I Love Animal Stories. Aesop
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Название: I Love Animal Stories
Автор: Aesop
Издательство: Bookwire
Жанр: Книги для детей: прочее
isbn: 4064066399108
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Seeing how surprised everybody looked, Mother Nature explained. “Both Happy Jack and Rusty bury a great many more nuts than they ever need,” said she, “and those they do not dig up sprout in the spring and grow. In that way they plant ever so many trees without knowing it. Just remember that, Chatterer, the next time you are tempted to quarrel with your cousin, Happy Jack. Very likely Happy Jack's great-great-ever-so-great grandfather planted the very tree you get your fattest and best hickory nuts from.
“Way out in the mountains of the Far West you have a cousin called the Douglas Squirrel, who is really a true Red Squirrel and whose habits are very much like your own. Some folks call him the Pine Squirrel. By the way, Chatterer, Happy Jack forgot to say that you are a good swimmer. Perhaps he didn't know it.”
By the expression of Happy Jack's face it was quite clear that he didn't know it. “Certainly I can swim,” said Chatterer. “I don't mind the water at all. I can swim a long distance if I have to.”
This was quite as much news to Peter Rabbit as had been the fact that a cousin of his own was a good swimmer, and he began to feel something very like respect for Chatterer.
“Are there any other Tree Squirrels?” asked Jumper the Hare.
“Yes,” replied Old Mother Nature, “there are two—the handsomest of all the family. They live out in the Southwest, in one of the most wonderful places in all this great land, a place called the Grand Canyon. One is called the Abert Squirrel and the other the Kaibab Squirrel. They are about the size of Happy Jack and Rusty but have broader, handsomer tails and their ears have long tufts of hair. The Abert Squirrel has black ears, a brown back, gray sides and white underneath. Kaibab has brown ears with black tips, and his tail is mostly white. Both are very lovely, but their families are small and so they are little known.”
With this, Old Mother Nature dismissed school for the day.
Chapter VI
Striped Chipmunk and his Cousins
Of course there couldn't be a school in the Green Forest without news of it spreading very fast. News travels quickly through the Green Forest and over the Green Meadows, for the little people who live there are great gossips. So it was not surprising that Striped Chipmunk heard all about Old Mother Nature's school. The next morning, just as the daily lesson was beginning, Striped Chipmunk came hurrying up, quite our of breath.
STRIPED CHIPMUNK. He has pockets in his cheeks for carrying his food.
“Well, well! See who's here!” exclaimed Old Mother Nature. “What have you come for, Striped Chipmunk?”
“I've come to try to learn. Will you let me stay, Mother Nature?” replied Striped Chipmunk.
“Of course I'll let you stay,” cried Old Mother Nature heartily. “I am glad you have come, especially glad you have come today, because to-day's lesson is to be about you and your cousins. Now, Peter Rabbit, what are the differences between Striped Chipmunk and his cousins, the Tree Squirrels?”
Peter looked very hard at Striped Chipmunk as if he had never really seen him before. “He is smaller than they are,” began Peter. “In fact, he is the smallest Squirrel I know.” Peter paused.
Old Mother Nature nodded encouragingly. “Go on,” said she.
“He wears a striped coat,” continued Peter. “The stripes are black and yellowish-white and run along his sides, a black stripe running down the middle of his back. The rest of his coat is reddish-brown above and light underneath. His tail is rather thin and flat. I never see him in the trees, so I guess he can't climb.”
“Oh, yes, I can,” interrupted Striped Chipmunk. “I can climb if I want to, and I do sometimes, but prefer the ground.”
“Go on, Peter,” said Old Mother Nature.
“He seems to like old stone walls and rock piles,” continued Peter, “and he is one of the brightest, liveliest, merriest and the most lovable of all my friends.”
“Thank you, Peter,” said Striped Chipmunk softly.
“I never have been able to find his home,” continued Peter. “That is one of his secrets. But I know it is in the ground. I guess this is all I know about him. I should say the chief difference between Striped Chipmunk and the Tree Squirrels is that he spends all his time on the ground while the others live largely in the trees.”
“Very good, Peter,” said Old Mother Nature. “But there are two very important differences which you have not mentioned. Striped Chipmunk has a big pocket on the inside of each cheek, while his cousins of the trees have no pockets at all.”
“Of course,” cried Peter. “I don't see how I came to forget that. I've laughed many times at Striped Chipmunk with those pockets stuffed with nuts or seeds until his head looked three times bigger than it does now. Those pockets must be very handy.”
“They are,” replied Striped Chipmunk. “I couldn't get along without them. They save me a lot of running back and forth, I can tell you.”
“And the other great difference,” said Old Mother Nature, “is that Striped Chipmunk sleeps nearly all winter, just waking up occasionally to pop his head out on a bright day to see how the weather is. A great many folks call Striped Chipmunk a Ground Squirrel, but more properly he is a Rock Squirrel because he likes stony places best. Supposing, Striped Chipmunk, you tell us where and how you make your home.”
“I make my home down in the ground,” replied Striped Chipmunk. “I dig a tunnel just big enough to run along comfortably. Down deep enough to be out of reach of Jack Frost I make a nice little bedroom with a bed of grass and leaves, and I make another little room for a storeroom in which to keep my supply of seeds and nuts. Sometimes I have more than one storeroom. Also I have some little side tunnels.”
“But why is it I never have been able to find the entrance to your tunnel?” asked Peter, as full of curiosity as ever.
“Because I have it hidden underneath the stone wall on the edge of the Old Orchard,” replied Striped Chipmunk.
“But even then, I should think that all the sand you must have taken out would give your secret away,” cried Peter.
Striped Chipmunk chuckled happily. It was a throaty little chuckle, pleasant to hear. “I looked out for that,” said he. “There isn't a grain of that sand around my doorway. I took it all out through another hole some distance away, a sort of back door, and then closed it up solidly. If you please, Mother Nature, if I am not a СКАЧАТЬ