SOLVED. Vintage Children's Picture book about a selfish man who learns his lesson. Read in early 1990s. [s]

[Katrina]

Not sure when this was published; I read it in the early 90s at my grandmother's house, and it was already old then! I don't remember names of characters, but the basic plot involved an incredibly selfish, morbidly obese man who was unkind to his hardworking wife and children and spent his days eating pastries. One day he's invited to the palace for tea, during the course of which he spots what he thinks is a snake at the bottom of his teacup and falls ill. My memory is fuzzy after that, but as he recovers from his illness he also recovers a measure of humanity toward his family, and then at the end of the book it's revealed that it was not in fact a snake in the teacup, but merely the design on the china.

[Kris]

Katrina, is this a picture book or chapter book?

[Katrina]

It’s a picture book!

[Ayshe]

Ittki Pittki maybe?

[Katrina]

Yes— that’s it!! I thought his name was something like that but I wasn’t spelling it correctly in my searches and assumed I must have misremembered it. Thanks so much!