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The World of Beatrix Potter #9
The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit
"This is a fierce bad rabbit; look at his savage whiskers, and his claws and his turned-up tail..."
'The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit', along with 'The Tale of Miss Moppet' (1906), was intended for very young children. It is a simple tale of what befalls a rude little rabbit that doesn't say "please" before he takes something that belongs to someone else.
'The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit', along with 'The Tale of Miss Moppet' (1906), was intended for very young children. It is a simple tale of what befalls a rude little rabbit that doesn't say "please" before he takes something that belongs to someone else.
34 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1906
14 people are currently reading
819 people want to read
About the author
Beatrix Potter
3,345 books2,139 followersHelen Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, mycologist, and conservationist who is best known for her children's books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit.
Born into a wealthy household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets, and through holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developed a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. Because she was a woman, her parents discouraged intellectual development, but her study and paintings of fungi led her to be widely respected in the field of mycology.
In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit and became secretly engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne, causing a breach with her parents, who disapproved of his social status. Warne died before the wedding.
Potter eventually published 24 children's books, the most recent being The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots (2016), and having become financially independent of her parents, was able to buy a farm in the Lake District, which she extended with other purchases over time.
In her forties, she married a local solicitor, William Heelis. She became a sheep breeder and farmer while continuing to write and illustrate children's books. Potter died in 1943 and left almost all of her property to The National Trust in order to preserve the beauty of the Lake District as she had known it, protecting it from developers.
Potter's books continue to sell well throughout the world, in multiple languages. Her stories have been retold in various formats, including a ballet, films, and in animation.
Born into a wealthy household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets, and through holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developed a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. Because she was a woman, her parents discouraged intellectual development, but her study and paintings of fungi led her to be widely respected in the field of mycology.
In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit and became secretly engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne, causing a breach with her parents, who disapproved of his social status. Warne died before the wedding.
Potter eventually published 24 children's books, the most recent being The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots (2016), and having become financially independent of her parents, was able to buy a farm in the Lake District, which she extended with other purchases over time.
In her forties, she married a local solicitor, William Heelis. She became a sheep breeder and farmer while continuing to write and illustrate children's books. Potter died in 1943 and left almost all of her property to The National Trust in order to preserve the beauty of the Lake District as she had known it, protecting it from developers.
Potter's books continue to sell well throughout the world, in multiple languages. Her stories have been retold in various formats, including a ballet, films, and in animation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews
August 13, 2024
This is the weirdest Beatrix Potter book. Although her illustrations are as charming as ever, the story definitely isn't. A crazed hunter stalks and eventually shoots the tail off a mischievous bunny. It's like Potter temporarily lost her mind when she wrote this. It's not entertaining, and it's not for impressionable readers.
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February 23, 2023
Holy shit Beatrix.
I honestly don't know if I love this or am completely horrified. I've spoken at length in my previous reviews of the darkness in Beatrix's stories and how much I love it but I think this might be taking it slightly too far, especially considering this book is written for very, very young children compared with her other stories.
Obviously it is a tale about being nice and kind and if you're a horrible little childbunny you'll get your tail shot off, but it is a little bit missing the metaphor and going straight for the jugular, as it were. I think I love the bluntness but I would absolutely think twice about reading this to a child. Beatrix was an epic badarse no mistake. I believe she did not bear any children herself which probably explains a couple of things...
I honestly don't know if I love this or am completely horrified. I've spoken at length in my previous reviews of the darkness in Beatrix's stories and how much I love it but I think this might be taking it slightly too far, especially considering this book is written for very, very young children compared with her other stories.
Obviously it is a tale about being nice and kind and if you're a horrible little childbunny you'll get your tail shot off, but it is a little bit missing the metaphor and going straight for the jugular, as it were. I think I love the bluntness but I would absolutely think twice about reading this to a child. Beatrix was an epic badarse no mistake. I believe she did not bear any children herself which probably explains a couple of things...
July 1, 2017
Another story by Beatrix I wasn't expecting. This story is for the very young. The nephew is 3 and he enjoyed it. It's short and the artwork holds up. This is a simple story about the consequences of what happens when you act bad. Good vs evil, the most basic theme of all time. This takes about 5 minutes to read - very quick.
