THE
TALE
OF
TOM
KITTEN
DEDICATED
TO
ALL
PICKLES,
ESPECIALLY
TO
THOSE
THAT
GET
UPON
MY
GARDEN
WALL
Once
upon
a
time
there
were
three
little
kittens,
and
their
names
were
Mittens,
Tom
Kitten,
and
Moppet.
They
had
dear
little
fur
coats
of
their
own;
and
they
tumbled
about
the
doorstep
and
played
in
the
dust.
But
one
day
their
mother,
Mrs.
Tabitha
Twitchit,
expected
friends
to
tea;
so
she
fetched
the
kittens
indoors,
to
wash
and
dress
them,
before
the
fine
company
arrived.
First
she
scrubbed
their
faces,
this
one
is
Moppet.
Then
she
brushed
their
fur,
this
one
is
Mittens.
Then
she
combed
their
tails
and
whiskers,
this
is
Tom
Kitten.
Tom
was
very
naughty,
and
he
scratched.
Mrs.
Tabitha
dressed
Moppet
and
Mittens
in
clean
pinafores
and
tuckers;
and
then
she
took
all
sorts
of
elegant
uncomfortable
clothes
out
of
a
chest
of
drawers,
in
order
to
dress
up
her
son
Thomas.
Tom
Kitten
was
very
fat,
and
he
had
grown;
several
buttons
burst
off.
His
mother
sewed
them
on
again.
When
the
three
kittens
were
ready,
Mrs.
Tabitha
unwisely
turned
them
out
into
the
garden,
to
be
out
of
the
way
while
she
made
hot
buttered
toast.
"Now
keep
your
frocks
clean,
children!
You
must
walk
on
your
hind
legs.
Keep
away
from
the
dirty
ash
pit,
and
from
Sally
Henny
Penny,
and
from
the
pig
stye
and
the
Puddle
Ducks."
Moppet
and
Mittens
walked
down
the
garden
path
unsteadily.
Presently
they
trod
upon
their
pinafores
and
fell
on
their
noses.
When
they
stood
up
there
were
several
green
smears!
"Let
us
climb
up
the
rockery,
and
sit
on
the
garden
wall,"
said
Moppet.
They
turned
their
pinafores
back
to
front,
and
went
up
with
a
skip
and
a
jump;
Moppet's
white
tucker
fell
down
into
the
road.
Tom
Kitten
was
quite
unable
to
jump
when
walking
upon
his
hind
legs
in
trousers.
He
came
up
the
rockery
by
degrees,
breaking
the
ferns,
and
shedding
buttons
right
and
left.
He
was
all
in
pieces
when
he
reached
the
top
of
the
wall.
Moppet
and
Mittens
tried
to
pull
him
together;
his
hat
fell
off,
and
the
rest
of
his
buttons
burst.
While
they
were
in
difficulties,
there
was
a
pit
pat
paddle
pat!
and
the
three
Puddle
Ducks
came
along
the
hard
high
road,
marching
one
behind
the
other
and
doing
the
goose
step,
pit
pat
paddle
pat!
pit
pat
waddle
pat!
They
stopped
and
stood
in
a
row,
and
stared
up
at
the
kittens.
They
had
very
small
eyes
and
looked
surprised.
Then
the
two
duck
birds,
Rebeccah
and
Jemima
Puddle
Duck,
picked
up
the
hat
and
tucker
and
put
them
on.
Mittens
laughed
so
that
she
fell
off
the
wall.
Moppet
and
Tom
descended
after
her;
the
pinafores
and
all
the
rest
of
Tom's
clothes
came
off
on
the
way
down.
"Come!
Mr.
Drake
Puddle
Duck,"
said
Moppet,
"Come
and
help
us
to
dress
him!
Come
and
button
up
Tom!"
Mr.
Drake
Puddle
Duck
advanced
in
a
slow
sideways
manner,
and
picked
up
the
various
articles.
But
he
put
them
on
himself!
They
fitted
him
even
worse
than
Tom
Kitten.
"It's
a
very
fine
morning!"
said
Mr.
Drake
Puddle
Duck.
And
he
and
Jemima
and
Rebeccah
Puddle
Duck
set
off
up
the
road,
keeping
step,
pit
pat,
paddle
pat!
pit
pat,
waddle
pat!
Then
Tabitha
Twitchit
came
down
the
garden
and
found
her
kittens
on
the
wall
with
no
clothes
on.
She
pulled
them
off
the
wall,
smacked
them,
and
took
them
back
to
the
house.
"My
friends
will
arrive
in
a
minute,
and
you
are
not
fit
to
be
seen;
I
am
affronted,"
said
Mrs.
Tabitha
Twitchit.
She
sent
them
upstairs;
and
I
am
sorry
to
say
she
told
her
friends
that
they
were
in
bed
with
the
measles;
which
was
not
true.
Quite
the
contrary;
they
were
not
in
bed:
not
in
the
least.
Somehow
there
were
very
extraordinary
noises
over
head,
which
disturbed
the
dignity
and
repose
of
the
tea
party.
And
I
think
that
some
day
I
shall
have
to
make
another,
larger,
book,
to
tell
you
more
about
Tom
Kitten!
As
for
the
Puddle
Ducks,
they
went
into
a
pond.
The
clothes
all
came
off
directly,
because
there
were
no
buttons.
And
Mr.
Drake
Puddle
Duck,
and
Jemima
and
Rebeccah,
have
been
looking
for
them
ever
since.
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