Peter Rabbit and Paradise Lost

Liv and Cody have been obsessed with The Tale of Jeremy Fisher, a little Beatrix Potter book their grandmas gave them.  Last week I decided to step up and buy the Beatrix Potter Treasury.  They picked Peter Rabbit for the first story to read in the new book.

I realized for the first time that the story is totally an allegory for the fall of man!  Mommy tells Peter Rabbit he can play anywhere he wants...except Mr. MacGregor's garden.  Peter goes straight for the forbidden fruit and is punished for his disobedience with a stomachache, a terrifying chase, a naked expulsion from the garden (ahem!), and finally, exile from dessert.

The kids are fascinated by stories of disobedience, and so much of the Bible is exactly that.  Now that I've started reading for allegory, I can see that whiny, complaining Jeremy Fisher is obviously Jonah, swallowed by a trout.   But who is naughty Squirrel Nutkin, mocking the provider owl while all the other squirrels worship him?  A faithless wanderer from Exodus?  And what about the two bad mice, who sack the dollhouse when they discover that the dolls' food is really plaster? Jezebel and Ahab? 

Maybe they should publish a Beatrix Potter concordance.