Beatrix Potter: Animal Match Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rabbit

Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail are the sisters of Peter Rabbit. In 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit', Flopsy and her sisters obey their mother when she bans them from entering Mr. McGregor's garden, but their brother Peter goes in anyway, steals Mr. McGregor's vegetables and loses his best clothes during his escape. Flopsy also appears in a later story called 'The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies' - in this one, Flopsy has grown up, married her cousin Benjamin Bunny, and they have six baby rabbits who are known as "the Flopsy Bunnies".

Answer: Badger

'The Tale of Mr. Tod' is about a fox called Mr. Tod and his enemy, a badger named Tommy Brock. 'Brock' is an old English name for a badger. In this story Tommy Brock kidnaps the Flopsy Bunnies and hides them at Mr. Tod's house. Unfortunately he falls asleep there and is attacked by Mr. Tod when he gets home. Benjamin Bunny and Peter Rabbit are then able to rescue the Flopsy Bunnies and save them from the fate of becoming Tommy's dinner.

Answer: Cat

Simpkin is the cat owned by the Tailor of Gloucester in the story of the same name. The tailor discovers that Simpkin has captured some mice and is able to release them while Simpkin is out running an errand for him. His good turn is soon repaid when the mice save his business when he falls ill.

They complete a waistcoat he was working on, with the exception of one buttonhole that they can't finish because Simpkin has hidden the thread that they need for it. The tale is said to be based on a real-life story about a 19th century tailor who came into his shop in Gloucester one morning to find his work unexpectedly completed (minus one buttonhole) - but in that case the work was done by his human assistants, not by grateful mice!

Answer: Owl

Old Mr. Brown is the owl who is tormented by Squirrel Nutkin in 'The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin'. Squirrel Nutkin and his family visit Old Mr. Brown's home on Owl Island in order to collect nuts. While the rest of his family are polite to the old owl, Squirrel Nutkin enjoys taunting him with riddles. Unsurprisingly, Old Mr. Brown eventually snaps, attacks Squirrel Nutkin and pecks off most of his bushy tail.

This is a clear lesson that it is not a good idea to annoy people (or owls), especially if they are equipped with a sharp beak and claws.

Answer: Squirrel

Squirrel Nutkin was not the only squirrel to appear in a Beatrix Potter story. 'The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes' tells the story of a squirrel named Timmy Tiptoes who is accused of stealing nuts that belong to other squirrels and ends up being stuffed into a hollow tree as a punishment. Luckily he and his wife, Goody, have stashed a large quantity of nuts in the tree so he has plenty of food available; unluckily the tree is already occupied by a chipmunk named Chippy Hackee, who encourages him to over-indulge on the nuts.

As a result Timmy becomes too fat to fit through the tree's entrance hole and faces being trapped in the tree with Chippy. Eventually a storm damages the tree and Timmy is able to escape back home to his wife.

Answer: Frog

'The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher' is about a frog who enjoys fishing, but has his day out on the water ruined by an angry trout. Jeremy is dragged into the water and nearly swallowed, but the trout doesn't like the taste of his waterproof coat and spits him back out again. Since Jeremy's fishing trip was supposed to provide the food for a dinner with his friends (Sir Isaac Newton and Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise), he is forced to change the menu and ends up serving roast grasshopper instead.

Answer: Mouse

Tom Thumb is one of the title characters from Beatrix Potter's 'The Tale of Two Bad Mice' along with his partner, Hunca Munca. The tale relates how the two mice went into a beautiful dolls' house, stole various bits and pieces that they needed for their mouse hole and then had a lot of fun destroying the remaining contents.

In the end, though, they both felt guilty over what they had done and paid for the damage with a "crooked sixpence" and a free cleaning service. Tom Thumb the mouse shouldn't be confused with the English folk character Tom Thumb, a very small boy who was the size of a thumb.

Answer: Dog

Duchess was a beautiful black dog who was a dinner guest of a cat named Ribby in 'The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan'. Since Duchess expected Ribby to serve mouse pie (a dish that Duchess hated), she brought along her own alternative pie, which she had made with a patty-pan - a device used to keep the pie crust in shape.

She put her pie in Ribby's oven and thought that she had successfully tricked Ribby into serving it up instead. Unfortunately for Duchess, the mouse pie was in another oven and Ribby didn't spot the replacement. Duchess unknowingly ate the mouse pie and then panicked when she thought she'd also eaten her patty-pan.

It turned out to be worse...she'd actually eaten mouse!

Answer: Rat

Mr. Samuel Whiskers was a rat who lived in the house belonging to Mrs. Tabitha Twitchett and her kittens Tom, Moppet and Mittens. He appeared in the story that was originally known as 'The Tale of the Roly-Poly Pudding', but was reissued in the 1920s under the title 'The Tale of Samuel Whiskers'. Along with his wife, Anna Maria, Samuel Whiskers captures Tom Kitten and attempts to turn him into cat pudding. Luckily for Tom, the noise of two rats wielding a rolling pin attracts the attention of Tom's mother and he is rescued, although he is left with a life-long fear of rats.

Answer: Hedgehog

Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle was a hedgehog who earned her living as a washerwoman for the local village in the 'Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle', which was first published in 1905. Unusually for stories by Beatrix Potter, 'The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle' also includes a human character - a little girl named Lucie who had lost her pinafore and three handkerchiefs.

In the story, Lucie found out that they weren't actually lost, but had been washed and dried for her by the little hedgehog. Beatrix Potter modelled the character on her own pet hedgehog, who was also called Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.