# Duchess — Short Fiction character guide

> Duchess in Short Fiction by Beatrix Potter.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0006-the-tale-of-the-pie-and-the-patty-pan

## Snapshot

A black-coated cat dining at her friend Ribby's house who becomes convinced she has swallowed a patty-pan and works herself into a spectacular, self-diagnosed crisis.

## Who they are

Duchess arrives for dinner and eats through the mouse pie with alarming speed, four servings and counting, while Ribby watches and butters her fifth muffin. When Duchess begins fumbling for the patty-pan she insists held up the crust, Ribby points out she never puts metal in her pies — and Duchess, undeterred, escalates from anxiety to howling certainty that she has swallowed a large tin patty-pan with a sharp scalloped edge. Her performance draws the whole village's attention and sends Ribby running for Dr. Maggotty, making her the engine of the story's comic catastrophe.

## In the story

### [The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_7_se/chapters/the-tale-of-the-pie-and-the-patty-pan)

The little dog guest who attempts to swap pies and panics over a missing patty-pan.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_7_se/characters/duchess
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_7_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_7_se/characters