Frisky Squirrel

“ As a special favor, I’ll be willing to cut it off for you, with a big pair of shears that my mother has.”
Frisky Squirrel was just a bit angry at this remark about his tail.
“What about your ears?” he asked. “Not one of the forest-people—except rabbits—wears his ears so long as you do. I must say that they look very queer. How’d you like to have me trim them for you?”
“Tell you what we’ll do,” Jimmy Rabbit said. “I’ll cut off your tail and you’ll cut off my ears. What do you say?”
Somehow or other, Frisky did not quite like the idea of losing his tail. ”

“ Although Johnnie Green took good care of Frisky Squirrel, that once lively young chap did not like his new home in the wire cage at all. His young master gave him plenty to eat—nuts and grain—all the things that Frisky had always liked before. But now nothing tasted the same. Frisky never felt really hungry. He just sat in his cage and moped and sulked.
Once in a great while he would go out into his wheel, and run and run until he was so tired that he was ready to drop. Whenever Johnnie Green saw him running [Pg 96] inside the wheel that young man would laugh aloud—he was so pleased. ”

“ Squirrel [Pg 90] said, after she had taken one good look at what was going on. “They’re threshing out the wheat-kernels, so the miller can grind them into flour.”
“But those horses—” said Frisky. “Why is it that they don’t walk right against that bar, and break it, and tumble off onto the ground?”
“That’s a horse-power,” Mrs. Squirrel explained. “The path the horses are treading on moves, and that’s why they stay right in the same place. The path moves ’round and ’round all the time, like a broad chain. That’s what makes the wheels turn on the threshing-machine.” ”

“ Just then he happened to spy a squirrel on a stone wall. Spot promptly made for this gentleman. Keeping a firm hold on his bundle, he plunged through a tangle of blackberry bushes that grew beside the road.
The thorny brambles caught at Spot's bundle and held it fast.
"G-r-r-r!" he growled. "I don't want to lose sight of that fat fellow. Unless I'm mistaken, it was Frisky Squirrel. And I've had an eye out for him for a longtime." ”

“ He was not afraid of Frisky Squirrel. But Henry Skunk was altogether too big. Freddie did not enjoy fighting him.
Well! Frisky, with his aching shoulder, and Henry Skunk, with his sore nose, went off together. They didn’t say a word to [Pg 112] each other, until they reached the hickory tree where Frisky lived. And then all they said was “Good-night!”
Frisky never spied on anybody again. He had learned that it is better not to meddle in other people’s private affairs. So, after all, perhaps it was a good thing that he tried, just once, to catch Freddie Weasel asleep. ”

“ But there were a few of the forest-people with whom Frisky never was able to make friends. They were the disagreeable, selfish kind, who never liked anyone except themselves.
Freddie Weasel was one of the few with whom Frisky Squirrel never could have a good time. Frisky often tried to play with him. But their games always ended in trouble; and I must say that it was not Frisky’s fault.
Now, Frisky had often heard it said [Pg 102] among his neighbors that no one had ever caught Freddie Weasel asleep. Indeed, Jimmy Rabbit claimed that Freddie Weasel never slept at all. ”

“ As for Frisky, he began to bring home another store of nuts that very day. After what had happened neither he nor his mother had any fear that Fatty Coon would ever trouble them again.
[Pg 72] XVHelpful Mr. Crow
Frisky Squirrel’s mother had often told him not to have anything to do with Mr. Crow. “He’s such a tricky old fellow!” she said. “He seems to have nothing to do but get folks into trouble. Don’t go near him, and don’t have anything to say to him.”
Now, I’m sure Frisky Squirrel wanted to mind his mother. But he couldn’t help feeling that she was mistaken about Mr. Crow. ”

“ Kinglet you could see that he always wore a bright [Pg 37] red crown. He was very modest about his crown, and generally wore it so that only a little of it showed. But whenever he went out to fight, as the forest-people are often obliged to, that beautiful red crown might be seen as plain as could be.
Now, it happened that Mrs. Kinglet heard Mr. and Mrs. Hawk talking to each other, as they tried to capture Frisky Squirrel, and she heard the other forest-people shouting, too. So she called to Mr. Kinglet that somebody seemed to be in trouble; and he came hurrying up at once. ”

