cat and cuffed it off the basked, and kicked it into the greenhouse scratching off a handful of fur. The cat was too surprised to scratch back.

XI. Old Mr. Bunny drove the cat into the green-house, and locked the door.—Then he came back to the basket and took out his son Benjamin by the ears, and whipped him with the little switch. Then he took out his nephew Peter.

XII. Then he took out the hand-kerchief of onions, and marched out of the garden.