Once upon a time there was a village shop and the name over the door was 鈥楪inger and Pickles.鈥
It was a small shop, just the right size for Dolls. Lucinda and Jane Doll always bought their groceries at Ginger and Pickles.The counter inside was just the right height for rabbits and many other little creatures.
Ginger and Pickles sold red spotty handkerchiefs for a penny. They also sold sugar, cloth caps and wellington boots. The shop belonged to Ginger and Pickles. Ginger was a yellow tom-cat, and Pickles was a terrier dog. The rabbits who visited the shop were always a little bit afraid of Pickles. And the mice were rather afraid of Ginger.
Ginger always asked Pickles to serve the mice because they made his mouth water. 鈥業 cannot bear to see them going out of the door carrying their little parcels,鈥 he said.
鈥業 feel the same about the rabbits,鈥 replied Pickles, 鈥榖ut it would never do to eat our customers; they would leave us and go to Tabitha Twitchit鈥檚 shop instead.鈥
鈥楴o, dear Pickles, if we ate them, we would have no customers at all,鈥 replied Ginger gloomily.
Tabitha Twitchit kept the only other shop in the village and she made all her customers pay for their shopping straight away; whereas Ginger and Pickles always told their customers that they could pay later.
For example, when Peter Rabbit came in to buy some washing powder for his mother, Ginger would hand him it and say: 鈥楾hat鈥檒l be a penny please Peter Rabbit.鈥 Then Peter Rabbit would answer: 鈥楨r鈥鈥檓 afraid I don鈥檛 have a penny鈥ay I pay you later?鈥 And after letting out a sort of yowl, Ginger would reply, 鈥業f you must Peter Rabbit. I鈥檒l add it to the list of all the other things that you haven鈥檛 yet paid for.鈥
Similarly, when Mrs Tittle-mouse wanted a new flannel to wash her whiskers Pickles, on handing her the flannel, would say: 鈥楾hat鈥檒l be a penny please Mrs Tittle-mouse.鈥 And Mrs Tittle-mouse would reply nervously: 鈥楨h, hem. May I pay you later?鈥 After letting out a rather frustrated howl, Pickles would answer: 鈥業f you insist Mrs Tittle-mouse. I鈥檒l add it to the list of all the other things you haven鈥檛 paid for.鈥
And these were not the only examples. When Jemima Puddle-duck bought a new shawl, she asked to pay later鈥nd when Mrs Tiggywinkle bought a new cloth cap鈥he too asked to pay later.
Then, when Mr Jeremy Fisher hopped in and picked up a new fishing rod to buy, I鈥檓 sure you鈥檒l hardly be surprised to hear that he too asked to pay later.
The customers came in crowds every day to get all sorts of things, but they never paid for anything. Not a penny passed though the till at Ginger and Pickles鈥 shop.
鈥榃e鈥檝e sold ten times more than Tabitha Twitchit sells in her shop!鈥 said Pickles proudly one day.
鈥榊es, but no one ever pays us, so we have no money to show for it,鈥 sighed Ginger.
And, as there was no money, Ginger and Pickles had to eat the food from their shelves. Pickles ate biscuits and Ginger ate dried fish. They ate by candle-light after the shop was closed.
January came and the shop looked very bare indeed. So, Ginger and Pickles went to the market to buy more stock.
鈥榃e need biscuits and dried fish, fishing rods and cloth caps, flannels and washing powder,鈥 Pickles told the stall holders.
鈥楤ut I鈥檓 afraid we don鈥檛 have any money,鈥 Ginger added. 鈥楥an we pay you later?鈥 As you can imagine, the stall holders all frowned at this request. 鈥楴o you may not,鈥 they replied. So Ginger and Pickles returned to their shop with nothing.
鈥榃hat shall we do now?鈥 said Pickles, 鈥榮oon we鈥檒l have nothing left to sell.鈥
鈥楲et鈥檚 send out bills to all our customers,鈥 said Ginger.
So Ginger and Pickles sent out bills to each and every one of their customers, but no one paid a penny and soon the shelves were completely empty. And, because they had nothing to sell, no one came to the shop.
鈥楾his is the last straw,鈥 said Pickles, 鈥榣et鈥檚 close the shop.鈥
And so, they pulled the shutters down and left. They didn鈥檛 go very far though. In fact some wish they had gone further.
Meanwhile, the shop closing caused great upset in the village. Tabitha Twitchit immediately raised her prices.
So everyone was pleased when, one day, Sally Henny Penny put up a poster saying she was going to re-open the shop previously owned by Ginger and Pickles. The poster read: 鈥楥ome to Henny Penny鈥檚 Opening Sale! Come buy, come try, come buy! At Penny鈥檚 penny prices!鈥
There was a huge rush on opening day. The shop was crammed with customers and two of the customers were Ginger and Pickles. Ginger bought some dried fish and Pickles bought some cream crackers. 鈥業t was a shame we had to close our shop,鈥 said Pickles.
鈥榊es, a terrible shame,鈥 Ginger replied, admiring some mice on the biscuit jars. Then he narrowed his eyes and whispered, 鈥業 can鈥檛 help wishing that we鈥檇 eaten our customers after all鈥︹