The Tale of Tom Kitten

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

14837

Title

The Tale of Tom Kitten

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

In this charming classic, three kittens named Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet are prepared for a tea party by their mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit. While the girls dress neatly, the naughty Tom is forced into uncomfortable, ill-fitting clothes that eventually burst. After a chaotic climb up the garden wall, the kittens encounter the Puddle-Ducks, leading to a comical mishap where the kittens lose their attire entirely. A delightful tale of childhood mischief and maternal frustration.

Summary up to 500 words

Once upon a time, three little kittens named Mittens, Tom Kitten, and Moppet lived with their mother, Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit. One day, Mrs. Twitchit expected friends for tea and decided to wash and dress the kittens before they could play outside. She scrubbed their faces, brushed their fur, and combed their tails. However, Tom Kitten was very naughty and scratched during the grooming process. Mrs. Twitchit dressed Moppet and Mittens in clean pinafores and tuckers, but for her son Thomas (Tom Kitten), she took out elegant but uncomfortable clothes from a chest of drawers. Tom was very fat and had grown, causing several buttons to burst off immediately. His mother sewed them back on, but the situation was precarious. Once the kittens were ready, Mrs. Twitchit sent them into the garden to keep out of the way while she made toast. She warned them to keep their frocks clean, walk on their hind legs, and avoid the ash-pit, Sally Henny Penny, the pig-stye, and the Puddle-Ducks. Moppet and Mittens walked unsteadily, tripped on their pinafores, and fell, getting green smears on their faces. They climbed the rockery to sit on the garden wall. Tom Kitten, unable to jump well in his trousers, climbed the rockery by degrees, breaking ferns and shedding buttons. He reached the top of the wall in pieces. Moppet and Mittens tried to pull him together, but his hat fell off and the rest of his buttons burst. While they struggled, the three Puddle-Ducks arrived, marching along the road. The Puddle-Ducks, Rebeccah and Jemima, picked up Tom's hat and tucker and put them on themselves, which fitted them poorly. Mittens laughed so hard she fell off the wall, followed by Moppet and Tom. As they descended, all of Tom's clothes came off. Moppet asked Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck to help dress him, but the ducks put the clothes on themselves, fitting them even worse than before. Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit came down and found her naked kittens on the wall. She pulled them down, smacked them, and took them back inside. She told her arriving friends that the kittens were in bed with the measles, which was not true. Instead, there were extraordinary noises overhead disturbing the tea party. The Puddle-Ducks went into a pond, and their clothes came off directly because there were no buttons. The ducks have been looking for the lost clothes ever since. The story concludes with a hint that the author will make a larger book to tell more about Tom Kitten.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14837.epub.noimages

Local file path

data/epubs/pg14837.epub

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2026-08-13 23:55 UTC

Categories

• Fiction
• Animals