A very tidy wood-mouse, a house full of visitors, and a toad who never wipes his feet! A story by Beatrix Potter, from her 1910 picture book.
🐭 The story in brief
Mrs. Tittlemouse is a very tidy little wood-mouse. She lives in a bank under a hedge, and she is always sweeping her sandy floors.
But visitors keep coming in: beetles, a ladybird, a spider, some bumble bees, and Mr. Jackson the toad, who never wipes his feet! In the end she makes her house clean again and has a happy party.
📖 The story, part by part
Tap “Read it to me” to listen, or read each part with a grown-up. The green boxes show Beatrix Potter's own words.
Part 1
A house under a hedge
Beatrix Potter wrote: “Once upon a time there was a wood-mouse, and her name was Mrs. Tittlemouse.”
Beatrix Potter wrote: “She lived in a bank under a hedge.”
Her house had long sandy passages, and lots of little rooms: a kitchen, a parlour, a pantry and a larder. There were storerooms, nut-cellars and seed-cellars too. And she had a little box bed!
Part 2
A very tidy mouse
Beatrix Potter wrote: “Mrs. Tittlemouse was a most terribly tidy particular little mouse, always sweeping and dusting the soft sandy floors.”
Sometimes a beetle lost its way in the passages.
Beatrix Potter wrote: “Shuh! shuh! little dirty feet!” said Mrs. Tittlemouse, clattering her dust-pan.
Part 3
More visitors
One day a ladybird ran up and down in her house. Mrs. Tittlemouse sent her off with a rhyme:
Beatrix Potter wrote: “Your house is on fire, Mother Ladybird! Fly away home to your children!”
Another day, a big fat spider came in out of the rain. He asked, “Beg pardon, is this not Miss Muffet's?” Mrs. Tittlemouse did not want cobwebs in her clean house! So she put him out of a window.
Beatrix Potter wrote: “He let himself down the hedge with a long thin bit of string.”
Part 4
Babbitty Bumble
Mrs. Tittlemouse went to fetch cherry-stones and thistle-down seed for dinner. She could smell honey! Then, round a corner, she met a bumble bee.
Beatrix Potter wrote: “Zizz, Bizz, Bizzz!” said the bumble bee.
It was Babbitty Bumble. She went into an old storeroom, which should have been empty.
Beatrix Potter wrote: “But it was full of untidy dry moss.”
More bees were living in the moss! They buzzed and buzzed. Who could help? Not Mr. Jackson!
Beatrix Potter wrote: “I will not have Mr. Jackson; he never wipes his feet.”
Part 5
Mr. Jackson comes to call
Mrs. Tittlemouse went back to her parlour. And there sat Mr. Jackson himself! He was a big, fat toad.
Beatrix Potter wrote: “He was sitting all over a small rocking-chair, twiddling his thumbs and smiling, with his feet on the fender.”
Beatrix Potter wrote: “He lived in a drain below the hedge, in a very dirty wet ditch.”
Water dripped off his coat tails. So Mrs. Tittlemouse went round with a mop.
Part 6
No teeth!
Mr. Jackson sat for such a long time that Mrs. Tittlemouse asked if he would like some dinner. First she gave him cherry-stones.
Beatrix Potter wrote: “Thank you, thank you, Mrs. Tittlemouse! No teeth, no teeth, no teeth!” said Mr. Jackson.
Then she gave him thistle-down seed. He blew it all over the room!
Beatrix Potter wrote: “Tiddly, widdly, widdly! Pouff, pouff, puff!”
Part 7
Looking for honey
What Mr. Jackson really wanted was a little dish of honey. Mrs. Tittlemouse said she did not have any. But Mr. Jackson was sure there was some.
Beatrix Potter wrote: said the smiling Mr. Jackson, “I can smell it; that is why I came to call.”
He looked in all the cupboards, and he squeezed into the pantry and the larder.
Beatrix Potter wrote: “Mrs. Tittlemouse followed him with a dish-cloth, to wipe his large wet footmarks off the parlour floor.”
Part 8
The bees' nest
Mr. Jackson went along the sandy passage and found Babbitty Bumble. He picked her up in his mouth, but he put her straight down again!
Beatrix Potter wrote: “I do not like bumble bees. They are all over bristles,” said Mr. Jackson, wiping his mouth with his coat-sleeve.
Mrs. Tittlemouse did not like all this fuss one bit.
Beatrix Potter wrote: “She shut herself up in the nut-cellar while Mr. Jackson pulled out the bees-nest.”
Part 9
What a mess!
When Mrs. Tittlemouse came out, everybody had gone away. But there was honey, moss and thistle-down everywhere, and dirty footmarks all over her nice clean house!
