The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Tale Of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, by Beatrix Potter. (2024)

Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, by Beatrix PotterThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.orgTitle: The Tale of Mr. Jeremy FisherAuthor: Beatrix PotterRelease Date: February 16, 2005 [EBook #15077]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ASCII*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF MR. JEREMY FISHER ***Produced by David Newman, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the PG OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

F. WARNE & CO.

THE TALE

OF

MR. JEREMY FISHER

THE TALE OF

MR. JEREMY FISHER

BY
BEATRIX POTTER

Author of"The Tale of Peter Rabbit," &c.

FREDERICK WARNE & CO., INC.NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1906

BY

FREDERICK WARNE & CO

FOR

STEPHANIE

FROM

COUSIN B.

Once upon a time therewas a frog called Mr.Jeremy Fisher; he lived in alittle damp house amongst thebuttercups at the edge of apond.

The water was all slippy-sloppyin the larder andin the back passage.

But Mr. Jeremy liked gettinghis feet wet; nobody everscolded him, and he nevercaught a cold!

He was quite pleased whenhe looked out and sawlarge drops of rain, splashingin the pond—

"I will get some wormsand go fishing and catcha dish of minnows for mydinner," said Mr. JeremyFisher. "If I catch more thanfive fish, I will invite myfriends Mr. Alderman PtolemyTortoise and Sir Isaac Newton.The Alderman, however, eatssalad."

Mr. Jeremy put on amacintosh, and a pairof shiny goloshes; he took hisrod and basket, and set offwith enormous hops to theplace where he kept his boat.

The boat was round andgreen, and very like theother lily-leaves. It wastied to a water-plant inthe middle of the pond.

Mr. Jeremy took a reedpole, and pushed theboat out into open water. "Iknow a good place for minnows,"said Mr. JeremyFisher.

Mr. Jeremy stuck hispole into the mud andfastened the boat to it.

Then he settled himselfcross-legged and arranged hisfishing tackle. He had thedearest little red float. Hisrod was a tough stalk ofgrass, his line was a fine longwhite horse-hair, and he tieda little wriggling worm at theend.

The rain trickled down hisback, and for nearly anhour he stared at the float.

"This is getting tiresome,I think I should like somelunch," said Mr. JeremyFisher.

He punted back againamongst the water-plants,and took some lunchout of his basket.

"I will eat a butterfly sandwich,and wait till theshower is over," said Mr.Jeremy Fisher.

A great big water-beetlecame up underneath thelily leaf and tweaked the toeof one of his goloshes.

Mr. Jeremy crossed his legsup shorter, out of reach, andwent on eating his sandwich.

Once or twice somethingmoved about with arustle and a splash amongstthe rushes at the side of thepond.

"I trust that is not a rat,"said Mr. Jeremy Fisher; "Ithink I had better get awayfrom here."

Mr. Jeremy shoved theboat out again a littleway, and dropped in the bait.There was a bite almostdirectly; the float gave atremendous bobbit!

"A minnow! a minnow! Ihave him by the nose!" criedMr. Jeremy Fisher, jerkingup his rod.

But what a horrible surprise!Instead of asmooth fat minnow, Mr.Jeremy landed little JackSharp the stickleback, coveredwith spines!

The stickleback flounderedabout the boat, prickingand snapping until he wasquite out of breath. Then hejumped back into the water.

And a shoal of other littlefishes put their headsout, and laughed at Mr.Jeremy Fisher.

And while Mr. Jeremy satdisconsolately on theedge of his boat—sucking hissore fingers and peering downinto the water—a much worsething happened; a reallyfrightful thing it would havebeen, if Mr. Jeremy had notbeen wearing a macintosh!

A great big enormoustrout came up—ker-pflop-p-p-p!with a splash—andit seized Mr. Jeremy witha snap, "Ow! Ow! Ow!"—andthen it turned and diveddown to the bottom of thepond!

But the trout was so displeasedwith the taste ofthe macintosh, that in lessthan half a minute it spat himout again; and the only thingit swallowed was Mr. Jeremy'sgoloshes.

Mr. Jeremy bounced upto the surface of thewater, like a cork and thebubbles out of a soda waterbottle; and he swam withall his might to the edge ofthe pond.

He scrambled out on thefirst bank he came to,and he hopped home acrossthe meadow with his macintoshall in tatters.

"What a mercy that wasnot a pike!" saidMr. Jeremy Fisher. "I havelost my rod and basket; butit does not much matter, for Iam sure I should never havedared to go fishing again!"

He put some stickingplaster on his fingers,and his friends both came todinner. He could not offerthem fish, but he had somethingelse in his larder.

Sir Isaac Newtonwore his black and goldwaistcoat,

And Mr. Alderman PtolemyTortoise brought a saladwith him in a string bag.

And instead of a nice dishof minnows—they had aroasted grasshopper withlady-bird sauce; which frogsconsider a beautiful treat; butI think it must have beennasty!

THE END

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