Burgess Bedtime Stories 1928

The Stories

January 2 to January 7. Shadow the Weasel goes hunting around the stone wall and then heads to the barn to slaughter rats.

January 9 to January 14. Speckles the Starling is brought to trial by his fellow birds and is acquitted.

January 16 to January 21. Shadow the Weasel and Billy Mink quarrel over Jumper the Hare, who manages to escape by combining his trail with Lightfoot the Deer's.

January 23 to January 30. Spite the Marten chases Billy Mink and then Chatterer the Red Squirrel. Terror the Goshawk, who has escaped from Farmer Brown's boy's cage, interferes. 

January 31 to February 9. Reddy Fox fails to catch Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat but ends up with Billy Joe Otter's half-eaten fish.

February 10 to February 13. Peter Rabbit breaks through the ice at the Smiling Pool and is "saved" by Old Man Coyote.

February 14 to February 23. Nanny Meadow Mouse is convinced that Roughleg the Hawk has caught Danny.

February 24 to March 13. Whitefoot and Mrs. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse make a nest in Farmer Brown's beehive but must move when the weather gets warmer (and the bees awaken). 

March 14 to March 17. Birds return to the Old Orchard, including Sharpshin the Hawk.

March 19 to April 26. Scrapper the Kingbird and Boomer the Nighthawk tell stories about the animals of Panama, including Nosey the Coati, Kinky the Kinkajou, Banana Bill the Toucan, Silly the Sloth, Beauty the Ocelot, Shelly the Armadillo, and Black Howler.

April 27 to May 11. Mr. Blacksnake bothers Old Mr. Toad, Striped Chipmunk, and the birds of the Old Orchard before Farmer Brown's boy intervenes.

May 12 to May 21. Sally Sly the Cowbird lays eggs in other birds' nests. Farmer Brown's boy removes one from a red-eyed vireo nest.

May 22 to June 12. A hungry Cubby Bear watches Longbill the Woodcock. Then Farmer Brown's boy finds Mrs. Woodcock and lifts her off the nest to see her eggs. When Shadow the Weasel shows up, the boy scares the birds off. Then Cubby has his chance to be tormented by Shadow.

June 13 to June 25. We learn about a variety of toad and tree frog species.

June 26 to July 25. The rabbits have an albino child, "Whitey." Farmer Brown's boy adopts it as a pet, feeling it wouldn't survive in the wild.

July 26 to August 8. King Eagle makes the rounds, getting shot at, stealing a fish from an osprey, and saves (intentionally) Lightfoot the Deer's twins from Yowler the Bobcat.

August 9 to August 18. Chatterer jumps into the water to avoid Shadow the Weasel, gets pushed on a raft to avoid Red Tail the Hawk, and is flung out of a tree by Cubby Bear.

August 20 to August 30. There are bobcat kittens in the Green Forest, chasing Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Peter Rabbit and learning caution from Prickly Porky.

August 31 to September 20. The sugar house is an active place, the home of  Whitefoot and Mrs. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse, and Trader the Wood Rat, and visited by Yowler the Bobcat, Cubby Bear, Buster Bear and Bobby Coon.

September 21 to September 26. Cubby bear meets Bobby Coon and is tricked by Unc' Billy Possum.

September 27. Ol Mistah Buzzard leaves for the Sunny South

September 29 to October 13. Jerry and Mrs. Jerry Muskrat begin preparing for winter and visit Farmer Brown's garden with Johnny Chuck to gather carrots. Jimmy Skunk intervenes to stop Reddy and Mrs. Reddy Fox from catching them. 

October 15 to October 25. Jimmy Skunk gets into trouble at a nearby farm and has a close call with a Great Horned Owl that leaves him lame. 

October 26 to October 27. Jerry and Mrs. Jerry Muskrat finish their preparations and get a sinister visit from Billy Mink.

October 29 to November 2. When the beechnut crop is poor, Happy Jack Squirrel moves to be close to Farmer Brown's boy's winter food supply.

November 3 to November 24. Boys with guns hunt Rusty the Fox Squirrel but one ends up getting accidentally shot by the other.  Then a different hunter tries to get Rusty by smoking him out.

November 26 to December 24. After Buster Bear takes a farmer's pig he is hunted and nearly trapped. 

