Written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in December 1918.
Timmy Willie is a country mouse who falls asleep in a hamper of vegetables after eating peas and is carried to the city. When the hamper is opened, find himself in a large house. He is seen and escapes and slips through a hole in the skirting board, landing in the middle of a mouse dinner party hosted by Johnny Town-mouse.
Timmy is made welcome – and tries his best to fit in, but finds the noises made by the house cat and the maid frightening and the rich food difficult to digest making him feel ill. He returns via the hamper to his country home after extending an invitation to Johnny Town-mouse to visit him.
The following spring, Johnny Town-mouse pays Timmy Willie a visit. He complains of the dampness and finds such things as cows and lawnmowers frightening. He returns to the city in the hamper of vegetables after telling Timmy country life is too quiet. The tale ends with the author stating her own preference for country living.
The tale is based on the Aesop fable, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse", with details taken from Horace's Satires.
=============
TAGS: Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, Wales, England, bedtime stories, Peter Rabbit, Johnny Town-mouse, Timmy Willie, country mouse, hamper, peas, asleep, large house, escape, dinner party, cat, maid, frighten, rich food, digest, ill, cart, horse, burrow, lawnmower, return, way of life, preference, dampness, invitation, vegetables, too quiet, cows, animals, farm,
