| Benjamin Bunny | |
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Real Name |
Benjamin Bunny |
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First Appearance |
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904) |
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Original Publisher |
Frederick Warne & Co. |
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Created by |
Beatrix Potter |
Origin[]
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Benjamin Bunny is a strong-willed, spunky and brave little bunny who loves to play and explore. He is the son of Mr. Bunny which he is named after and is close cousins to Peter Rabbit. Benjamin Bunny typically wears a brown coat and green clogs on his feet.
Benjamin Bunny sits on a bank when, suddenly, he hears a pony's footsteps. A carriage driven by Mr. McGregor and Mrs. McGregor is coming down the road. As soon as the carriage passes by, little Benjamin Bunny slides down into the road, and hops off to visit his relatives, who live in the Wood behind Mr. McGregor's garden. The Wood is full of rabbit holes and the neatest, sandiest hole is the home of Benjamin's aunt, Mrs. Rabbit and his cousins—Peter Rabbit, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail. Mrs. Rabbit earns her living by knitting and selling rabbit wool mittens and muffatees as well as selling herbs, rosemary tea, and rabbit-tobacco (lavender). As Benjamin walks along, he hopes not to see Mrs. Rabbit. Little Benjamin comes around the back of the Big Fir Tree and nearly tumbles on top of his cousin, Peter. When Benjamin looks at him, he see that Peter looks poorly, and is dressed in a red cotton pocket handkerchief. Peter tells Benjamin that his clothes are in Mr. McGregor's Garden and and describes how he had been chased about the garden and had dropped his shoes and coat. Little Benjamin sits down beside his Peter and assures him that Mr. McGregor and Mrs. McGregor are away from their home. Peter and Benjamin decide to go of a walk and they go the flat top of the wall at the bottom of the Wood, where they look down into Mr. McGregor's Garden. They are able to see Peter's coat and shoes on the scarecrow, topped with an old tam-o'-shanter of Mr. McGregor's. Benjamin tells Peter that squeezing under a gate spoils people's clothes and the proper way to get in is to climb down Mr. McGregor's pear tree.
The two little bunnies leave many little footmarks all over the bed, especially little Benjamin, who is wearing clogs. Little Benjamin says that the first thing to be done is to get back Peter's clothes so that they can use the pocket-handkerchief afterward. They quickly take Peter's clothes off the scarecrow. It had rained during the night and there was water in the shows and the coat had shrunken a bit Benjamin tries on the tam-o'-shanter, but it is too big for him. Then he suggests that they fill the pocket-handkerchief with onions as a little present for Mrs. Rabbit. Benjamin is perfectly at home and even eats a lettuce leaf. He says he is in the habit of coming to the garden with his father, Mr. Benjamin Bunny to get lettuces for their Sunday dinner.
Peter Rabbit does not eat anything and he is eager to go home. He is so nervous that he drops half the onions. Little Benjamin says that it is impossible to get back up the pear tree with a load of vegetables and he boldly leads the way toward the other end of Mr. McGregor's Garden. As they walk along a little walk on planks under a sunny, red brick wall, they pass some mice sitting on their doorsteps cracking cherry stones; they wink at Peter and Benjamin. As they walk along, they come across a Cat and hurriedly hide underneath a large basket. The Cat gets up, stretches herself, and sits down on top of the basket where Peter and Benjamin are hiding and stays there for five hours. The onions makes the two bunnies' eyes cry. Late in the afternoon, the Cat looks up and sees Mr. Bunny prancing along the top of the wall of the upper terrace. He is smoking a pipe of rabbit-tobacco, and has a small switch in his hand. He is there looking for his son. Suddenly, Mr. Bunny takes a leap off the wall onto the Cat, pushes her off the basket, and kicks her into the greenhouse, locking her inside. Then he comes back to the basket, takes Benjamin out by the ears, and whips him with the little switch before they all march out of the garden.
In The Flopsy Bunnies, Benjamin Bunny and his cousin Flopsy are the parents of six young rabbits called simply the Flopsy Bunnies. The story concerns how the Flopsy Bunnies, while raiding a rubbish heap of rotting vegetables, fall asleep and are captured by Mr. McGregor who places them in a sack. While McGregor is distracted, the six are freed by Thomasina Tittlemouse, a woodmouse, and the sack is filled with rotten vegetables by Benjamin and Flopsy.
In The Tale of Mr. Tod, Tommy Brock visits Mr. Bouncer Bunny, and then steals his grandchildren, the Flopsy Bunnies, in order to cook and eat them. Their father, Benjamin Bunny, sets off in pursuit and he and his cousin Peter Rabbit track them down to one of Mr. Tod's homes.
While the fox and the badger fight it out. Benjamin and Peter take advantage to escape with Benjamin's children.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Benjamin Bunny from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904)
- The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (1905)
- The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies (1909)
- The Tale of Ginger and Pickles (1909)
- The Tale of Mr. Tod (1912)
Notes[]
- Beatrix Potter was sensitive to the openings and endings of her books, and insisted Benjamin Bunny finish with the words "rabbit-tobacco", a term she appropriated from the Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, one of her literary heroes.