The Tale of Tom Kitten. Беатрис Поттер

      The Tale of Tom Kitten

DEDICATEDTO ALLPICKLES,—ESPECIALLY TO THOSE THATGET UPON MY GARDEN WALL

      Once upon a time there were three little kittens, and their names were Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet.

      They had dear little fur coats of their own; and they tumbled about the doorstep and played in the dust.

      But one day their mother—Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit—expected friends to tea; so she fetched the kittens indoors, to wash and dress them, before the fine company arrived.

      First she scrubbed their faces (this one is Moppet).

      Then she brushed their fur, (this one is Mittens).

      Then she combed their tails and whiskers (this is Tom Kitten).

      Tom was very naughty, and he scratched.

      Mrs. Tabitha dressed Moppet and Mittens in clean pinafores and tuckers; and then she took all sorts of elegant uncomfortable clothes out of a chest of drawers, in order to dress up her son Thomas.

      Tom Kitten was very fat, and he had grown; several buttons burst off. His mother sewed them on again.