The Tale of Samuel Whiskers
By Beatrix Potter
Once upon a time, there was an old cat named Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit. She was always worried about her kittens, Moppet, Mittens, and Tom, because they often got into trouble and went missing!
One day, when Mama Tabitha was baking, she decided to keep her kittens safe by putting them in a cupboard. She managed to catch Moppet and Mittens, but Tom was nowhere to be found.
Mama Tabitha searched everywhere for Tom. She looked in the pantry, under the stairs, and even in the attic, but Tom was still missing. Their house was very old, with lots of secret passages and mysterious noises.
As Mama Tabitha searched, she got more and more worried, and she mewed loudly for Tom. But despite her efforts, Tom was nowhere to be seen.
While the Mama kept searching for Tom, Moppet and Mittens had gotten out of the cupboard.
They rushed straight to the dough. "Shall we make some muffins?" Mittens asked Moppet.
But suddenly, there was a knock at the front door, startling them. Moppet panicked and jumped into the flour barrel to hide.
Mittens darted away to the dairy and squeezed into an empty jar on the shelf.
Their neighbour, Mrs. Ribby, stood at the door, asking to borrow some yeast.
Mrs. Tabitha, their mama, came downstairs, meowing anxiously. "Come in, Cousin Ribby, come in and sit down. I'm in trouble," she said, wiping away tears. "I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm worried the rats might have taken him." She sniffled and dried her eyes with her apron.
"Cousin Tabitha, Thomas can be quite mischievous. He tangled up my best bonnet last time you had tea with me. Where have you looked for him?" asked Mrs. Ribby.
"I've searched everywhere in the house! There are too many rats for me to handle!" replied Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.
"Don't worry, I'm not afraid of rats. I'll help you find him, and I'll give him a good scolding too! What's all that soot in the fireplace?" Mrs. Ribby inquired, noticing the mess.
"Oh dear, the chimney needs cleaning. Alas! Now Moppet and Mittens have disappeared!" Mrs. Tabitha exclaimed. "They've both escaped from the cupboard!"
Ribby and Tabitha started searching the house again, looking in every nook and cranny. They poked under beds with Ribby's umbrella and rummaged through cupboards. With the help of a candle, they even peered inside a clothes chest in one of the attics. Despite their efforts, they couldn't find anything, but they heard a door bang and someone scurrying downstairs.
"It's overrun with rats," Tabitha said sadly. "I caught seven young ones in the back kitchen, and we had them for dinner last Saturday. And once I saw the old father rat—a huge old rat, Cousin Ribby. I was about to pounce on him, but he bared his yellow teeth at me and disappeared down a hole."
They heard a strange noise coming from under the attic floor, but they couldn't see anything.
Returning to the kitchen, they found Moppet hiding in the flour barrel. They cleaned off the flour and calmed her down.
"Oh, Mother, Mother," Moppet cried, "there was a big rat in the kitchen! It stole some dough!"
Ribby and Tabitha hurried to inspect the dough pan. They found tiny claw marks and a missing lump of dough.
"Which way did she go, Moppet?" Tabitha asked, but Moppet was too frightened to look again.
Taking Moppet with them for safety, Ribby and Tabitha continued their search.
They entered the dairy and found Mittens hiding in an empty jar. They lifted the jar, and Mittens scrambled out.
"Oh, Mother, Mother!" Mittens exclaimed. "A big rat has been in the dairy, Mother," Mittens continued. "It stole butter and a rolling pin."
Tabitha and Ribby exchanged worried glances.
"A rolling pin and butter! Oh, my poor Thomas!" Tabitha lamented, wringing her paws.
Ribby recalled. "Didn't we hear a strange noise in the attic when we were looking in the chest?"
They rushed back upstairs.
"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha," Ribby said. "We must send for John Joiner, with a saw."
Now, here is what happened to Tom Kitten. It's a lesson in why it's not smart to climb up a chimney in a very old house, especially if you don't know your way around and there are big rats around.
Tom Kitten didn't want to be stuck in a cupboard. So when he saw his mother getting ready to bake, he decided to hide.
He searched for a good hiding spot and chose the chimney. The fire had just been lit, so it wasn't hot yet, but there was some smoky white smoke from the fresh sticks.
Tom Kitten climbed onto the hearth and peered up. It was a large, old-fashioned fireplace. Inside the chimney, there was plenty of space for a little cat like Tom to move around. He leaped up into the fireplace, finding his balance on the iron bar where the kettle hangs.
With another big jump, Tom Kitten landed on a ledge high up inside the chimney, causing some soot to fall onto the hearth below.
Tom sat on the ledge, coughing and choking from the smoke. Determined, he decided to climb all the way to the top, aiming to perhaps catch some sparrows.
"I can't go back," he thought. "If I slip, I might fall into the fire and ruin my beautiful tail and my little blue jacket."
As Tom Kitten climbed higher, he grew more and more scared. The darkness inside was frightening.
Despite his confusion, he continued to scramble upwards. But before he reached the top, he encountered a peculiar sight—a loose stone in the wall and scattered mutton bones.
"This is strange," remarked Tom Kitten. "Who could have been gnawing bones up here in the chimney?”
He wriggled through the hole in the wall, dragging himself through a very tight passage where there was hardly any light.
Tom squeezed through the gap.
Carefully feeling his way forward for several yards, he found himself behind the skirting-board in the attic, marked with a little asterisk * in the picture.
The kitten found himself behind this attic wall.
Across from him, as far away as he could sit, was an enormous rat.
"What do you think you're doing, tumbling into my bed covered in soot?" said the rat, chattering his teeth.
"Please, sir, the chimney needs cleaning," said poor Tom Kitten.
"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!" squeaked the rat. A moment later, an elderly female rat appeared from behind a rafter.
"Anna Maria," spoke up the old male rat (known as Samuel Whiskers), "Anna Maria, prepare me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for my supper."
"It needs dough and a bit of butter, and a rolling-pin," Anna Maria deliberated, tilting her head to observe Tom Kitten.
Sam and Anna-Marie discuss the recipe.
Poor kitty, bound and helpless.
"No," insisted Samuel Whiskers, "prepare it properly, Anna Maria, with breadcrumbs."
They couldn't agree on the recipe. After a brief consultation, the two rats departed.
Samuel Whiskers slipped through a hole in the wainscot, boldly down the front staircase to the dairy to fetch the butter. He met no one.
Sam rolls the rolling pin.
He made a second trip for the rolling-pin, nudging it ahead of him with his paws like a brewer's man moving a barrel.
Anna-Marie returns to the kitchen.
Anna Maria went down by the skirting-board and a window shutter into the kitchen to steal the dough.
She used a small saucer to scoop up the dough with her paws, unaware of Moppet nearby.
Meanwhile, Tom Kitten struggled under the attic floor, attempting to call for help but unable to due to a mouthful of soot and tightly knotted ropes.
Tom exhausted himself in futile attempts to break free.
Soon, the rats returned, intent on turning him into a dumpling. They coated him with butter and rolled him in dough.
"Isn't the string going to be hard to digest, Anna Maria?" asked Samuel Whiskers.
Tom struggled as the rats rolled him with a rolling-pin, his tail poking out due to insufficient dough.
Samuel Whiskers doubted the outcome, noting the sooty smell, while Anna Maria prepared to argue until interrupted by noises above.
The rats ceased their rolling and listened, realising they were discovered and hastily deciding to flee, leaving the unfinished pudding behind.
Amidst the chaos, Anna Maria planned to salvage what they could and escape.
Tom was eventually rescued by John Joiner.
The family had fully recovered and warmly invited him to dinner.
With the rats now gone from Tabitha Twitchit's home, peace was restored. However, Farmer Potatoes found himself inundated with rat troubles.
Generations of Whiskers wreaked havoc in his barn, devouring feed and causing chaos.
Children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren - there is no end!
Moppet and Mittens, now adept rat-catchers, found employment in the village.
As for Tom Kitten, he remained fearful of rats, preferring the safety of facing only mice.