Saturday, December 26, 2009

Welcome to Beatrix in Wonderland!

Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter...

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down ... she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and bookshelves... She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labeled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it was empty... managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.

If you were a rabbit, what would you fill your burrow with? With cupboards and maps, like the March Hare did? Or perhaps with tea and rabbit-tobacco (lavender, to us humans), as Peter's mother did? Or, if you were lucky, your March Hare would be married to Mrs. Rabbit, and you could have bunches of lavender and cupboards and bookshelves and tea and blue coats with little brass buttons all over your burrow.

If I were a rabbit, my burrow would be a mix of these two. It would be large enough not to be cramped, but small enough to be cozy,  and would have old crates on the wall to be used as bookshelves. A letterpress drawer or two would be scattered amongst these by way of a cupboard, inhabited by a tiny dormouse who would help me set the table with an old tea-set. An abandoned pocket-watch would chime on the hour, perhaps, hung on the wall between some old dried lavender bunches and some ancient specimen drawings, birds and ferns and such. I would sit on the hearth, with my sewing and scraps of feedsack florals to make into a dress, or perhaps some rabbit-sized editions of Jane Austen or Beatrix Potter. In my bedroom I might relax with a cup of chamomile tea on a rabbit-sized bed made out of a hollowed dictionary filled with cotton and feathers. And when that charming hedgehog washwoman Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle came for my laundry, I would have a wicker hamper full of peter-pan collars, florals, day-dresses, warm sweaters, cream-colored blouses, tweed coats and trousers, and a lovely little shawl edged with lace...

What would your rabbit-burrow be like?

(image courtesy of http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/exhibitions/beatrixpotter/victoriannaturalist.asp )



1 comment:

  1. My rabbit burrow would definately have bookshelves! And lots of them, all floor to ceiling with a sliding ladder. I wouldn't have tea because i don't like it but cozy cups of hot chocolate with scrummy cream and marshmallows would suite me well.
    I'd have a really soft carpet, but not any kind of animal skin, it would be so soft there would be practically no need for chairs. I would just curl up on the floor under a colourful crotchet blanket.
    I would have a huge chest full of sewing things and another for art suplies. And a nice wooden desk, to create marvolous artwork upon, with a lamp so i could see what i was doing on dark wintr days.
    My rabbit burrow would also be filled with the smell of freshly baked bread, which would be baked using my many ingredients kept in various jars with hand written lables.

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