Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin is Strange, Violent, and hilarious

That it is, but it is also a story about a really nutty little squirrel (pardon the pun) and his fast retribution.

Squirrel Nutkin isn't even close to being the best of Potter's 23 children's stories. When it comes to a lovely, reassuring, and well-crafted story, I like The Tailor of Gloucester, The Tale of Tom Kitten, or – the most famous of all the farm animals – Peter Rabbit. I chose Nutkin because it's a story that my father and I would laugh ourselves silly over.

It's strange, with a deranged naughty protagonist. One gets the idea that Potter wrote this story out of quiet wrath over some minor annoyance. It's dedicated to "Norah," which makes me wonder what Norah did to deserve such a witty warning shot.

The plot is simple: on Owl Island, squirrels collect nuts. They bring an offering to Mr Brown, the owl, every day. Nutkin, being the strange little troublemaker that he is, brings nothing but dances around singing riddles.

Finally, he hops on Mr. Brown's head, only to be apprehended, pocketed, and taken inside to be skinned. He gets away with only his tail and possibly the last remnants of his squirrel sanity: “...to this day, if you meet Nutkin up a tree and ask him a question, he will toss twigs at you, stamp his feet and scold, and shout- ‘Cuck-cuck-cur-r

What an odd and violent story. Perhaps Petrushevkayan or Shalamovian. Norah was in such a bad way. Nonetheless, the narrative is great in its uniqueness, and it may have been my first encounter to absurdist comedy, thanks to my father (then came the Pythons).

If re-reading Squirrel Nutkin isn't your thing, consider honoring and remembering Potter for her prize-winning Herwick sheep breeding, or the fact that she purchased, protected, and eventually left much of the Lake District to the National Trust. What a wonderful woman she was, and what amazing stories she told.

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In the middle of the lake there is an island covered with trees and nut bushes; and amongst those trees stands a hollow oak-tree, which is the house of an owl who is called Old Brown.

Beatrix Potter, "The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin", 1.3

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