May 16, 2014
This cracks me up every time I read it. So exactly what ARE savage whiskers?! There are probably moms who are horrified at the rather dark tone of this moralistic little gem, but you have to remember it was written in the late 1800s when good and bad were clearly defined and each had its blissful rewards or nasty consequences. No gray areas. Oh, the bad rabbit, he steals the carrot from the good little bunny and makes him cry. Then you turn the page and read the stark line: "Here is a hunter with a gun." At that point I lose it and begin to laugh hysterically. Gotta love the "draw your own conclusion" inference!
May 9, 2018
This 1906 book by Ms. Potter is meant for the youngest of her readers. It is a taste for the very young of the delightful world of Peter Rabbit, which has only become better with time by becoming quaint.
The plot is a straightforward morality tale at its barest of bones. There is a good bunny and a bad bunny. The bad bunny steals the carrot being enjoyed by the good bunny and scratches him. Eating his stolen carrot, the bad bunny is shot by an hunter and loses his tail and feast both. The moral: don't be mean and steal, or bad things will happen to you.
This tale probably was better received in 1906. Today, in a world shaped by adored animal protagonists and devoid of engagement with the actual countryside, it comes off as a little unnecessarily harsh to the bad rabbit. Furthermore, the plot is so barebones, it comes off as painfully trite.
This is my least favorite book of the Beatrix Potter works. Three stars is worst she can possibly do, and that says quite a lot about how excellent she usually is.
The plot is a straightforward morality tale at its barest of bones. There is a good bunny and a bad bunny. The bad bunny steals the carrot being enjoyed by the good bunny and scratches him. Eating his stolen carrot, the bad bunny is shot by an hunter and loses his tail and feast both. The moral: don't be mean and steal, or bad things will happen to you.
This tale probably was better received in 1906. Today, in a world shaped by adored animal protagonists and devoid of engagement with the actual countryside, it comes off as a little unnecessarily harsh to the bad rabbit. Furthermore, the plot is so barebones, it comes off as painfully trite.
This is my least favorite book of the Beatrix Potter works. Three stars is worst she can possibly do, and that says quite a lot about how excellent she usually is.
August 22, 2008
My very favorite B. Potter book. What a sense of humor! What a morality tale. Do everyone's eyebrows slide to the moon when they come to the page that says, "Here is a man with a gun."? I laughed and showed it to every one I knew. Apparently it is not one of her better known tales, but after everything else she's written, it remains my favorite.
September 6, 2025
خوب ، این کتاب نسبت به بقیه ی کتاب های مجموعه سبک واقعا دور از انتظاری داشت ، بیشتر از اینکه داستانی باشه ، شبیه به کمیک بود ، تصاویری همراه با جملات کوتاه و ساده .
و کتابی بود بسیار کوچک و کم حجم
و کتابی بود بسیار کوچک و کم حجم
February 19, 2025
thanks jelle voor het mee voorlezen!!!
April 30, 2019
Of Potter's oeuvre, this is the one that targets the youngest audience. Simple sentences, one or two per page. It's one of my (relatively) older children's joint favorites. I suspect it is because they both have a character with whom they can identify. DS #1 (age 5) identifies with
whisper, whisper
Are spoiler tags really needed? It's like twenty pages long, max.
whisper, whisper
Fine. Whatever.
whisper, whisper
Are spoiler tags really needed? It's like twenty pages long, max.
whisper, whisper
Fine. Whatever.
June 5, 2019
Although the title informs us that this is a story of a fierce bad rabbit, there are actually two rabbits in the tale. One is the eponymous villain of the title and the other is 'a nice gentle rabbit'.
The latter is quietly eating his carrot when FBR comes along and decides that he wants some carrot. He doesn't ask, he simply steals it and scratches NGR along the way. NGR creeps away and hides in a hole.
However, the story takes a decided turn when a when a man with a gun appears and sees something sitting on a bench. Thinking it a bird the man creeps up and shoots. The reader fears the worse but it turns out that the rabbit just escapes ... but minus tail and whiskers. The good rabbit creeps out of his hiding place to resume his happy life.
