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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12103 ***
+
+THE TALE OF
+MRS. TIGGY-WINKLE
+
+BY
+BEATRIX POTTER
+
+Author of
+"The Tale of Peter Rabbit", &c.
+
+1905
+
+
+
+For
+
+THE REAL LITTLE LUCIE
+OF NEWLANDS
+
+
+
+
+ONCE upon a time there
+was a little girl called
+Lucie, who lived at a farm
+called Little-town.  She was
+a good little girl--only she
+was always losing her pocket-
+handkerchiefs!
+
+One day little Lucie came
+into the farm-yard crying--
+oh, she did cry so!  "I've lost
+my pocket-handkin!  Three
+handkins and a pinny!  Have
+you seen them, Tabby Kitten?"
+
+THE Kitten went on washing
+her white paws; so
+Lucie asked a speckled hen--
+
+"Sally Henny-penny, have
+you found three pocket-handkins?"
+
+But the speckled hen ran
+into a barn, clucking--
+
+"I go barefoot,  barefoot,
+barefoot!"
+
+AND then Lucie asked Cock
+Robin sitting on a twig.
+
+Cock Robin looked sideways
+at Lucie with his bright black
+eye, and he flew over a stile
+and away.
+
+Lucie climbed upon the stile
+and looked up at the hill behind
+Little-town--a hill that goes
+up-up--into the clouds as
+though it had no top!
+
+And a great way up the hillside
+she thought she saw some
+white things spread upon the
+grass.
+
+LUCIE scrambled up the
+hill as fast as her stout
+legs would carry her; she ran
+along a steep path-way--up
+and up--until Little-town was
+right away down below--she
+could have dropped a pebble
+down the chimney!
+
+PRESENTLY she came to
+a spring, bubbling out
+from the hill-side.
+
+Some one had stood a tin
+can upon a stone to catch the
+water--but the water was
+already running over, for the
+can was no bigger than an
+egg-cup!  And where the sand
+upon the path was wet--there
+were foot-marks of a very
+small person.
+
+Lucie ran on, and on.
+
+THE path ended under a
+big rock.  The grass was
+short and green, and there
+were clothes-props cut from
+bracken stems, with lines of
+plaited rushes, and a heap of
+tiny clothes  pins--but no
+pocket-handkerchiefs!
+
+But there was something
+else--a  door!  straight into the
+hill; and inside it some one
+was singing--
+
+"Lily-white and clean, oh!
+With little frills between, oh!
+Smooth and hot--red rusty spot
+Never here be seen, oh!"
+
+LUCIE, knocked--once--
+twice, and interrupted
+the song.  A little frightened
+voice called out "Who's that?"
+
+Lucie opened the door: and
+what do you think there was
+inside the hill?--a nice clean
+kitchen with a flagged  floor
+and wooden beams--just like
+any other farm kitchen. Only
+the ceiling was so low that
+Lucie's head nearly touched it;
+and the pots and pans were
+small, and so was everything
+there.
+
+THERE was a nice hot
+singey smell; and at the
+table, with an iron in her hand
+stood a very stout short person
+staring  anxiously at Lucie.
+
+Her print gown was tucked
+up, and she was wearing a
+large apron  over her striped
+petticoat.  Her little black
+nose went sniffle, sniffle, snuffle,
+and her eyes went twinkle,
+twinkle; and underneath her
+cap--where Lucie had yellow
+curls--that little person had
+PRICKLES!
+
+"Who are you?" said
+Lucie.  "Have you
+seen my  pocket-handkins?"
+The little person made a
+bob-curtsey--"Oh, yes, if you
+please'm; my name is Mrs.
+Tiggy-winkle; oh, yes if you
+please'm, I'm an excellent
+clear-starcher!"  And she took
+something out of a clothes-
+basket, and spread it on the
+ironing-blanket.
+
+"What's that thing?"
+said Lucie--"that's
+not by pocket-handkin?"
+"Oh no, if you please'm;
+that's a little scarlet waist-coat
+belonging to Cock Robin!"
+And she ironed it and folded
+it, and put it on one side.
+
+Then she took something
+else off a clothes-horse--
+"That isn't my pinny?" said Lucie.
+"Oh no, if you please'm;
+that's a damask table-cloth
+belonging to Jenny Wren;
+look how it's stained with
+currant wine!  It's very bad
+to wash!" said Mrs. Tiggy-winkle.
+
+MRS. TIGGY-WINKLE'S
+nose went sniffle, sniffle,
+snuffle, and her eyes went
+twinkle, twinkle; and she
+fetched another hot iron from
+the fire.
