The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan is a children’s story written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. The story tells of a cat called Ribby and a tea party she holds for a dog called Duchess. Complications arise when Duchess tries to replace Ribby’s mouse pie with her own veal and ham pie, and then believes she has swallowed a small tin pastry form called a patty-pan. Its themes are etiquette and social relations in a small town.The illustrations depict the cottages and gardens of Sawrey, a village in the Lake District near Potter’s Hill Top farm, and have been described as some of the most exquisite Potter ever produced. Ribby was modelled on a cat living in Sawrey, Duchess on two Pomeranians belonging to Potter’s neighbour Mrs Rogerson, Tabitha Twitchit on Potter’s cat at Hill Top, and Dr Maggoty on the magpies in the London Zoological Gardens.Simple dwellings, rustic pathways, and stone fences inspired Potter’s imagination and enhance the tale’s timeless aspect and suggest an unchanging countryside and its way of life.=============TAGS: Beatrix Potter, children’s stories, lake district, England, bedtime stories, helpful, background, timeless countryside, hill top farm, Ribby, cat, Duchess, Dog, Patty Pan, mouse pie, veal and ham pie, swallow, cottages, shop, street, tin, pastry, small town, etiquette, social relations, Sawrey, Pomeranian, Dr Maggoty, magpie, rustic pathway, simple dwellings, timeless, aspect, way of life