December 25. Flitter the Bat proves a Christmas Day surprise.

December 26 to December 31. (continued) Reddy Fox schemes to catch Peter Rabbit. 

Notes

In 1927 Thornton Burgess had spent six weeks in Panama as a guest of the ornithologist Alfred Gross. It was his first-hand experience with coatimundi, toucans and the like that inspired the long series of Central American animal stories that he ran during April and May in 1928. 

Burgess returned to the theatrical with the "trial" of Speckles the Starling, complete with a prosecution (Sammy Jay), and defense (Tommy Tit) presided over by "Judge Crow." Like his fellow foreigner, Bully the English Sparrow, Speckles is accused of being a thief and a pest, but Tommy Tit finally convinces everyone that the starling's good points (insect eating) balanced out his bad points. The relative usefulness of the starling is hardly universally accepted in the United States now, but was still an open question in the 1920s.

Farmer Brown's boy remained an important character in 1928, though not as dominant a figure in the life of the Green Meadows and Forest as in previous years. He again chased off Mr. Blacksnake and foiled the efforts of Sally Sly the Cowbird and adopted an animal in need (Peter Rabbit's albino son). In 1928 he also built a house just for Happy Jack Squirrel.  He was also remarkably intrusive in his behavior toward the female woodcock, applying a test of "Mother Love" that he would use again and again in the future, daring mothers to risk an encounter with him (he required something similar of Mrs. Whitefoot in 1928).

The anti-hunting theme in 1928 was expressed primarily in a story about squirrel hunters vs. Rusty the Fox Squirrel (as in 1920). As occasionally happens in real life, there was a (non-fatal) accident as one boy hunter shot another. [The year's number of hunting accidents was a running theme during hunting season on the Radio Nature League.] The "unfairness" of hunters was expressed in the efforts of one to smoke Rusty out into the open. The other major hunting-related stories involved farmers perfectly justified in defending their livestock from Jimmy Skunk and Buster Bear.

It is, finally, worth noting another reference to the bald eagle. As King Eagle soars high above, Burgess has Farmer Brown's boy salute. Then a hunter fires a shot at the eagle. In 1928 bald eagles were not yet protected by federal law; this would be a project that Burgess would work on over the next decade.

Burgess Bedtime Stories 1927

The Stories

January 1 to January 5. A trapper is after Paddy the Beaver. Farmer Brown's boy puts an end to it.

January 5 to January 15. Peter Rabbit falls asleep in a hollow log and finds himself trapped by Reddy Fox until Shadow the Weasel comes along. Mr. Grouse and Bowser the Hound help him get away.

January 17 to January 28. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse must find a new home because of Shadow the Weasel. He finds a nice place in an old stump that just happens to be a storehouse of Chatterer the Red Squirrel.

January 29 to February 5. Chatterer the Red Squirrel searches for the thief who stole the nuts from his storehouses. Could it be Timmy the Flying Squirrel?

February 7 to February 11. Peter Rabbit's unsuccessful search for signs of spring ends with his getting trapped in the skunk den.

February 12 to February 21. The skunks are regular visitors to the Brown house and even learn to scratch and bang at the door to get in.

February 22 to February 24. When the grouses begin eating the buds off the apple trees, Farmer Brown's boy must think of an alternative food supply.

February 25 to March 1. Farmer Brown's boy won't shoot Whitey the Owl because he catches rats, but when Whitey's mistaken attempt to catch a skunk ends up fouling the air around the Brown house, his parents aren't so sure about his love of skunks and owls.

March 2 to March 17. Peter Rabbit is looking for signs of spring again and discovers Great Horned owlets. Reddy Fox and Hooty the Owl compete for prey.

March 18 to March 26. When Bully the English Sparrow harasses the bluebirds, Farmer Brown's boy traps him and leaves him in a cage for the other birds to harass. 

March 28 to March 30. Peter Rabbit witnesses a procession of garter snakes.

March 31 to April 2. The toads and frogs assemble at the Smiling Pool to sing but stop when danger in the form of a water snake shows up.

April 3 to April 16. Peter Rabbit meets and learns about Eft the Newt, Sally the Salamander, and Skink the Lizard. [Note: the five-lined skink had been extirpated in Massachusetts by 1927, but still could be found in Connecticut]

April 18 to April 23. Longlegs the Heron reports being shot at because fishermen think he's a threat. Peter Rabbit tries to convince him that Farmer Brown's boy is different.

