The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin is a children's book by Beatrix Potter published in 1903.
Every autumn, all the squirrels sail across the lake to Owl Island in order to collect the plentiful nuts that grow there, and they always remember to bring a tasty gift to appease Mr. Brown, the owl who lives there. Unfortunately, one of the squirrels is an obnoxious loud-mouth named Nutkin, who likes to dance around in Mr. Brown's face, jeering at him and spouting nonsensical riddles. As the nut-gathering days pass by, it seems only a matter of time before Mr. Brown loses his temper...
This book provides examples of:
- An Aesop: Do Not Taunt Cthulhu, especially if Cthulhu is considerately allowing you to gather food on his island.
- Arboreal Abode: It's mentioned that Old Brown lives in a hollow tree that has a staircase and an attic window.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: One of Nutkin's riddles is said to be too silly even by Nutkin's standards:"The man in the wilderness said to me,
'How many strawberries grow in the sea?'
I answered him as I thought good—
'As many red herrings as grow in the wood.'" - Attack the Tail: Nutkin's tail is bitten off by Mr. Brown.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Nutkin keeps taunting Mr. Brown, though it's unclear whether he's actually a half-pint.
- Carnivore Confusion: The squirrels bring the owl some dead mice and a dead mole as a gift.
- Disney Death: "This looks like the end of the story, but it isn't." Nutkin was only about to be killed, but he still has a very narrow escape.
- The Gadfly: Nutkin is determined to annoy Mr. Brown. And boy, does he succeed.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: Caught by Mr. Brown, Nutkin escapes at the expense of his own tail.
- Lazy Bum: Nutkin hates working and is often slacking off.
- Nursery Rhyme: Most of Nutkin's riddles are drawn from the Mother Goose canon.
- Ominous Owl: Mr. Brown may be polite, but he's still pretty creepy even before he gets fed up with Nutkin.
- Pun: "This is a Tale about a tail."
- Riddle Me This: Nutkin's primary antic, though he doesn't expect an answer; he's just doing it to be annoying. The answers are sneakily worked into the text preceding the riddles and are marked in italics.
- Screwball Squirrel: Nutkin is hyperactive and spends most of his time being The Gadfly to Mr. Brown. The other squirrels avert this as they are busy working responsibly and respectfully.
- The Slacker: While all the other squirrels work gathering nuts, Nutkin amuses himself by playing games and teasing Mr. Brown.
- Sleepyhead: Mr. Brown, since he's an owl and the squirrels visit during the daytime.
- Too Dumb to Live: Nutkin jumps directly onto Mr. Brown's head. Taunting the owl is bad enough, but throwing yourself at your natural predator is just asking for it.
