But Hunca Munca had a frugal mind. After pulling half the feathers out of Lucinda’s bolster, she remembered that she herself was in want of a feather bed. When two naughty little mice discover the door to the beautiful dolls' house ajar, they just have to tiptoe inside and have a look. The temptation to try the delicious looking food in the dining room proves too great however, and chaos ensues when they discover that it will not come off the plates! The Tail of ‘Too Bad’ Mike by Iain Cameron Williams. ‘'My inspiration for The Tail of 'Too Bad' Mike came from a visit I made to London's V&A Museum in 2009, where I saw a Beatrix Potter display. I was fascinated by her life, especially her philanthropy. After leaving the museum, as it was a sunny afternoon, I walked up to Hyde Park and lay down for a while on East Albert Lawn. One of Potter's book titles kept going around in my mind and sparked my imagination. The book was The Tale of Two Bad Mice. From it, I devised the title, The Tail of 'Too Bad' Mike. That was my starting point; from there, I concocted the imaginary world of 'Too Bad' Mike.’

First up, it is likely that Hunca Munca's name is not relevant to her role in the story. According to her biographer, Judy Taylor, Potter rescued two mice from a trap and decided to name them and keep them as pets. The development of the tale came some months later, when Potter observed that the female mouse kept a tidy nest and, when given the opportunity to explore, chose to "steal" a small doll rather than doll's house food. Given that the genesis of the story came from the mouse's behaviour, well after she was named, it is possible there is no strong link. A reviewer in Bookman thought Two Bad Mice a pleasant change from Potter's rabbit books ( Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny) and believed neither Tom Thumb or Hunca Munca were completely bad, noting they both looked innocent and lovable in Potter's twenty-seven watercolour drawings. The reviewer approved Potter's "Chelsea-china like books" that were Warne's "annual marvels ... to an adoring nursery world". [3] This ham is too hard,’ he complained to Hunka Munka. ‘It’s not cooked enough. You try, Hunka Munka.’ Celebrity Death Match Special: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch versus The Tale of Two Bad MiceThe little mouse’s name was Tom Thumb. A minute later, Tom Thumb’s wife, Hunka Munka, popped her head out too and when she saw the room was empty, she and Tom squeezed through the hole and went over to the coal box by the fire. So that is the story of the two Bad Mice. But they were not so very, very naughty after all, because Tom Thumb paid for everything he broke. One day, when the house is empty, the two naughty mice, Tom Thumb and his wife, Hunca Munca, make themselves at home, only to find that the delicious looking ham that they were planning to devour is made of plaster, and the fish is glued to the plate!

Just before New Year's 1904, Warne sent Potter a glass-fronted mouse house with a ladder to an upstairs nesting loft built to her specifications so she could easily observe and draw the mice. [7] The doll's house Potter used as a model was one Warne had built in his basement workshop as a Christmas gift for his four-year-old niece Winifred Warne. Potter had seen the house under construction and wanted to sketch it, but the house had been moved just before Christmas to Fruing Warne's home south of London in Surbiton. Norman Warne invited Potter to have lunch in Surbiton and sketch the doll's house, but Mrs. Potter intervened. She had taken alarm at the growing intimacy between her daughter and Warne; as a consequence, she made the family carriage unavailable to her daughter, and refused to chaperone her to the home of those she considered her social inferiors. Potter declined the invitation and berated herself for not standing up to her mother. She became concerned that the whole project could be compromised. [7] Then those mice set to work to do all the mischief they could—especially Tom Thumb! He took Jane’s clothes out of the chest of drawers in her bedroom, and he threw them out of the top floor window.The Victorian era in which Potter lived was a time when there was much awareness and debate of the value of social responsibility. A number of Potter's tales, including Mrs Tittlemouse and Peter Rabbit, suggest that Potter came down firmly against social help in favour of individual responsibility. The Two Bad Mice break the taboo of ownership by entering and stealing from the house. They take responsibility for this of their own choice, through cleaning and paying for the damage they have done. It is also interesting that the nurse wants to punish them in a far more severe manner, by killing them in a trap. The book's title characters are a female mouse named Hunca Munca and a male mouse named Tom Thumb. They enter a doll's house while its two occupants, dolls named Lucinda and Jane, are out. When the two mice find that all the food in the doll's house is artificial and inedible, they become angry and try to cause as much damage to the doll's house as they can. Between 1907 and 1912 Potter wrote miniature letters to children as from characters in her books. The letters reveal more about their characters and their doings. Though many were probably lost or destroyed, a few are extant from the characters in Two Bad Mice. In one, Jane Dollcook has broken the soup tureen and both her legs; in another, Tom Thumb writes to Lucinda asking her to spare a feather bed which she regrets she cannot send because the one he stole was never replaced. Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca have nine children and the parents need another kettle for boiling water. Hunca Munca is apparently not a very conscientious housekeeper because Lucinda complains of dust on the mantlepiece. [15] Are you seeking more books like this? Read our review of the Ten Best Children’s Books About Feelings and Emotions Short story for kids by Beatrix Potter How do you think the dolls felt when they came home to find everything in their little home ruined or stolen?