April 25 to April 30. Farmer Brown's boy digs a hole near the brook in order to see kingfisher chicks. They are not very attractive.

May 2 to May 26. A circus comes to the Green Meadows and Peter Rabbit along with Danny and Nanny Meadow Mouse get to meet, or at least encounter (guided by "Circus Mouse"), many exotic animals, including: My Lord the Elephant, Striped-Coat the Tiger, Spotcoat the Leopard, Bigmouth the Hippopotamus, Longneck the Giraffe, Horned-nose the Rhino, Humps the Camel, and Jocko the Ape (chimpanzee). Meanwhile, Old Man Coyote is surprised to hear his howls returned.

May 27 to June 14. The circus may have left but a couple of animals have been left behind, including Spotcoat the Leopard (eventually recaptured with the help of Farmer Brown's boy).

June 15 to July 2. Old Man Coyote and the other escapee, Miss Coyote, make a home together.

July 4. Farmer Brown's boy worries the animals when he lights firecrackers on the Fourth of July.

July 5 to July 13. Farmer Brown's boy adopts a young woodchuck, "Little Miss Curiosity," as a pet. She loves Mother Brown's cookies. Meanwhile, Johnny and Polly Chuck blame the coyotes for her absence.

July 13 to July 21. The coyotes pursue young woodchucks until their hunt is disrupted by Farmer Brown's boy and Bowser the Hound. While Bowser is occupied Old Man Coyote slips into the barnyard and takes a chicken.

July 22 to July 30. Little Miss Curiosity makes friends with Bowser the Hound and learns to scratch at the door for cookies.

August 1 to August 6. Albino bluebirds turn themselves blue by bathing in Mother Brown's bluing water.

August 8 to August 10. Peter Rabbit learns that skunks will eat Woolly Bear caterpillars by rolling their hair off. And are quick enough to catch mice.

August 11 to August 15. Bear cubs meet coyotes in the Old Pasture berry patch.

August 16 to October 3. Farmer Brown's boy rescues a bear cub that has caught its leg between the roots of a tree. "Cubby" follows the boy home and he lives with the Browns for a while until Farmer and Mother Brown can tolerate his destructive behavior no longer. Returning him to the Green Forest proves difficult. (According to Wayne Wright, these stories were later reprinted as a series of "Cubby Bear" books).

October 4 to November 19. Peter Rabbit leaves Mrs. Peter, pledging never to return. Both regret the break-up and Peter becomes extremely jealous when he hears of another male rabbit in the vicinity of the Old Briar Patch. Eventually it is revealed that the male rabbit is actually "Little Pete" (from 1913!), now grown up with a mate ("Mrs. Pete") of his own.

November 21 to December 3. Cubby Bear meets his father, who tries to kill him.

December 5 to December 23. Terror the Goshawk arrives and causes problems for Reddy Fox and the grouse family. Farmer Brown's boy traps him and keeps him in a cage, but Terror refuses to be Farmer Brown's boy's friend.

December 24 to December 31. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse is rescued by Farmer Brown's boy from Black Pussy. He decides to spend the winter in the Old Stone Wall near his (sleeping) neighbor Striped Chipmunk. (Continued in 1928.)

Notes

The centerpiece of 1927 was the extended circus story, which had the dual purpose of letting Burgess talk about zoo animals and providing a mechanism through which Old Man Coyote could find a mate. It is worth noting that Burgess was critical, or at the very least ambivalent, about the display of captive animals. My Lord the Elephant greets Peter Rabbit by asking if he too is a prisoner, and Peter Rabbit comes to pity the loss of freedom suffered by this "lordly" being with a chain around its leg. While the escape of the leopard is played for its adventure value (not unlike the mountain lion story the previous year), the escape of the female coyote is something Burgess and the reader welcome.

Indeed this was a year when Burgess highlighted the tensions between the status of being "wild" and "domesticated." The skunk family moved into the Brown house as if it was just another habitat but ended up begging for cookies and stinking up the yard. The young woodchuck, "Little Miss Curiosity," became a cookie-loving pet (like the young chuck who refuses to return to the wild in 1913), but was, nevertheless, free to come and go.  And Farmer Brown's boy's hubristic attempt to keep a bear cub as a pet proved to be a disaster. Two animals were imprisoned: Bully the English Sparrow and Terror the Goshawk, the first for punitive reasons (this was actually a rare act of cruelty by Farmer Brown's boy) and the second to keep other animals safe. It is telling that Burgess didn't allow the goshawk to become the boy's "friend" (Terror begged for no cookies).

Perhaps the most shocking story of the year was the break-up (trial separation?) of Peter and Mrs. Peter Rabbit and their encounter with their (now adult) son and his mate, Pete and Mrs. Pete.  Long-time readers of Burgess would have recognized Pete as the former "Little Pete," a character introduced in 1913 and never heard about since. While the initial encounter was tense, relations became more cordial when their identities were revealed. (Unlike the case of bears, where Buster is repeatedly seen trying to kill his children). As Burgess stories became more and more naturalistic, nevertheless, rabbits and woodchucks (but not foxes) would become increasingly indifferent to their children when they matured.

The anti-hunting theme was subdued in 1927, limited to a story about a beaver trapper at the beginning of the year and some complaints by Longlegs the Heron that he was being shot at for taking trout. Farmer Brown's boy was the one most likely to be seen pointing a gun at something. In many ways, though, 1927 was the year when Farmer Brown's boy, the former thoughtless tormentor of animals, moved to the opposite position, becoming a thoughtless animal lover, loving them too much for their own good. While the Cubby Bear story was played for humor (like most of Burgess's human-bear encounter stories), it was Farmer Brown's boy's foolishness that instigated the affair. It is also worthwhile to note that Burgess had Farmer Brown's boy thoughtlessly light fireworks and disturb animals on the Fourth of July (as in the earliest stories, Farmer Brown's boy could still be used as the example of how NOT to behave).

Burgess Bedtime Stories 1926

The Stories

January 1 to January 2. Johnny Chuck explains why he "closes" his doors.

January 4 to January 8. Jumper the Hare and Mrs. Grouse are proud of their snowshoes.

January 9 to January 16. Farmer Brown's boy rescues Mrs. Grouse, who is trapped under the ice crust. Yowler the Bobcat is unhappy.

January 19 to January 23. Shadow the Weasel invades the barnyard and pays for the hen he took but killing rats. 

January 25 to February 6. Danny and Nanny Meadow Mouse have adventures as they move from Farmer Brown's barn (because of the weasel) to the henhouse.

February 8 to February 27. Mocker the Mockingbird, who is over-wintering because of an injury, plays tricks on everyone.

March 1 to March 17. Farmer Brown's boy hunts for Puma the Panther in the Green Forest but can't bring himself to kill him. 

March 18 to March 30. A new enduring character, the tree-climbing Gray Fox, arrives in the Green Forest and Reddy Fox doesn't like it.

March 31 to April 12. The Quacks arrive and Mrs. Quack reports that their wintering grounds are worse than ever because of water pollution. Farmer Brown's boy muses at length about the need to reform hunting practices. [link to original story] Later Peeper the Hyla is nearly eaten by a pickerel and Mr. Quack narrowly escapes being caught by Killer the Duckhawk. (The Peeper story is reprinted in At the Smiling Pool).

April 13 to April 23. Ringneck the Pheasant appears in the Green Meadows and causes trouble for the Bob Whites and Mrs. Grouse.

April 24 to May 8. Mrs Grouse has ten children, one of whom, the disobedient "Little Mister Smarty" must learn humility from Sharpshin the Hawk and Farmer Brown's boy.

May 10 to June 5. After Johnny Chuck ruins his fruit trees, Farmer Brown's boy relocates him to the Old Pasture. He journeys home only to be kicked out by Polly Chuck, who is raising babies. Johnny commiserates with Jimmy Skunk, who has been given the same treatment.

June 7 to June 16. Peter Rabbit learns about a variety of insects, including aphids, ant lions, lace-wing flies, and butterflies.

June 17 to June 26. Jerry Muskrat has seven children, and his disobedient son, "Little Mister Know-it-all" must learn humility from a big pickerel and his sister, "Little Miss Brighteyes,"  while another is too curious and is nearly killed by Longlegs the Heron.

