''The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse'' is a book written and illustrated by

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Heelis (; 28 July 186622 December 1943), usually known as Beatrix Potter ( ), was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' ...

and first published by

Frederick Warne & Co Frederick Warne & Co. is a British publisher founded in 1865. It is known for children's books, particularly those of Beatrix Potter, and for its Observer's Books. Warne is an imprint of Random House Children's Books and Penguin Random House, ...

. in 1910. The book tells the story of a

wood mouse The wood mouse (''Apodemus sylvaticus'') is a Muridae, murid rodent native to Europe and northwestern Africa. It is closely related to the yellow-necked mouse (''Apodemus flavicollis'') but differs in that it has no band of yellow fur around the ...

named Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse and her efforts to keep her house in order, despite the appearance of uninvited visitors. A particularly annoying visitor for Mrs Tittlemouse is Mr. Jackson, a sloppy

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

Background

The character of Mrs. Tittlemouse first appeared in Potter's children's book ''

The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies ''The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in July 1909. After two full-length tales about rabbits, Potter had grown weary of the subject and w ...

'', which was first published in July 1909. ''The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse'' was originally produced by Potter in the form of a book with a leather cover. It was given to Nellie Warne, the young daughter of Potter's Publisher, Harold Warne as a New Year's gift.

Plot

The story chronicles the hardships of the

Mrs. Tittlemouse, who tries to keep her home tidy. She turns away unwanted visitors:

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s, a

ladybird Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles. They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in the United Kingdom; "lady" refers to mother Mary. Entomologists use the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles ...

, and a large spider seeking shelter from the rain. Along one of her passageways she runs into Babbitty Bumble, a

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...

, and in a storeroom she comes across a nest of four more bees, whom she is unable to remove. Mrs. Tittlemouse sends the uninvited

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 "Little Miss Muffet" is an English nursery rhyme of uncertain origin, first recorded in 1805. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20605. The rhyme has for over a century attracted discussion as to the proper meaning of the word ''tuffet''. ...

. Upon returning to her

parlour A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...

, she finds the neighbour from the drain below, Mr. Jackson the

, sitting in her

rocking chair A rocking chair or rocker is a type of chair with two curved bands (also known as rockers) attached to the bottom of the legs, connecting the legs on each side to each other. The rockers contact the floor at only two points, giving the occupant ...

, wet and dripping water onto the floor. He stays over dinner, but declines to eat any of the food Mrs. Tittlemouse offers him; she mops up his footprints as he rummages for honey. When Mr. Jackson finds the bees he pulls out their nest. After Mr. Jackson departs, Mrs. Tittlemouse spends a fortnight on cleaning all the mess in her home. She uses twigs to make her front door narrower. She then holds a party for five other little mice—Mr. Jackson, being no longer able to fit through the door, sits outside drinking honey dew.

Adaptations

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

adaptation of the story, shown interspersed with ''

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies ''The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in July 1909. After two full-length tales about rabbits, Potter had grown weary of the subject and w ...

'', was featured on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television

anthology series An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different ca ...

'' The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends'' in 1996.

References

Sources

External links

* * *
The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse
' at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Peter Rabbit official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse, The 1910 children's books British children's books Mrs. Tittlemouse, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse Picture books by Beatrix Potter Frederick Warne & Co books Children's books about mice and rats