Tabitha Twitchit

Tabitha Twitchit
Tabitha Twitchit (centre) sobs out her problems to her cousin Ribby (left) while daughter Moppet takes a peek from hiding in the flour barrel (right) — a scene from The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding
First appearance	The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan
Last appearance	The Tale of Ginger and Pickles
Created by	Beatrix Potter
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Shopkeeper
Children	Moppet, Mittens and Tom Kitten

Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit is a fictional anthropomorphic cat who features in the books of Beatrix Potter. She is a shopkeeper and the long-suffering mother of three unruly kittens, Moppet, Mittens and Tom Kitten.

The success of her early books enabled Potter to purchase a farm called Hill Top in Cumbria. Among the animals there was a cat called Tabitha Twitchit.

In the books, she is shown as standing on her hind legs and wearing fashionable clothes. She and her kittens live in a house based on the Hill Top farmhouse while her shop is based on one in Hawkshead, a local market town.

Tabitha is shown working at her shop and the illustrations include kittens, presumably her own, playing outside. Tabitha is rather peeved when her cousin Ribby tells her that she is having tea with Duchess the dog. "Just as if there were no CATS in Sawrey!" mutters Tabitha. Privately, Ribby considers Duchess superior company to Tabitha — though the two cats do enjoy a good gossip while Ribby is at the shop purchasing goods. However, after a great deal of confusion and chaos as a result of the tea party with Duchess, Ribby decides that in future she will invite Cousin Tabitha Twitchit instead.

The Story of Miss Moppet was a fold-up book also written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, in which the titular kitten has problems with a mouse. In her next book, The Tale of Tom Kitten, published the following year, Moppet was shown to be one of Tabitha Twitchit's children.

The Tale of Tom Kitten showed Tabitha and her kittens, Moppet, Mittens and Tom Kitten, living in Potter's own home at Hill Top. Tabitha has invited some friends for tea (maybe even Ribby) and washes and dresses her children for the occasion. She then unwisely allows them to play outside, but they then lose their clothes to some passing ducks, including Jemima Puddle-Duck. Their angry mother smacks them and sends them to their room, telling her friends that they are ill when in fact they are just getting up to further mischief.

Potter concluded The Tale of Tom Kitten with the remark that she might "have to make another, larger, book, to tell you more about Tom Kitten". In fact she had been writing such a book at about the same time and it was published a year later.