Beatrix Potter

“ Duchess fumbled with the spoon—"I can't find it!" she said anxiously.
"There isn't a patty-pan," said Ribby, looking perplexed.
"Yes, indeed, my dear Ribby; where can it have gone to?" said Duchess.
"There most certainly is not one, my dear Duchess. I disapprove of tin articles in puddings and pies. It is most undesirable— (especially when people swallow in lumps!) " she added in a lower voice.
Duchess looked very much alarmed, and continued to scoop the inside of the pie-dish. ”

“ I will pour out the tea, while we wait. Do you take sugar, my dear Duchess?"
DUCHESS IN THE PORCH.
"Oh yes, please! my dear Ribby; and may I have a lump upon my nose?"
"With pleasure, my dear Duchess; how beautifully you beg! Oh, how sweetly pretty!"
Duchess sat up with the sugar on her nose and sniffed—
"How good that pie smells! I do love veal and ham—I mean to say mouse and bacon——"
She dropped the sugar in confusion, and had to go hunting under the tea-table, so she did not see which oven Ribby opened in order to get out the pie. ”

“ THE PIE AND THE PATTY-PAN
ONCE upon a time there was a Pussy-cat called Ribby, who invited a little dog called Duchess, to tea.
"Come in good time, my dear Duchess" (said Ribby's letter) , "and we will have something so very very nice. I am baking it in a pie-dish—a pie-dish with a pink rim. You never tasted anything so good! And you shall eat it all! I will eat muffins, my dear Duchess!" wrote Ribby. ”

“ Ribby opened the bottom oven door with some difficulty, and turned the pie. There began to be a pleasing smell of baked mouse!
Duchess, in the meantime, had slipped out at the back door.
"It is a very odd thing that Ribby's pie was not in the oven when I put mine in! And I can't find it anywhere; I have looked all over the house. I put my pie into a nice hot oven at the top. I could not turn any of the other handles; I think that they are all shams," said Duchess, "but I wish I could have removed the pie made of
WHERE IS THE PIE MADE OF MOUSE? ”

“ She came downstairs again, and made the tea, and put the teapot on the hob. She peeped again into the bottom oven, the pie had become a lovely brown, and it was steaming hot.
She sat down before the fire to wait for the little dog. "I am glad I used the bottom oven," said Ribby, "the top one would certainly have been very much too hot. I wonder why that cupboard door was open? Can there really have been some one in the house?"
READY FOR THE PARTY.
Very punctually at four o'clock Duchess started to go to the party. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1943, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 79 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”