Richard Barnum

“ As first it might seem funny for a squirrel to say she would not hurt an elephant, because an elephant is so large. But I have told you that elephants are sometimes afraid of even such a little thing as a mouse.
“So you are not a rat, eh?” asked the elephant of Slicko.
“No, Tum Tum, and I’m not a mouse, either,” answered the little girl squirrel.
“Ha! How do you happen to know my name?” asked Tum Tum.
“Mappo, the merry monkey, told me,” said the little squirrel girl. “And Mappo told me I was to tell you I was not a mouse or a rat. I won’t run up your trunk, and scare you.” ”

“ Squirrel looked out to see if he could see a man with a gun and a dog. But he saw nothing, and he was glad of it.
“I guess he didn’t see which way you went, Mamma,” he said to his wife. “Now we will give the children their breakfast, and then we must begin teaching them their lessons. For if hunters, with dogs and guns, are to come to our woods, it is time our little ones knew how to look after themselves, and how to hide, and jump to safe places.”
“I think so, too,” said Mrs. Squirrel. “Wake up, children!” she cried. “Come, Slicko! Hurry up, Chatter! ”

“ Slicko was the largest of the squirrel children, and she asked the most questions.
“What is your lesson going to be, Mother?” Slicko wanted to know.
“I hope it’s going to be a sleeping lesson,” said Fluffy, one of the boy squirrels. “I’m sleepy yet,” and he yawned and stretched himself, just like a little monkey.
“Oh, fie on you!” said his papa. “Squirrels should be lively, and hop about when they awake in the morning. Come now, if you have finished your nuts, your mamma and I will teach you a new lesson, and one that you must learn well, or there may be danger for you.” ”

“ Slicko saw Bob, though.
The little squirrel stayed in the tree all that night. But she did not have a very good time. It was cold, and it rained, and there was no hole, and no nest, into which Slicko could crawl to keep warm. She just had to shiver. And she was more hungry than ever, too.
“Oh dear! Running away isn’t as much fun as I thought it would be!” said Slicko. “To-morrow, when Bob puts out the nuts again, and leaves the cage open, I’m going to run back into it. I have had enough of living like this. I had rather do tricks, such as jumping through paper hoops, than be cold and hungry.” ”

“ At least an elephant looks as though it had two [56] tails, no matter what Mappo says,” went on Slicko. “I wonder if I shall ever meet Tum Tum, and tell him I am not a rat or a mouse? What a funny thing it would be if I did.”
Slicko sat on the edge of the nest for some time, and then she began to feel hungry.
“I wish I had some of those peanuts I heard them talking about in the circus,” said Slicko in a whisper. “I know they must be good, from what that city-park squirrel said. And I wonder what pink lemonade and ice cream cones are? I don’t believe they are good to eat.” ”

“ Slicko hid deeper down in the leaves, and, a little later, as the brown animal came closer, the girl squirrel saw that it was not the kind of a boy she had ever seen before. For, though boys can climb trees, they can not climb up and down as fast as the brown animal was doing, nor can they hang by their tails. In fact, as Slicko knew, boys have no tails. ”

“ Soon the little girl squirrel was asleep again, and when next she awakened, the sun was shining down, through the hole, into the nest.
“Oh, good! It’s morning!” chattered Slicko. “Now the owl can’t get me.”
Slicko knew that owls fly only at night, for [43] they have such funny eyes, that sunlight makes them almost blind, and they cannot see to catch little squirrels. So Slicko knew she was safe, for a while, at least.
“Now for breakfast, then to wash my face and paws, and we’ll see what happens,” whispered Slicko to herself. It did not take long to eat the nuts for breakfast. ”

“ Squirrel.
“I will,” replied her husband. And then he carefully, carefully peeked out of the hole of the nest in the hollow trunk of the tree. Squirrels are smarter than we think. Though they do not know how to shoot a gun, they know that a gun can hurt them, and when one is shot off in the woods, all the squirrels, and the birds and wild creatures, are very much frightened, and run to hide. ”

“ Soon Slicko felt quite at home in her new cage. She went inside the little bedroom, that was pretty dark, even in the daytime. Squirrels, and all wild animals, like to be in the dark, and off by themselves, once in a while.
Inside the little bedroom, which was made of tin and wire, like the rest of the cage, was some soft cotton, and in this Slicko could cuddle up and keep warm, even when winter came. And, as I have said, there was a dish for nuts and another for water. These the boy filled, and soon Slicko was eating her first meal in her new home. ”

“ Pretty soon the little jumping girl squirrel came to the tall tree where Aunt Whitey lived.
“Now I must be very careful,” thought Slicko. “I must wait, before running in, to see if any hunter-men, or dogs, or other enemies are watching me. For if they are, they would see where I go in, and they could find the nest, and maybe catch Aunt Whitey and me.”
Squirrels, like birds and other woodland creatures, do not like human beings to know where their nests or homes are. ”