+
+"THERE'S one of my
+pocket-handkins!" cried
+Lucie--"and there's my pinny!"
+Mrs. Tiggy-winkle ironed it,
+and goffered it, and shook out
+the frills.
+
+"Oh that is lovely!" said
+Lucie.
+
+"AND what are those long
+yellow things with fingers
+like gloves?"
+
+"Oh, that's a pair of stockings
+belonging to Sally Henny-penny
+--look how she's worn the
+heels out with scratching
+in the yard!  She'll very soon
+go barefoot!" said Mrs. Tiggy-winkle.
+
+"WHY, there's another
+handkersniff--but it
+isn't mine; it's red?"
+"Oh no, if you please'm;
+that one belongs to old Mrs.
+Rabbit; and it did so smell
+of onions!  I've had to wash
+it separately, I can't get out
+the smell."
+
+"There's another one of
+mine," said Lucie.
+
+"WHAT are those funny
+little white things?"
+"That's a pair of mittens
+belonging to Tabby Kitten;
+I only have to iron them; she
+washes then herself."
+"There's my last pocket-
+handkin!" said Lucie.
+
+"AND what are you dipping
+into the basin of starch?"
+"They're little dicky shirt-fronts
+belonging to Tom Tits-mouse
+--most terrible particular!"
+said Mrs. Tiddy-winkle.
+"Now I've finished my ironing;
+I'm going to air some clothes."
+
+"WHAT are these dear soft
+fluffy things?" said Lucie.
+"Oh those are woolly coats
+belonging to the little lambs
+at Skelghyl."
+
+"Will their jackets take-off?"
+asked Lucie.
+
+"Oh yes, if you please'm;
+look at the sheep-mark on the
+shoulder.  And here's one
+marked for Gatesgarth, and
+three that come from Little-town.
+They're always marked
+at washing!" said Mrs. Tiggy-winkle.
+
+AND she hung up all sorts
+and sizes of clothes--
+small brown coats of mice;
+and one velvety black mole-skin
+waist coat; and a red tail-coat
+with no tail belonging to
+Squirrel Nutkin; and a very
+much shrunk jacket belonging
+to Peter Rabbit; and
+a petticoat, not marked, that
+had gone lost in the washing
+--and at last the basket was
+empty!
+
+THEN Mrs. Tiggy-winkle
+made tea--a cup for herself
+and a cup for Lucie. They
+sat before a fire on a bench
+and looked sideways at one
+another.
+
+Mrs. Tiggy-winkle's
+hand, holding the tea-cup, was
+very very brown, and very very
+wrinkly with the soap suds;
+and all through her gown and
+her cap, there were hair-pins
+sticking wrong end out; so
+that Lucie didn't like to sit
+to near her.
+
+WHEN they had finished
+tea, they tied up the
+clothes in bundles; and Lucie's
+pocket-handkerchiefs were
+folded up inside her clean
+pinny, and fastened with a
+silver safety-pin.
+
+And then they made up the
+fire with turf, and came out
+and locked the door, and hid
+the key under the door-sill.
+
+THEN away down the hill
+trotted Lucie and Mrs.
+Tiggy-winkle and the bundles
+of clothes!
+
+All the way down the path
+little animals came out of the
+fern to meet them; the very
+first that they met was Peter
+Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny!
+
+AND she gave them their
+Nice clean clothes; and
+all the little animals and birds
+were so very much obliged to
+dear Mrs. Tiggy-winkle.
+
+SO that at the bottom of the
+hill when they came to
+the stile, there was nothing
+left to carry except Lucie's
+one little bundle.
+
+Lucie scrambled up the
+stile with the bundle in
+her hand; and then she turned
+to say, "Good-Night," and to
+thank the washer-woman--
+But what a very odd thing!
+Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle had not
+waited either for thanks or for
+the washing bill!
+She was running running
+running up the hill--and
+Where was her white frilled
+cap? and her shawl? and her
+gown--and her petticoat?
+
+AND how small she had
+grown--and how brown
+--and covered with prickles!
+Why! Mrs. Tiggy-winkle
+was nothing but a hedgehog.
+
+     *   *   *   *   *
+
+(Now some people say that little
+Lucie had been asleep upon the stile--
+but then how could she have found
+three clean pocket-handkins and a pinny,
+pinned with a silver safety pin?
+And besides--I have seen that door
+into the back of the hill called Cat
+Bells--and besides I am very well
+acquainted with dear Mrs. Tiggy-winkle!)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, by Beatrix Potter
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12103 ***