Terrible tails told at timely times

It is October, time for goblins and ghoulies, but I think this is the time of year when Peter Rabbit must have crawled into Mr. MacGregor's cabbage patch, because everything in the garden was up and ready to be eaten or picked.  And that is really a scarier tale than you might think.  It is a story of subterfuge and intrigue that seldom gets told around nursery fires anymore.

Peter rabbit scrambled under the fence and hid among the strawberries until he thought it was clear.  Then he saw the back door!  Poor little Peter was so curious that he hopped into the kitchen and there on the table was a long yellow thing.

Having never seen a banana before, he snatched it from the bowl and while he was running back out the door, accidentally ripped the peel off.  So it was that Peter Rabbit discovered bananas and became so engrossed with them that he never heard Mr. MacGregor coming at all!  That first time Mr. MacGregor only took him home to his mama and told her what a bad little bunny he was.

The next time, poor Peter was chasing butterflies with his great big paws, batting them around like tennis balls when Mr. MacGregor caught him and once more dragged him home where he told Flopsy, Mopsy and his brother, Cotton Tail, how easy it was to dupe the grown-ups.

So Cotton Tail, thinking he had both his mama and Mr. MacGregor figured out as push overs, sneaked around the garden eating his fill of spinach and red peppers and onions until he was such a fat little bunny his cotton tail wouldn't fit under the fence and Mr. MacGregor was very unhappy.  He began to chase him, yelling and screaming until it scared him so badly he hid under a flower pot.  When he got caught he tried to pass himself off as Peter.

But the truth is really quite different.  Cotton Tail couldn't even begin to squeeze under that fence and Mr. MacGregor had to carry him home to his mama who was quite put out with him.  She talked to the old woman in the shoe, then spanked her little Cotton Tail soundly and put him to bed!

And so it was that Flopsy, Mopsy and Peter had blackberries and cream -- not Cotton Tail who was told to stay out of the garden and never to try to pass himself off as Peter again!