Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England
Viking Penguin Inc., 40 West 23rd Street, New York, New York 10010, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 2801 John Street, Markham, Ontario,
Canada L3R 1B4
Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand
First published 1905
This impression 1985
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
William Clowes Limited, Beccles and London
[Illustration]
Once upon a time there was a Pussy-cat called Ribby, who invited a
little dog called Duchess, to tea.
"Come in good time, my dear Duchess," said Ribby's letter, "and we
will have something so very nice. I am baking it in a pie-dish--a
pie-dish with a pink rim. You never tasted anything so good! And _you_
shall eat it all! _I_ will eat muffins, my dear Duchess!" wrote
Ribby.
Duchess read the letter and wrote an answer:--"I will come with much
pleasure at a quarter past four. But it is very strange. _I_ was just
going to invite you to come here, to supper, my dear Ribby, to eat
something _most delicious_.
"I will come very punctually, my dear Ribby," wrote Duchess; and then
at the end she added--"I hope it isn't mouse?"
[Illustration: THE INVITATION]
And then she thought that did not look quite polite; so she scratched
out "isn't mouse" and changed it to "I hope it will be fine," and
she gave her letter to the postman.
But she thought a great deal about Ribby's pie, and she read Ribby's
letter over and over again.
"I am dreadfully afraid it _will_ be mouse!" said Duchess to
herself--"I really couldn't, _couldn't_ eat mouse pie. And I shall have
to eat it, because it is a party. And _my_ pie was going to be veal
and ham. A pink and white pie-dish! and so is mine; just like Ribby's
dishes; they were both bought at Tabitha Twitchit's."
Duchess went into her larder and took the pie off a shelf and looked
at it.
[Illustration]
"It is all ready to put into the oven. Such lovely pie-crust; and I
put in a little tin patty-pan to hold up the crust; and I made a hole
in the middle with a fork to let out the steam--Oh I do wish I could
eat my own pie, instead of a pie made of mouse!"