She fetched some twigs and put them across her front door, to make it smaller.
Beatrix Potter wrote: “I will make it too small for Mr. Jackson!”
Then she was so tired that she fell asleep in her chair.
Part 10
A party
Next morning she began a big spring cleaning. It lasted two whole weeks!
Beatrix Potter wrote: “She swept, and scrubbed, and dusted; and she rubbed up the furniture with beeswax, and polished her little tin spoons.”
When it was all neat and clean, she gave a party for five other little mice.
Beatrix Potter wrote: “He smelt the party and came up the bank, but he could not squeeze in at the door.”
Beatrix Potter wrote: “So they handed him out acorn-cupfuls of honey-dew through the window, and he was not at all offended.”
Beatrix Potter wrote: He sat outside in the sun, and said—“Tiddly, widdly, widdly! Your very good health, Mrs. Tittlemouse!”
💛 Big idea
Be a kind guest, and a kind host. Mr. Jackson made a big mess, and Mrs. Tittlemouse worked hard to make her house clean again. But at the end of the story she still shared honey-dew with him through the window, and he was happy. What can you do to be a good guest when you visit a friend?
🐭 Meet the characters
Mrs. Tittlemouse
A very tidy little wood-mouse. She lives in a bank under a hedge and is always sweeping and dusting her soft sandy floors.
Mr. Jackson
A big, fat, wet toad who lives in a drain in a dirty ditch. He is always smiling, but he never wipes his feet!
Babbitty Bumble
A bumble bee who says “Zizz, Bizz, Bizzz!” She and her friends make a nest of moss in one of the storerooms.
The spider
A big fat spider who comes in out of the rain. He asks if this is Miss Muffet's house!
Mother Ladybird
A little ladybird in a red spotty cloak. Mrs. Tittlemouse sends her home with a rhyme.
🍯 What happened?
Lots of visitors came to Mrs. Tittlemouse's house! Look at each picture, read the clue, and tap the right answer.
For grown-ups: every clue comes from Beatrix Potter's story. Tap 🔈 to hear each one.
1. A beetle lost its way in the passages. What did Mrs. Tittlemouse say?
2. Where did Mrs. Tittlemouse put the big fat spider?
3. A bumble bee came round a corner. What was her name?
4. Mr. Jackson was in the parlour. What was he sitting on?
5. Mrs. Tittlemouse gave Mr. Jackson cherry-stones. What did he say?
6. Why did Mrs. Tittlemouse put twigs across her front door?
Score: 0 of 6
🔤 New words
Tap 🔈 to hear a word and what it means.
parlour
A sitting room, where you welcome visitors. Today Americans spell it parlor.
larder
A cool little room or cupboard where food is kept.
pantry
A small room for keeping food, plates and dishes.
fender
A low metal frame in front of a fireplace. It stops hot coals from rolling out.
thistle-down
The soft, fluffy fluff on thistle seeds. It blows away in the wind.
fortnight
Two weeks. Mrs. Tittlemouse's spring cleaning took a fortnight!
🐝 The Mrs. Tittlemouse quiz
How much do you remember? Tap the right answer for each question.
For grown-ups: each question has a 🔈 button so pre-readers can hear it. Works with a keyboard too (Tab to move, Enter to choose).
1. What kind of animal is Mrs. Tittlemouse?
2. Where did Mrs. Tittlemouse live?
3. What did Mr. Jackson really want to eat?
4. Where did Mr. Jackson live?
5. Where did Mrs. Tittlemouse hide while Mr. Jackson pulled out the bees-nest?
6. How many other little mice came to the party?
Score: 0 of 6
💬 Let's talk about it
There are no wrong answers. Talk with a grown-up or a friend.
How do you think Mrs. Tittlemouse felt when she saw the big mess?
Mr. Jackson never wipes his feet. What should a good visitor do?
Was it kind of Mrs. Tittlemouse to give Mr. Jackson honey-dew through the window? Why?
Yes! Mrs. Tittlemouse first popped up in another Beatrix Potter book, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, in 1909.
Who is the book for?
It says “Nellie's little book.” Beatrix Potter first made the story as a little leather-covered book for Nellie Warne, the young daughter of her publisher Harold Warne, as a New Year's gift.
Can you find the nursery rhymes?
Yes! “Fly away home” comes from the rhyme Ladybird, Ladybird. And the spider asks for Miss Muffet, from the rhyme Little Miss Muffet.
Who drew the pictures?
Beatrix Potter wrote the words and painted the pictures herself. The pictures on this page are new ones, drawn for Jugami.