The latter is quietly eating his carrot when FBR comes along and decides that he wants some carrot. He doesn't ask, he simply steals it and scratches NGR along the way. NGR creeps away and hides in a hole.
However, the story takes a decided turn when a when a man with a gun appears and sees something sitting on a bench. Thinking it a bird the man creeps up and shoots. The reader fears the worse but it turns out that the rabbit just escapes ... but minus tail and whiskers. The good rabbit creeps out of his hiding place to resume his happy life.
February 16, 2020
guess that's what you get for being mean.
July 12, 2016
I thought this author's biographical note was interesting: "
The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit
had been written especially for editor Harold Warne's little daughter, Louie, who had told Beatrix that Peter was too good a rabbit, and she wanted a story about a really naughty one!" That made me smile.
I thought Jill would be frightened by the hunter with his gun shooting at the rabbit. But again I proved to be more sensitive than my daughter, or perhaps she just doesn't realize the implications of hunting yet. Either way, she enjoyed the tale (and the missing tail!).
I thought Jill would be frightened by the hunter with his gun shooting at the rabbit. But again I proved to be more sensitive than my daughter, or perhaps she just doesn't realize the implications of hunting yet. Either way, she enjoyed the tale (and the missing tail!).
March 1, 2021
I think this is too violent for little children.
April 10, 2023
Read these when I was little.
Then reread them all to my kids:)
My 6 year old loves them!
They are not to long that he loses interest but also not so short you end up reading 2 more books after.
Classics are always worth the read:)
Then reread them all to my kids:)
My 6 year old loves them!
They are not to long that he loses interest but also not so short you end up reading 2 more books after.
Classics are always worth the read:)
August 29, 2023
Hell yes.
December 28, 2017
Beatrix Potter wrote what is nearly a story without words picture book in this case. Meant for the youngest set of her readership, it was written (or rather drawn) in response to a little boy's request for a story about characters being bad. I wouldn't be surprised if he meant, being naughty and getting by with it, but Miss Potter preferred a moral tale (so to speak) on the consequences of bullying--not as a form of punishment by an angry parent, but more in the sense of karma evening things up!
This is the second Potter read-aloud in two days that has a naughty animal losing its tail for rude, boorish behaviour, and the second in which the small reader might fear all was irretrievably lost--but not quite.
This is the second Potter read-aloud in two days that has a naughty animal losing its tail for rude, boorish behaviour, and the second in which the small reader might fear all was irretrievably lost--but not quite.
August 12, 2021
I can see why many would rate this Beatrix Potter tale lower - odd little story about a naughty bunny who has it's tail shot off by a hunter. My kids on the other hand loved this short story as we have 2 little bunnies - one very naughty and one very sweet- and this made them giggle and joke about Opal stealing Rosie's carrots one too many times that she'll lose her tail. This is one of those stories that becomes a family's inside joke and will produce smiles and giggles for quite some time!
October 23, 2021
Oh, my, how very unfortunate! A singular 'fierce bad' rabbit gets his comeuppance from a hunter/human who somehow mistakes said rabbit for a 'very funny bird' at nigh on fifty paces.
The gun licensing bureau sorely needs an update on vision capacity.
Dear reader, this fierce, bad rabbit is known from the very first page for 'his savage whiskers, his claws and his turned-up tail.'
Ferocity established, and comeuppance fore-shadowed!
The bad rabbit steals a very adorable good rabbit's delicious carrot, and scratches him badly to boot.
While sitting on a bench, formerly occupied by the good rabbit, and eating his stolen carrot, comeuppance appears in the background in the form of the vision impaired hunter/human.
A shot is fired, and off runs the bad rabbit, sans tail and whiskers, quite a remarkable shot, indeed.
But, oh, what must we think when we realize that the very bad rabbit still has the offending claws that scratched the good rabbit so very badly?
It's all a bit of a sad muddle, yes it is. One could only wish for the human/hunter a similar be-whiskering, as he is pictured with a copious, bedraggled beard of the ginger human/hunter variety.
