Once upon a time, there were three little kittens. They were named Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet.
They had warm little fur coats of their own. They used to tumble about the doorstep, and would play in the dust.
But one day, their mother—Mrs Tabitha Twitchit—invited her friends for a tea; so she took her kittens indoors, to wash and dress them well, before the guests arrived.
At first, she scrubbed their faces. Oh, look at Moppet!
Then she scrubbed their fur. Say meow to Mittens!
Then she combed their tails and whiskers. (Here’s Tom Kitten!)
Tom was very naughty, and he scratched.
Mrs. Tabitha dressed Moppet and Mittens in clean pinafores and tuckers. Then she took out all kinds of elegant and uncomfortable clothes out of a chest of drawers, for her son Thomas.
Tom Kitten had become quite fat, his size causing several buttons to pop off. His mother quickly sewed them again.
Once the three kittens were ready, Mrs. Tabitha made the unwisely decision to let them out into the garden to keep them occupied while she made hot buttered toast.
"Now, mind your dresses, little ones! Walk on two legs and stay clear of the dirty ash pit, Sally Henny Penny, the pigsty, and the Puddle-Ducks."
Moppet and Mittens walked unsteadily in the garden. They trod upon their pinafores, and they fell on their noses.
When they stood up, they noticed green smears!
“Let us climb up the rocks, and sit on the garden wall,” said Moppet.
They turned their pinafores back to front, and went ahead with a skip and a jump; Moppet’s white tucker fell on the road.
Tom Kitten was very sad, unable to jump while walking on his hind legs in trousers. He came up the rockery, breaking the ferns, and shedding buttons left and right.
He was a mess by the time he reached the top of the garden wall.
Moppet and Mittens tried to pull him together. His hat fell off, and all his buttons burst.
While they faced difficulties, there was a pit pat puddle pat! The Puddle Ducks were marching one behind the other. They did the goose step - pit pat puddle pat! Pit pat waddle pat!
They stopped, stood in a row, and stared at the kittens. They had tiny eyes, and they looked surprised.
The two ducks, Rebeccah and Jemima Puddle-Duck, picked up the hat and the tucker, and put them on.
Mittens laughed and fell off the garden wall. Moppet and Tom followed, and their dresses came off on the way down.
“Come! Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck,” said Moppet. “Come and help us in dressing him! Come and button up Tom!”
Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck went closer, in a slow sideways manner, and picked everything up.
But he put them on himself! They fitted him even worse than they did on Tom Kitten.
“It’s a beautiful morning!” said Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck.
Drake, Jemima, and Rebeccah Puddle-Duck went ahead walking.
Then Tabitha came to the garden and found her kittens with no clothes at all!
She grabbed them off the wall, smacked them, and took them back to the house.
“My friends will be here any minute, and you are not fit to be seen. This is outrageous!” said Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit.
She sent them upstairs. She told her friends that they were in bed, down with the measles, which was not true.
Quite the contrary, they were not at all in the bed!
There were extraordinary noises over-head, which disturbed the guests, and ruined the dignity and repose of the tea party.
I might just have to write another book - larger than this - to tell you more about Tom Kitten!
As for the Puddle-Ducks, they were in a pond.
The clothes came off immediately, because there were no buttons.
Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck, Jemima and Rebeccah have been looking for the buttons ever since!