“ Later on Slicko took many trips in that same pocket, and was not afraid, but this time her little heart beat very fast, for she did not know what was going to happen to her.
“Well, I don’t believe I’ll try to catch any more squirrels,” said the boy. “I’ll take this trap home with me.”
“Ah, that’s good!” thought Slicko. “If he takes the trap away, no more squirrels will be caught. That’s very good!”
“And I guess I’ll take some of these nuts home to feed my new squirrel,” went on the boy, speaking out loud the way boys do sometimes, especially if they have their dogs with them. ”

“ But, after all, Slicko was rather glad that she had a good home for the coming winter. She remembered how, when she had lived in the home-nest, she had heard her papa and mamma talking in their chatter language about how hard [103] it was, sometimes, to find things to eat, when the white snow covered the ground. Squirrels always store away nuts, but sometimes they can not get enough, and sometimes the winter is so long that they eat up all they have in their nest, before it is time for spring to come and bring other food. ”

“ Most animals are that way when first they learn a new trick. They forget very easily, until they have done it over and over again. It was this way with Slicko.
But as Bob kept the hoop in front of her, and as she kept smelling the nice nuts at the other end of the table, it came into Slicko’s head that she must jump through the paper of the hoop to get them, just as she had done to get the piece of apple.
“Here I go!” thought the little squirrel. ”

“ And I certainly never could climb a tree, and sleep in a nest, as you do,” went on Tum Tum, with a jolly laugh.
“No, I suppose not,” said Slicko. “You are too big for a nest. Well, if you see Mappo, please send him back to me. I am so lonesome.”
[63]
“If I see him I will,” Tum Tum answered. And then he walked on back through the woods.
“Good-bye, Slicko!” called the jolly elephant. “I have to be in the show this afternoon. I have to make believe play ball, and eat my dinner at a real table, and then I have to play the hand organ with my trunk. Those are some of my tricks.” ”

“ Slicko knocked again with her little paw, and then, thinking her aunt might be asleep, the little jumping squirrel gave a little hop down inside the nest. It was just like the nest at home, which she and the others had left because of the danger from the hunter-man.
At first, coming in the dark nest, after having [37] been out in the bright sunlight, Slicko could see nothing. Just as when you come into the house, after having walked along the snowy road from school, you have to wait until your eyes get used to the darker house. It was that way with Slicko. ”

“ Whether it was because Slicko was larger and stronger than her brothers and sister, or because she practiced harder, I do not know. But it is certain that, in a few days, Slicko was the best jumping squirrel in that part of the woods. She could jump farther than could Chatter, and even though Nutto and Fluffy were boy squirrels, Slicko could beat them.
“Yes, Slicko is certainly a fine jumper,” said Mrs. Squirrel, to her husband one day. “She can jump almost as far as we can.” ”

“ Soon Slicko was fast asleep. Animals go to sleep very easily when they have eaten, and are not frightened. They do not have to be sung to, nor told stories, and they do not have to have [42] the light turned down low. They always go to bed without a light.
Once, in the middle of the night, Slicko was awakened. She heard a noise at the opening of the nest, a scratching sort of noise, and it sounded as though some one were trying to come in. ”

“ And if she got enough to eat, water to drink, and [85] had a nice, warm place to sleep in, what more could a squirrel ask?
Slicko’s leg hurt her a little bit, but it was getting better all the while, and she was feeling happier and happier every minute. True, she would have been very glad if her papa and mamma and her sister and brothers had been with her, but then she knew she could not have everything she wanted.
“And it’s just wonderful that the same boy who has me had Squinty, the comical pig, for his pet,” thought Slicko. ”

“ But, each time, after she was through doing her little tricks, she was given something good to eat. That is always the way to train wild animals or pets—be kind to them when they have done what you want them to do.
Slicko lived in the house with the boy for several weeks. The weather had gotten colder now, and winter would soon be here. Slicko could tell this, for sometimes the windows of the room, in which her cage stood, were left open, and she could feel the cold wind. ”

“ Then the boy placed two or three nice, sweet, juicy chestnuts inside the wheel of the squirrel cage. This wheel went around and around, just as a barrel rolls over the ground, only the wire wheel of the squirrel cage stayed right in the [92] same place, whirling about as does a merry-go-round.
“Now, when Slicko goes in to get the nuts, she’ll make the wheel go around,” the boy said to his sisters. “The faster she runs, the faster the wheel will go, and she’ll be doing a trick.” ”

“ I shall love to learn tricks.”
For two or three days Slicko stayed in the box where the boy had first put her. Every day she was given fresh water, and this was what she needed almost more than she did nuts to eat. All animals need water, especially in hot weather, so if ever you have a squirrel, or any other pets, see to it that they have all the cool, clean water they wish to drink. ”

“ Now I am not quite sure about it, but I suppose girl squirrels want to hear a secret just as much as real girls do, and I have always found that if you wanted to get a real little girl to do anything for you, that she would do it ever so much more quickly, if she thought there was a secret about it. ”

“ Sometimes they would run up and down the tree trunks, and again they would pretend to hide under the leaves, for their parents had told them that was a good way to keep out of sight when there was any danger in the forest. ”