“ Frisky Squirrel said that that seemed fair. So they set to work at once. And every time Sandy brought a load of food to the foot of the tall elm, where Mr. Crow lived, he found Frisky Squirrel waiting for him.
"Let's see—" Frisky said, when Sandy brought the first load—"since I'm to get half, I'll take everything you bring in your left cheek-pouch. And you can take what you bring in the right one." ”

“ Frisky Squirrel was very fond of wheat-kernels. Somehow or other he heard that there was a place on Swift River called the gristmill, where there was almost all the wheat in the world—at least that is what Frisky heard. So he started out, one day, to find the gristmill. He thought he could have a very pleasant time there.
Frisky had no trouble at all in finding the gristmill. It was just below the mill-dam. And everybody knew where that was.
The gristmill was an old stone building [Pg 58] with a red roof. And once inside it Frisky saw great heaps of wheat-kernels everywhere. ”

“ Since it was quite dark inside their home in the hollow limb of the big hickory tree, Frisky could not see his mother smiling. But her voice sounded very cheerful when she said—
“Now stop crying, my son. There’s nothing to cry about. The end of the world hasn’t come. And that’s something you and I don’t need to worry about, anyhow.”
“What you heard was only the mill-wheels turning. You must have reached [Pg 61] the gristmill before the miller had come to begin his day’s work. That was why everything was so still. ”

“ He was using only his forepaws, while his hind legs were limp and useless under him, and his brush, that a squirrel usually carries saucily cocked over one shoulder, lay limp upon the ground.
I picked him up carefully; but he squirmed and bit at me savagely, and showed all of that distrust that the wild creature usually has for man. But when he found that I did not intend to hurt him, he became quiet, and I carried him home in my hat. I found an old squirrel-cage in the garret, and put Gray-brush in it, after which I bathed his back in arnica, and gave him corn and buckwheat. ”

“ The words were scarcely out of Jimmy Rabbit’s mouth when he received a terrific box on the ear. Now, it’s bad enough for anybody to have his ears boxed. But Jimmy’s ears were so big that I dare say it [Pg 55] hurt him three times as much as it would have hurt anyone else. And it surprised him, too. For he hadn’t heard Mrs. Squirrel as she stole up behind him. Anyhow, he ran off howling, taking his mother’s shears with him.
“That awful Rabbit boy!” Mrs. Squirrel said. “A moment more and he would have cut off your beautiful tail—your best feature, too!”
“What’s a feature, Mother?” Frisky asked. ”

“ But, like the rest of the squirrel family, he believed in making the best of what he had; and so he would jump upon the wheel and make it spin around until all you could see was a dim and indistinct circle. When he got tired of scampering away so fast, and never getting anywhere, he would spring from the wheel, and stand on the bottom of his cage twitching his tail over his back and looking at us with his bright eyes. Sometimes when he got very lonely and longed for the woods, oh, so much! ”

“ Frisky had the busiest sort of time following Freddie. It grew so dark that it was very hard to see Freddie Weasel as he [Pg 105] sneaked along through the bushes, hunting for small birds that build their nests on the ground.
Freddie Weasel caught several sleeping birds. And Frisky could not help being sorry for them. He began to feel very guilty for having teased them, and for having eaten their eggs.
Finally it grew so dark that Frisky had just about decided that he would have to give up spying on Freddie and hurry home, when he saw Freddie slip into a hole in a bank and vanish. ”

“ And soon Jasper came flying up as fast as he could come. He made a noise exactly like a red-tailed hawk; but he did not frighten Frisky at all, for Frisky knew all of Jasper’s tricks. Jasper Jay was always trying to scare people by calling like bigger [Pg 14] birds—such as red-shouldered hawks, and red-tailed hawks, and sparrow hawks. ”

“ She had always found her son to be truthful. But this was certainly a queer story. She lay awake a long time that night thinking about the matter. And early the next morning she took Frisky and set out for Swift River. Frisky led her to the very spot where the stone had swum away. ”

“ Crow liked to get folks into trouble.
“Come on!” said Mr. Crow, as Frisky paused beneath the tall tree. “I’m going to fly over to that tree right next the farmhouse. You run along the stone-wall and climb up beside me.”
“Now, then!” said Mr. Crow a few minutes later, when Frisky had joined him. “There’s the window—wide open. And there are the butternuts, lying on the floor.”
Frisky could see great heaps of nuts. And without another word he crept out on a limb that brushed the window-sill and in another moment he was inside Farmer Green’s attic. Frisky forgot to thank Mr. Crow. ”

