The ground was covered deep with snow, and it was bitter cold in the
forest.
But Mr. Red Squirrel and his family were quite comfortable in their
cozy home.
Mr. Red Squirrel lived with his wife and three children in the hollow
of an old oak tree. They were a thrifty and industrious family.
They always had plenty to eat, besides something laid away for a rainy
day.
That is because Mr. Red Squirrel was very careful about little things,
and brought up his family to be the same.
Before the nuts were fully ripe, the squirrels would climb the trees,
gnaw the stems, and drop the nuts to the ground.
Then they would scamper down and gather them into neat piles. They
would eat some of the new nuts for breakfast, and put the rest away in
the granaries.
They worked hard all the summer and autumn, getting food for the
winter. And never a thing was wasted in Mr. Squirrel's house.
On this cold winter's night Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel and the three little
squirrels sat warm and snug in their home in the old oak tree.
Suddenly there came a tiny tap at the door.
It might have been the wind. Mrs. Squirrel was not sure. She listened.
The sound came again. Yes, some one certainly was knocking at their
door.
Who could it be, this bitter cold night?
Mr. Squirrel got up and opened the door. At first he saw no one.
"Who's there?" he called, in his pleasant, cheery voice.
"It is I, neighbor," answered a weak voice, sadly. "Please let me in!
I am cold and hungry!"
Mr. Squirrel opened the door wide, and said: "Yes, come in, come in.
It is a bitter cold night, to be sure. Come in and let me shut the
door. My tail is nearly frozen just from standing here."
Then there came hopping into the hollow of the tree trunk a rabbit.
Poor Bunny Cottontail, how miserable he did look!
His coat was all dirty and ragged. And his poor little tail hung down
behind instead of standing up straight and stiff, as a rabbit's tail
ought to do.
His ears drooped, and his whiskers were broken and limp. He had
rheumatism in one hind leg, and his eyes, which should have been as
bright as Mr. Squirrel's, were dull and dim.
Altogether he looked as shabby and sad as a bunny could look--not at
all like a respectable, well-brought-up rabbit.
Mr. Squirrel hastened to put poor Bunny into the warmest corner of the
hollow. And Mrs. Squirrel brought him some food, which he ate eagerly.
The little squirrels were so astonished at the rabbit's appearance
that they did not know what to make of him.
When Bunny was warm and rested, Mrs. Squirrel sent her little ones to
bed.
Then she and Mr. Squirrel began to try to find out what had happened
to make their poor neighbor so forlorn.
"How could I help it?" he cried mournfully. "I did not know that it
would be so cold, nor that the snow would be so deep that I should not
be able to get a bit of winter cabbage to eat.
"I am sure I am willing to work. I would take any trouble, but it is
not a bit of use. Indeed, Neighbor Squirrel, I do not see how you have
managed."
And he looked enviously around the neat, warm little nest.
"It was very simple," replied Mr. Squirrel, gravely. "We all helped
and put away part of everything we found. If we found six nuts, we put
away at least three in our storeroom. And nuts and acorns were very
plentiful this autumn.
"So, though the winter is very hard, we shall have plenty. We have
plenty for a friend, too. So eat as much as you will, neighbor, and
don't spare the loaf."
It was very kind of Mr. Squirrel, but he could not help the poor
rabbit much.
Bunny had been such an idle, wandering fellow that he could not be
content to stay with Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel quietly and help to do the
work of their little home. So in a few days he wandered away.
As he shivered in the cold and tried to find enough to eat, he often
wished that he had been as wise and as thrifty as the Squirrel family.
And the Squirrel family, being as kind-hearted as they were thrifty,
often thought of the poor rabbit with pity. They wondered how he was
getting on, but they never heard of him again.