June 28 to July 2. When Farmer Brown's boy loses a pigeon to Killer the Duck Hawk, he climbs to the falcon's ledge and discovers chicks. He bands them.

July 3. Farmer Brown's boy has fun with Bluffer the Adder.

July 5 to September 25. Danny Meadow Mouse (without Nanny this time) stows away on another man-bird and he, along with the local Reddy Fox and Jimmy Skunk, learns all about the creatures of the seaside. Reprinted as The Burgess Seashore Book for Children.

September 27 to November 6. Danny Meadow Mouse must make the long journey home without the man-bird. (Killy the Sparrow Hawk inadvertently helps). 

November 8 to 12. Peter Rabbit watches squirrels collect nuts for the winter.

November 13 to December 2. After Mrs. Grouse is rendered flightless by a hunter, she must find a way to avoid becoming someone's dinner. Eventually Farmer Brown's boy finds her. 

December 3 to December 10. Peter Rabbit watches as the Chucks and Buster Bear begin to hibernate.

December 11 to December 13. Sammy Jay learns where Happy Jack Squirrel's nuts are stored and where Buster Bear is sleeping.

December 14 to December 18. Reddy Fox hunts in the snow for meadow mice and almost catches Jerry Muskrat.

December 20 to 25. Sammy Jay is upset when he sees Farmer Brown's boy chopping down spruce trees. It turns out he is thinning them out and selling the small trees for Christmas.

December 27 to 30. Pine and Evening Grosbeaks arrive in the Green Forest.

December 31. Peter Rabbit tries to visit Paddy the Beaver. (continued in 1927).

Notes

In 1926 was an exciting year in the world of Burgess Bedtime Stories, featuring the introduction of new enduring characters (Gray Fox, Puma the Panther), an extended trip to the beach, and a journey to the "edge of the world." Gray Fox, who would in later stories be excoriated by Burgess for his weasel-like massacres, became a chief rival of Reddy Fox (though in the 1926 story line they seemed to reach a kind of detente). Unlike the gray fox, mountain lions were extirpated in Massachusetts long ago, so Burgess may seem to be stretching reality for dramatic purposes in allowing Puma the Panther to live in the Green Forest. In fact, given the mountain lion's tendency to wander long distances, it is not impossible that one might end up in Central Massachusetts, and Burgess never goes the next step of suggesting there might be a breeding population.

The seaside stories allowed Burgess to relate stories about the environment of his youth, Cape Cod. Once again an airplane-borne Danny Meadow Mouse was the reader's guide to the creatures of this habitat. Curiously, however, "Jimmy Skunk" and "Reddy Fox" were also guides. This speaks to a point suggested early on in Burgess stories--that all skunks were "Jimmy" and all foxes were "Reddy" and therefore the characters of Burgess stories could be imagined living in the reader's own neighborhood. But "Danny" was the "real" unique Danny, an important fact to establish given the number of anonymous (not-Danny) meadow mice regularly consumed by Burgess predators. Danny's long journey home on his own may strain credibility but a literal-minded geographical survey reveals that it is a straight shot down the Connecticut River (the "Big River" of Burgess stories) to the sea-shore from the Springfield area.

Farmer Brown's boy was uncharacteristically blood-thirsty in his searches for the mountain lion and the peregrine falcon that has killed his pigeon, though characteristically humane in his refusal to harm them when he had the chance. His relocation of tree-killing Johnny Chuck ultimately failed (though it does provide Burgess with the opportunity to relate the adventures of the woodchuck's journey back home). Overall Farmer Brown's boy was the familiar benefactor, a reliable source of food for hungry animals and a nurse maid (mockingbird, grouse) to those who have been injured. [His rescue of grouse after an ice storm sometimes seems like an annual event] As in the previous year, his environmental management (cutting down spruce trees) initially concerns residents but is shown to be for the greater good.

Farmer Brown's boy was also Burgess's mouthpiece when it came to environmental issues. In 1926, after having Mrs. Quack relate her troubles with "unfair" "two-legged weasels" and their polluting ways, Burgess had Farmer Brown's boy recite a litany of hunting practices in need of reform (once again, all William T. Hornaday concerns), including overly large bag limits, the use of automatic weapons, and the use of bait.

Finally it is worth noting Peter Rabbit's interest in a new set of friends,  from the world of arachnids and insects. This particular interest would grow in years to come.