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This is a Tale about a tail--a tail that belonged to a little red
squirrel, and his name was Nutkin.
He had a brother called Twinkleberry, and a great many cousins: they lived
in a wood at the edge of a lake.
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In the middle of the lake there is an island covered with trees and nut
bushes; and amongst those trees stands a hollow oak-tree, which is the
house of an owl who is called Old Brown.
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One autumn when the nuts were ripe, and the leaves on the hazel bushes
were golden and green--Nutkin and Twinkleberry and all the other little
squirrels came out of the wood, and down to the edge of the lake.
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They made little rafts out of twigs, and they paddled away over the water
to Owl Island to gather nuts.
Each squirrel had a little sack and a large oar, and spread out his tail
for a sail.
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They also took with them an offering of three fat mice as a present for
Old Brown, and put them down upon his door-step.
Then Twinkleberry and the other little squirrels each made a low bow, and
said politely--
"Old Mr. Brown, will you favour us with permission to gather nuts upon
your island?"
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But Nutkin was excessively impertinent in his manners. He bobbed up and
down like a little red _cherry_, singing--
"Riddle me, riddle me, rot-tot-tote!
A little wee man, in a red red coat!
A staff in his hand, and a stone in his throat;
If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a groat."
Now this riddle is as old as the hills; Mr. Brown paid no attention
whatever to Nutkin.
He shut his eyes obstinately and went to sleep.
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The squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts, and sailed away home in
the evening.
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But next morning they all came back again to Owl Island; and Twinkleberry
and the others brought a fine fat mole, and laid it on the stone in front
of Old Brown's doorway, and said--
"Mr. Brown, will you favour us with your gracious permission to gather
some more nuts?"
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But Nutkin, who had no respect, began to dance up and down, tickling old
Mr. Brown with a _nettle_ and singing--
"Old Mr. B! Riddle-me-ree!
Hitty Pitty within the wall,
Hitty Pitty without the wall;
If you touch Hitty Pitty,
Hitty Pitty will bite you!"
Mr. Brown woke up suddenly and carried the mole into his house.
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He shut the door in Nutkin's face. Presently a little thread of blue
_smoke_ from a wood fire came up from the top of the tree, and Nutkin
peeped through the key-hole and sang--
"A house full, a hole full!
And you cannot gather a bowl-full!"
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The squirrels searched for nuts all over the island and filled their
little sacks.
But Nutkin gathered oak-apples--yellow and scarlet--and sat upon a
beech-stump playing marbles, and watching the door of old Mr. Brown.
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On the third day the squirrels got up very early and went fishing; they
caught seven fat minnows as a present for Old Brown.
They paddled over the lake and landed under a crooked chestnut tree on Owl
Island.
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Twinkleberry and six other little squirrels each carried a fat minnow; but
Nutkin, who had no nice manners, brought no present at all. He ran in
front, singing--
"The man in the wilderness said to me,
'How many strawberries grow in the sea?'
I answered him as I thought good--
'As many red herrings as grow in the wood.'"
But old Mr. Brown took no interest in riddles--not even when the answer
was provided for him.
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On the fourth day the squirrels brought a present of six fat beetles,
which were as good as plums in _plum-pudding_ for Old Brown. Each beetle
was wrapped up carefully in a dock-leaf, fastened with a pine-needle pin.