The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle

There was once a little girl called Lucie, who lived on a farm called Little-town.She was a good little girl, but she was always losing her pocket handkerchiefs!One day Lucie was crying because she had lost three handkerchiefs and her apron.

She asked the cat, the hen, and the robin if they had seen them, but none of them could help.Then Lucie saw some little white things lying on the grass, high up on the hill.She climbed up a steep path until her house looked very small below her.

At the top she found tiny footprints and a little door in the side of the hill.Lucie knocked and went in. Inside was a warm kitchen with a stone floor.A short, round person stood there, ironing clothes. It was Mrs. Tiggy-winkle.

She wore a print dress and an apron, and under her cap Lucie could see sharp little prickles.“I am a washerwoman,” said Mrs. Tiggy-winkle. “I wash and iron for all the little animals.”On the table Lucie saw Cock Robin’s red waistcoat, Peter Rabbit’s blue jacket, and her own three handkerchiefs, clean and white.

Mrs. Tiggy-winkle made a pot of tea, and she and Lucie drank it by the fire.Then they folded all the clean clothes into neat bundles.Lucie’s handkerchiefs were wrapped inside her clean apron and fastened with a safety pin.

They walked down the hill together, and at every gate they left a bundle for an animal.Mrs. Tiggy-winkle would take no money at all; then she turned and ran up the hill, and as she ran she seemed to grow smaller and browner, until Lucie saw that she was really just a little hedgehog.