“ Now, when the horses were walking, the other wagon began to set up a great noise. It reminded Frisky of the time the gristmill began to grind, when he thought the world was coming to an end. Those queer wheels on the wagon began to turn, too. But Frisky didn’t pay much attention to them. ”

“ Mr. Crow explained. “You don’t have to go into the kitchen at all. All you have to do is to climb that big tree close by the house. And you can hop right through the attic window. There’s nobody upstairs in the daytime. In fact, I should call it one of the safest places to go that I know of.”
When Mr. Crow said that, Frisky believed him. Mr. Crow was so old, and so wise, and so solemn, that Frisky thought that anything he said must be true.
“I’m going past Farmer Green’s house right now,” Mr. Crow told Frisky. ”

“ He was a suspicious old chap—which means that he was afraid that if he told Frisky then, Frisky would go off alone and take what corn he wanted without giving Uncle Sammy any.
“To-night!” Frisky exclaimed. “Oh, I don’t stay out late at night, you know, as you do.” Uncle Sammy Coon was known to keep very late hours.
“Well—right after sundown, then,” the old rascal said. “We’ll meet over by the [Pg 42] brook. Don’t tell your mother. It will be a pleasant surprise for her, when you bring home a fine bagful of corn.”
“All right! I’ll be there,” Frisky told him. ”

“ It shore away a large tassel from the bough just overhead, and this fell right on the top of us, frightening Hazel so much that she jumped completely out of the nest, and, if mother had not been after her as quick as lightning, she must have fallen over the edge and probably tumbled right down to the ground and been killed at once. Even a squirrel, particularly a young one, cannot fall fifty feet in safety. ”

“ But you let the buck make you feel sorry for him. You cared for his injury, and now he has left you empty-handed after a whole day of hunting, with only the story of a deer who let you pet him—as if anyone would believe you! You are a fool, Grey Squirrel!”
Then there was a loud rustling near by. All of a sudden, Grey Squirrel heard a voice, calling his name.
“Grey Squirrel!” the voice boomed, echoing in the forest. “Don’t be angry with yourself. I witnessed what you did today. Your tribe will honor you. It takes courage to travel in the forests alone in search of food. ”

“ As he stood motionless, his heavy eyes cast upon the ground, and his knit brow shaded in gloom, a squirrel sprang from the covert upon a decayed branch directly before him, as the sprightly animal stood, with his fearless innocent eyes, glancing around, the miserable man gnashed his teeth, and in the impotence of his rage that any living thing should be happy, aimed a blow, which the active animal eluded, the next instant standing upon the topmost bough of a lofty tree, chattering in his joyous glee. ”

“ My claws just grazed the under side of the oak bough. I fell back, and next moment had plunged with a splash into the swirling waters of the swollen torrent.
The fall carried me far below the muddy surface, [212] but next moment I rose, gasping for breath, and struck out vehemently. I know that it is popularly supposed that a squirrel cannot swim, but that when he wishes to cross a river he launches himself upon a piece of floating bark, and using his tail as a sail, ferries himself across. ”

“ In the summer, I have heard them cracking nuts at 8 p.m. I think they all sleep from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., winter or summer.
I often came upon Fritz having forty winks, on a comfortable branch sheltered from the wind, in the daytime. Squirrels’ claws are so strong and flexible, and cling so firmly, [41] that there is no danger of their falling from any perch, awake or asleep.
It was very interesting and amusing to watch Ruby as she became more and more used to seeing me about. I would open the casement into the squirrel cage, and go back to bed and watch. ”

“ Occasionally in bitter weather, or in early spring (when food is most scarce) , they will furtively creep back to the old squirrel-house—the door of which is always open—to steal the secreted nuts of [13] the Fritz family. And, as proof of their domestic felicity, comes sometimes a mysterious and beautiful young black-tailed squirrel—a tail orange-tipped, with delicate markings of gray.
Is it possible that these two fiery-red beings have produced a creature so unlike themselves? I think it is. Red-haired human parents sometimes have black-haired children, so why should not squirrels? ”