The Tale of Mr. Tod

"The Tale of Mr. Tod" is a book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. It was first published in 1912.

Mr. Tod, a fox, and Tommy Brock, a badger, are both troublesome neighbours and "disagreeable people." Mr. Tod owns a number of homes around the wood. Whenever he moves from one house to another, Tommy Brock moves in to the vacated premises, without permission.

Tommy Brock visits a rabbit friend, who turns out to be Mr. Bouncer Bunny from "The Tale of Benjamin 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.

Mr. Tod himself soon appears and is furious to find that Tommy Brock has made himself at home and is asleep in his bed. After setting a trap that fails to have any effect — Tommy Brock is only pretending to be asleep and thus avoids it — the fox and the badger fight it out. Benjamin and Peter take advantage to escape with Benjamin's children.

An animated adaptation of the story was featured on "The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends" in 1993.

Trivia

* "Brock" and "tod" are northern English dialect words for "badger" and "fox" respectively. They are used in Lowland Scots as well.

* The book is dedicated to Francis William Clark who owned Ulva, a small island off Mull, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. She was a relative of his, and visited the island occasionally. Howard, J. & Jones, A., "The Isle of Ulva: A Visitor's Guide", published by Ulva Estate, (2004)]

References

External links

* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PotMtod.html Free e-text of The Tale of Mr. Tod ]