Yes, all's a muddle - where is the moral here, what lesson have we human children learned? Perhaps the good little rabbit, last pictured in his hole peeping out as the bad rabbit gets his, should grow a pair (of claws), no doubt the human/hunter needs a fine pair of distance spectacles, and the bad rabbit ... what of the bad rabbit?
Might not the bad rabbit simply need just a little better luck next time round?
Don Wentworth
Aspiring child
The gun licensing bureau sorely needs an update on vision capacity.
Dear reader, this fierce, bad rabbit is known from the very first page for 'his savage whiskers, his claws and his turned-up tail.'
Ferocity established, and comeuppance fore-shadowed!
The bad rabbit steals a very adorable good rabbit's delicious carrot, and scratches him badly to boot.
While sitting on a bench, formerly occupied by the good rabbit, and eating his stolen carrot, comeuppance appears in the background in the form of the vision impaired hunter/human.
A shot is fired, and off runs the bad rabbit, sans tail and whiskers, quite a remarkable shot, indeed.
But, oh, what must we think when we realize that the very bad rabbit still has the offending claws that scratched the good rabbit so very badly?
It's all a bit of a sad muddle, yes it is. One could only wish for the human/hunter a similar be-whiskering, as he is pictured with a copious, bedraggled beard of the ginger human/hunter variety.
Yes, all's a muddle - where is the moral here, what lesson have we human children learned? Perhaps the good little rabbit, last pictured in his hole peeping out as the bad rabbit gets his, should grow a pair (of claws), no doubt the human/hunter needs a fine pair of distance spectacles, and the bad rabbit ... what of the bad rabbit?
Might not the bad rabbit simply need just a little better luck next time round?
Don Wentworth
Aspiring child
December 9, 2019
3 stars for the whole deal, and 5 for her DARK sense of humour. And -1 for morality approval. Love her. She was weird.
A bad rabbit doesn’t say please. The good one cries and hides. The bad one gets hit by a gun and looses his tails and whiskers.
Moral of the story:-
1. Don’t stand up to a bully. Cry, hide. The professional hunters will take care of justice.
2. You don’t say please you lose a tail.
The moral should have been:-
If you are evil, better be smart and careful too.🤨
This was written for extremely small children, the description said. 🤫
That explains why the previous century was so messed up. The bad guys took lesson from this story, that’s why.
Happy reading! 🙃
A bad rabbit doesn’t say please. The good one cries and hides. The bad one gets hit by a gun and looses his tails and whiskers.
Moral of the story:-
1. Don’t stand up to a bully. Cry, hide. The professional hunters will take care of justice.
2. You don’t say please you lose a tail.
The moral should have been:-
If you are evil, better be smart and careful too.🤨
This was written for extremely small children, the description said. 🤫
That explains why the previous century was so messed up. The bad guys took lesson from this story, that’s why.
Happy reading! 🙃
June 9, 2022
Ha ha! After reading Little Pig Robinson, I wasn’t expecting such a short and to the point book!
Reads very much like a primer with short, simple sentences, and a little lesson to boot.
Ages: 2 - 4
Reads very much like a primer with short, simple sentences, and a little lesson to boot.
Ages: 2 - 4
November 1, 2024
This is a simple story about the consequences of what happens when you act bad. And it makes you wonder was it intended for very young readers or had it a macabre meaning? Like the stories of Roald Dahl.
May 19, 2019
At first, I was disturbed. Then, I laughed.
January 2, 2022
A story of karma. Short and to the point. A little bit scary. (Spoiler alert--No rabbits were killed in the writing of this story.)
December 26, 2023
Another cute short story set in the world of Peter Rabbit.
The illustrations are the best part of these little stories.
The illustrations are the best part of these little stories.
April 29, 2024
Kinda deserved it tbh
March 30, 2025
This has been the darkest and most enjoyable book so far in this series.
May 27, 2018
I can see the humor here, but it's not one of my favourites.
January 23, 2022
A very very short story and Beatrix Potter gets just to point.
If you behave badly, something bad might happen to you.
A lesson all children should learn.
If you behave badly, something bad might happen to you.
A lesson all children should learn.
April 20, 2025
page 18 is a great plot twist
May 6, 2021
The bully got what he deserved! Haha...good story!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews