Potter borrowed freely from Aesop, Horace, and many other tellers of the “The Country Mouse and the City Mouse,” including Mary Belson Elliott’s The Mice and Their Pic Nic.
“The dinner was of eight courses; not much of anything, but truly elegant.” Timmy Willie eats but is unfamiliar with the new foods. Potter refrains from describing the foods or even illustrating them. The next morning, the City Mice eat bacon, another unaccustomed food for a country mouse who prefers salad and roots for breakfast.
Featured image: Beatrix Potter. The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse. London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1918.
See Beatrix Potter. The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse. London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1918.