11 The Squirrels That Live in a House

CHAPTER 11 The Squirrels That Live in a House Once upon a time, an elderly gentleman went out into a great forest. He cut away the trees and built a very nice little retirement cottage for him and his wife. It had very large windows. The windows were so large that the gentleman could see through on every side and know what was going on in the forest. He could see the shadows of the fern leaves as they shifted over the ground. He

could see the red partridgeberries and wintergreen plums that fell to the ground beside the trees. He could see the bright spots of sunshine that fell through the branches. He could see the chirping sparrows, robins, and bluebirds building their nests. He watched them as they laid their eggs and hatched their young. He could also see the red squirrels, gray squirrels, and little striped chip-squirrels scampering around the forest. They raced one another from tree limb to tree limb. They chattered happily with one another all day long. Now, a house for a human was a strange thing for all the creatures in the wood. They were very curious about it. While it was being built, the older forest creatures felt very disturbed. Every creature had an opinion about what they thought was going on.

Old Mrs. Rabbit declared that the hammering and pounding made her nervous. She predicted evil times ahead. "Be sure of it, children," she warned her long-eared little ones. "No good will come to us from this cottage building. Wherever humans are, there is trouble for us rabbits." The squirrels that lived in the old chestnut tree were also quite sure that the new cottage spelled trouble for them all. "It's clear that the humans will spoil everything for us. They will take all the nuts from our tree and use them for themselves," warned old Father Gray Squirrel. Old Ground-Mole had to agree. "It will bring down the value of our homes in the forest," he declared. "Every decent-minded creature will want to move away now that the humans are here. I know that's what I will do."

The bluebirds and bobolink birds had more positive thoughts about the humans. But Old Mrs. Ground-Mole remarked that they were a silly bunch of birds. They flew here and there, and were not settled. They could not be expected to understand the forest creatures' attachment to their neighborhood and their opinions were not taken seriously. "Humans never stop in their war against Nature. They create ruin that would take hundreds of years to repair. Humans can destroy in a few hours what it has taken Nature ages to produce," complained the Old Chestnut Tree. "I'd like to see the best of the humans create anything as magnificent as the old oak tree," the Chestnut Tree continued. "Who among these foolish humans could make a tree? And the noise they make—it's ridiculous! In the forest, we do everything quietly. A tree would be ashamed if it made

even half the noise these humans do while it grew. Our manners are perfect. Humans are rude and selfish," the Chestnut Tree complained. The little cottage was finished, even with all the disagreement from the forest creatures. Its walls were covered with pretty paper. Its floors were laid with pretty carpets. Once it was all done, and the garden paths were paved and pretty flowers were planted, even the most doubtful forest creatures changed their minds. The cottage was not so bad after all. One day a black ant went in and explored the cottage. The ant crawled over chairs and tables. It crawled on walls and ceilings. The ant reported in The Crickets' Gazette that the cottage was like a palace on the inside. Several butterflies sailed through the windows and fluttered about. They said the cottage was delightful. Some bees buzzed

through and were enchanted by the cottage, especially by its garden. In fact, it became clear that the humans in this cottage loved Nature as much as the creatures did. The humans watched over and saved the wildflowers and weeds. They watched with great interest as the birds built their nests. They never allowed anything to threaten the creatures around them. Soon enough, every insect and bird and beast in the forest praised the humans. "Mama," asked Little Bit, a young and curious squirrel, "why won't you let Frisky and me go into that pretty new cottage to play?" "My dear," said old Mama Squirrel, "humans set many dangerous traps for us creatures. If you had wings like the butterflies and bees, you could safely enter the cottage and leave whenever you wanted.