It is believed that eating too much lettuce can be “soporific.”
I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuce - but I am not a rabbit.
It seems like they have a soporific effect on the flopsy bunnies!
After growing up, Benjamin Bunny married his Cousin Flopsy. They had a big family, and they were very cheerful.
I do not remember the names of their children, but they were called the “Flopsy Bunnies.”
There was not always a lot to eat. So Benjamin could borrow cabbages from Flopsy’s brother, Peter Rabbit. Peter Rabbit had a nursery garden.
Sometimes Peter Rabbit did not have cabbages to spare.
On such days, the Flopsy Bunnies would go across the field to a rubbish heap, in the ditch outside Mr. McGregor’s garden.
Mr. McGregor’s rubbish heap was a mix of things. There were jam pots and paper bags, and mountains of chopped grass from the mowing machine, and some rotten vegetables, marrows, and an old boot or two.
One day, guess what? There were a lot of big lettuces that had grown into flowers.
The Flopsy Bunnies ate so much lettuce. Slowly, one by one, they started to feel really sleepy and lay down on the grass to nap.
Benjamin wasn't as sleepy as his kids. Before he fell asleep, he was awake enough to put a paper bag over his head to stop the flies from bothering him.
The little Flopsy Bunnies were having a lovely nap in the warm sunshine. Far away, from the other side of the garden, they could hear the distant noise of a lawn mower working. Bluebottles were buzzing around the wall, and a tiny old mouse was picking the trash around the jam jars.
(Her name was Thomasina Tittlemouse, a woodmouse with a long tail.)
She accidentally walked over the paper bag and woke up Benjamin Bunny.
The mouse said sorry a lot and mentioned she knew Peter Rabbit.
While she was chatting with Benjamin, close to the wall, they suddenly heard loud footsteps above them. Then, Mr. McGregor dumped a big sack of grass cuttings right on top of the Flopsy Bunnies who were still sleeping! Benjamin quickly hid deeper under his paper bag. The mouse hid in the jam pot.
The tiny rabbits continued to sleep peacefully even as the grass rained down on them; they didn't wake up because the lettuces had made them very sleepy.
In their dreams, they imagined their mother Flopsy gently tucking them into a cosy hay bed.
Mr. McGregor peered down after dumping his sack. He spotted some curious little brown ears poking out from the grass clippings. He gazed at them intently for a while.
Soon, a fly landed on one of the ears and it moved.
Mr. McGregor made his way down to the pile of rubbish—
"One, two, three, four! five! six little rabbits!" he counted, as he picked them up and put them into his sack. The Flopsy Bunnies dreamt that their mother was gently rolling them over in bed. They moved slightly in their sleep, but they didn't wake up.
Mr. McGregor tied the sack shut and left it sitting on the wall while he went to store the lawn mower.
While he was away, Mrs. Flopsy Bunny, who had stayed back, wandered over from the field. She gave the sack a curious look, wondering where everyone had gone.
Just then, the mouse popped out of her jam jar, and Benjamin removed the paper bag from his head. Together, they shared the sad story with her.
Benjamin and Flopsy felt hopeless; they couldn't untie the sack.
But Mrs. Tittlemouse was clever and quick to think. She nibbled a small hole in the bottom corner of the sack.
The little rabbits were gently shaken and nudged to wake them up.
Their parents then filled the empty sack with three spoiled vegetable marrows, an old shoe brush, and two rotten turnips.
After that, they all hid behind a bush to see what Mr. McGregor would do.
Mr. McGregor returned, picked up the sack, and carried it away, looking like it was quite heavy.
The Flopsy Bunnies followed him from a distance, making sure to stay safe.
They watched him enter his house and then sneaked up to the window to listen.
By the door, Mr. McGregor dropped the sack onto the stone floor in a way that would have hurt the Flopsy Bunnies a lot if they had still been inside.
They heard him dragging his chair across the floor and laughing to himself, "One, two, three, four, five, six little rabbits!" exclaimed Mr. McGregor.
"Eh? What's that? What have they ruined now?" Mrs. McGregor asked.
"One, two, three, four, five, six little fat rabbits!" Mr. McGregor repeated, counting on his fingers.
"Don't be ridiculous; what are you talking about, you silly man?"
"In the sack! One, two, three, four, five, six!" Mr. McGregor insisted.
(The youngest Flopsy Bunny climbed onto the window-sill.)
Mrs. McGregor grabbed the sack and felt it, commenting she could "feel" six rabbits, but remarked they must be old because they felt so hard and were oddly shaped.
"They're not good to eat; but their fur will be perfect to line my old coat."
"Line your coat?" exclaimed Mr. McGregor. "I plan to sell them for some tobacco!"
"Rabbit tobacco! I'll skin them and chop off their heads."
When Mrs. McGregor opened the sack and reached inside, finding the vegetables, she got really angry. She accused Mr. McGregor of having done it on purpose.
Mr. McGregor was just as mad. In his anger, one of the spoiled marrows flew out the kitchen window and hit the youngest Flopsy Bunny, who got a bit hurt by it.
At that point, Benjamin and Flopsy decided it was time to head home.
So, Mr. McGregor didn't get to buy his tobacco, and Mrs. McGregor didn't get her rabbit skins for her coat.
However, come next Christmas, Thomasina Tittlemouse ended up with a special gift: enough rabbit fur to make herself a new cloak and hood, along with a lovely muff and a pair of toasty mittens.