Front cover of a first edition of The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies from 1909.
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies is a children's fantasy story by the British author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. It was first published in July 1909. It is a sequel to the 1902 book The Tale of Peter Rabbit and the 1904 book The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.
The book's title characters are the six children of the adult Benjamin Bunny and his cousin Flopsy. The plot is set in motion when Benjamin Bunny takes his children to eat lettuces from the trash heap of the human Mr. McGregor. After eating a large amount of lettuce, Benjamin and his children fall asleep. Mr. McGregor sees the six little rabbits. He puts them in a sack, intending to eat them later. Fortunately for the Flopsy Bunnies, a mouse named Thomasina Tittlemouse comes to their rescue.
The first translation of The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies into another language, one into French, was first published in 1931. Other translations which followed include ones into Afrikaans (1935), Dutch (1946), German (1947) and Japanese (1971). An edition of The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies in the Initial Teaching Alphabet was published in 1965.
The Tale of Mr. Tod, a sequel to The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, was published in 1912. The character of Mrs. Tittlemouse, who is introduced in The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, stars in her own tale which was published in 1910.
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies has been adapted for television.
Plot[]
Flopsy, Benjamin Bunny and the six Flopsy Bunnies pass by the garden of Peter Rabbit. Original illustration by Beatrix Potter.
After Benjamin Bunny grows up, he marries his cousin Flopsy and has six children. The story's narrator says that she does not remember the individual names of the six little rabbits, who are known collectively as the Flopsy Bunnies.
Benjamin Bunny often does not have enough food to feed his large family. On those occasions, he is sometimes provided with cabbages by his cousin Peter Rabbit. When Peter Rabbit is unable to spare any cabbages, Benjamin Bunny and his family get food from a trash heap in a ditch in front of the garden of a man named Mr. McGregor.
One sunny day, Benjamin Bunny takes his children to the trash heap. They find a large amount of lettuces which Mr McGregor threw away because they went to seed and became unfit for human consumption. After eating their full of lettuce, Benjamin Bunny and his six children fall asleep. The six Flopsy Bunnies go to sleep immediately. Benjamin has enough time to put a paper bag over his head to keep the flies away before he falls asleep.
A mouse named Thomasina Tittlemouse searches through the trash heap. She accidentally wakes up Benjamin Bunny. She apologizes to him and tells him that she knows Peter Rabbit. Benjamin Bunny and Mrs. Tittlemouse talk for a while. When they hear Mr. McGregor coming, Benjamin Bunny hides under his paper bag and Mrs. Tittlemouse hides in a jam jar.
Mrs. Tittlemouse tries to rescue the Flopsy Bunnies from the sack while Benjamin and Flopsy watch anxiously. Original illustration by Beatrix Potter.
Mr. McGregor throws grass which he has cut with his lawnmower onto the trash heap. It lands on top of the six sleeping Flopsy Bunnies. Mr. McGregor sees the six rabbits' ears poking out from under the grass. He goes down to the trash heap and takes the six little rabbits out from under the grass. He puts them into a sack, intending to eat them later. He ties up the sack, puts it on a wall and walks away.
Flopsy arrives. She is worried because she can see the sack on the wall but cannot see her husband or children. Benjamin Bunny and Mrs. Tittlemouse emerge from hiding. They tell Flopsy what has happened to her six children. Benjamin and Flopsy try to untie the sack but cannot do so. Fortunately, Mrs. Tittlemouse is able to nibble a hole in the bottom of the sack. The Flopsy Bunnies are taken out through the hole. Benjamin and Flopsy fill the sack with rotten vegetables and other garbage.
Mr. McGregor comes back and takes the sack into his house. He tells his wife that there are six fat little rabbits inside the sack. Mrs. McGregor opens the sack, puts her hand inside and touches a rotten vegetable. She is angry because she thinks that her husband has played a trick on her.
Benjamin Bunny and Flopsy reward Mrs. Tittlemouse by giving her a large amount of rabbit wool as a Christmas present. She uses the wool to make winter clothes for herself.
Adaptations[]
The second episode of the British anthology series The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends presents an animated cartoon which is an adaptation of both The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and Beatrix Potter's 1910 book The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse. The episode features the voices of Adrian Scarborough as Benjamin Bunny, Sheila Steafel as Flopsy, Andrew Robertson as Mr. McGregor, June Watson as Mrs. McGregor and Anna Massey as Mrs. Tittlemouse. It was first shown on BBC1 on June 24, 1992.