Jemima Puddle-Duck is a very silly duck. She is friendly but foolish and self-important. She is a white duck who, when clothed, wears a blue poke bonnet and a pink shawl. Sheis the titular lead character of "The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck".
Jemima is first seen as a secondary character in "The Tale of Tom Kitten", in which she is shown with her sister-in-law Mrs. Rebeccah Puddle-Duck, and Mr. Drake Puddle-Duck, who could be Jemima's brother, but it is unknown. When Tom Kitten, Moppet Kitten and Mittens Kitten sat on the garden wall, they let the ducks try on their clothes. Mr Drake wears Tom’s clothes, (which fit him even worse than they do Tom), Rebeccah wears Moppet’s pinafore and Tom’s straw hat, and Jemima wears Mittens’s pinafore with Moppet’s pinafore collar which fell off earlier as a hat. The three ducks then take off wearing the kittens' clothes, and when they go into a pond, the clothes all come off because there are no buttons, and the clothes sink. The ducks are upset that they lost their new clothes and search for them whenever they go back in the pond.
In this book, Jemima is depressed because she wants to hatch her own eggs. The farmer's wife takes them from her and gives them to a snobby hen to hatch. She tries to hide them, but they are always found. Her sister-in-law Rebeccah frequently criticises Jemima for wanting to raise a brood of ducklings (Rebeccah doesn’t want ducklings of her own and is more than happy to have her eggs taken away from her).
One fine spring afternoon, she finally tries to make a nest far away from the farm and unwisely chooses a clearing in the woods. The she meets a handsome gentleman with sandy whiskers, who tricks her into laying nine eggs in his woodshed, which is part of his stick house where he stays during Spring and Summer. He then suggests a dinner-party to celebrate, and asks Jemima to collect the traditional seasonings used to stuff roast duck (He plans to eat her). But Kep the Collie Dog meets her as she is collecting onions and recuses her from the gentleman (with the aid of two fox-hound puppies that belong to the butchers). But the fox-hounds eat Jemima's eggs after chasing away the gentleman (a fox), and Jemima is escorted home in tears. She lays more eggs in June (which she is allowed to keep) and successfully hatches four ducklings, proving her sister-in-law wrong and becoming happy.
TRIVIA[]
In The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends, Jemima Puddle-Duck is voiced by Su Pollard.
Jemima and Mr. Tod in the Tales of Beatrix Potter ballet.
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An abridged version of The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck appears in Frederick Asthon's ballet, Tales of Beatrix Potter. The ballet starred the dancers of The Royal Ballet wearing large lifelike animal costumes and masks. Jemima and Mr. Tod also appear in the finale of the ballet.
Jemima appears in the Nick Jr. TV Series Peter Rabbit. She still wears a blue bonnet, but not her shawl. She still has a silly but friendly personality. She is often called "Mrs. Puddle-Duck." She is also revealed to be a good baker; her oat-cakes are loved by many of the others.
Jemima as she appears in the Nick Jr. cartoon series, along with Lily Bobtail.
