“What’s your name, kind sir?”
asked a crotchety, old man, wearing huge bifocals and holding a large
encyclopedia on his lap.
“Peter,” replied
the rabbit, not certain to whom he was speaking, but he was always
congenial with strangers.
“Are you by any chance a
descendant of the Peter Rabbit who appeared
in the Beatrix Potter story, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit"...?”
“One and the same,” replied
Peter. “How can I help you today, sir?”
“Then you are from the lineage
of the pet rabbit that Beatrix Potter had as a child, and your family name was
not Rabbit at all. In fact, it was Piper.”
“You got me on that one too,
but we are rabbits.”
“You and your ancestors are not
real rabbits. You are from a line of fictional, anthropomorphic rabbits.”
“That is true, too.”
“The first Peter Rabbit story, “The
Tale of Peter Rabbit”, was originally created in 1893, as a letter to Noel
Moore, the five-year-old son of Potter's former governess, Annie Moore. The boy
was ill, and Potter wrote him a picture-story letter to help him pass the time
and to cheer him up. The letter included sketches illustrating the narrative,”
continued the old man.
“Right, but why is this so
important for you?” asked Peter.
“I have been searching for your
family for a long time and had almost given up hope,” said the old man.
“Over
the years, I have talked to thousands of rabbits and it has taken me forever to
find one of you. Now I can die in peace.”
“Rabbits are pretty prolific, and so, we are scattered all over.”
“I am a stubborn, old, codger,
like my father and our fore-fathers before him. Every one of us has searched
for a rabbit from your family line. We wanted to say thank you and find out if
the Peter Piper line was real.”
"I am real,” replied Peter.
“I’m the Easter bunny, too.”
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