The Tale of Little Pig Robinson by Beatrix Potter Read Free Book Online Page A

easily. There were forty-three
     steps, rather dark and slimy, between high backs of houses.
    A smell of ropes and pitch and a good deal of noise came up from below. At the bottom
     of the steps was the quay, or landing place, beside the inner harbour.
    The tide was out; there was no water; the vessels rested on the dirty mud. Several
     ships were moored beside the quay; others were anchored inside the breakwater.
    Near the steps, coal was being unloaded from two grimy colliers called the “Margery
     Dawe” of Sunderland, and the “Jenny Jones” of Cardiff. Men ran along planks with wheelbarrowfuls of coal;
     coal scoops were swung ashore by cranes, and emptied with loud thumping and rattling.
    Farther along the quay, another ship called the “Pound of Candles” was taking a mixed
     cargo on board. Bales, casks, packing-cases, barrels — all manner of goods were being stowed into the hold;
     sailors and stevedores shouted; chains rattled and clanked. Susan waited for an opportunity to slip past the
     noisy crowd. She watched a cask of cider that bobbed and swung in the air, on its passage from the quay to
     the deck of the “Pound of Candles”.



A yellow cat who sat in the rigging was also watching the cask.
    The rope ran through the pulley; the cask went down bobbitty on to the deck, where a
     sailor man was waiting for it. Said the sailor down below:
    “Look out! Mind your head, young sir! Stand out of the way!”
    “Wee, wee, wee!” grunted a small pink pig, scampering round the deck of the “Pound of
     Candles”.
    The yellow cat in the rigging watched the small pink pig. The yellow cat in the
     rigging looked across at Susan on the quay. The yellow cat winked.
    Susan was surprised to see a pig on board a ship. But she was in a hurry. She threaded
     her way along the quay, amongst coal and cranes, and men wheeling
     hand-trucks, and noises, and smells. She passed the fish auction, and fish boxes, and fish sorters, and
     barrels that women were filling with herrings and salt.
    Seagulls swooped and screamed. Hundreds of fish boxes and tons of fresh fish were
     being loaded into the hold of a small steamer. Susan was glad to get away from the crowd, down a much
     shorter flight of steps on to the shore of the outer harbour. The ducks arrived soon afterwards, waddling
     and quacking. And old Sam’s boat, the “Betsy Timmins”, last of the herring fleet and heavy laden, came in
     round the breakwater; and drove her blunt nose into the shingle.



Sam was in high spirits; he had had a big catch. He and his mate and two lads commenced to unload their fish into carts, as the
     tide was too low to float the fishing boat up to the quay. The boat was full of herrings.
    But, good luck or bad luck, Sam never failed to throw a handful of herrings to
     Susan.
    “Here’s for the two old girls and a hot supper! Catch them, Susan! Honest now! Here’s
     a broken fish for you! Now take the others to Betsy.”
    The ducks were dabbling and gobbling; the seagulls were screaming and swooping. Susan
     climbed the steps with her basket of herrings and went home by back streets.
    Old Betsy cooked two herrings for herself and Susan, another two for Sam’s supper when
     he came in. Then she went to bed with a hot bottle wrapped in a
     flannel petticoat to help her rheumatics.
    Sam ate his supper and smoked a pipe by the fire; and then he went to bed. But Susan
     sat a long time by the fire, considering. She considered many things — fish, and ducks, and Percy with a
     lame foot, and dogs that eat mutton chops, and the yellow cat on the ship, and the pig. Susan thought it
     strange to see a pig upon a ship called the “Pound of Candles”. The mice peeped out under the cupboard door.
     The cinders fell together on the hearth. Susan purred gently in her sleep and dreamed of fish and pigs. She
     could not understand that pig on board a ship. But I know all about him!

Chapter Two

    Y ou remember the song about the Owl and the