University of Virginia Library

1. I
JOHNNIE AND BILLIE LEARN TO JUMP

SAMMIE and Susie Littletail, the rabbits of whom I told you in the book just before this, lived in an underground house called a burrow, but Johnnie and Billie Bushytail had their home in a nest on a tall tree. No, they were not birds, though they did live in a nest. Yes, you have guessed it. They were squirrels.

Once upon a time Billie and Johnnie, who were brothers, lived with their papa and mama in a nice nest, on the Orange Mountains, but one day the papa and mama squirrels

were caught in a trap by a boy. He did not mean to be cruel, but he did not know any better, so he took the two poor, frightened squirrels away with him. He put them in a nice cage, with a wheel that whirled around faster than the fastest merry-go-round you ever rode upon.

The boy gave the squirrels nice things to eat, and was very kind to them, but of course he did not know that they would much rather have been let loose, to run in the woods. They would rather have done this than play all day in the wire house with the whirling wheel, that went around so fast. But the boy kept Mama and Papa Bushytail shut up, though one day they got loose, and, oh, how glad they were! But I am not going to tell you about that now. I will save that for another story and for this time I will tell you how Johnnie and Billie

Bushytail learned to jump.

When their papa and mama were taken away from them, the little boy squirrels were much frightened, until their grandpa came for them, and took them home with him.

“You and I will have to look after Billie and Johnnie until their papa and mama come back,” said Grandpa Lightfoot to Grandma Lightfoot, for that was their name. They could jump from a tall tree and land on one lower down so lightly that you could not hear them. That is why they were called Lightfoot.

“Yes, we will take good care of them,” agreed Grandma Lightfoot, and she arranged the softest leaves she could find in the nest on the tall oak tree, so Johnnie and Billie would sleep well.

The two little squirrels lived with their

grandparents for several weeks, until Johnnie and Billie were pretty well grown. All this while they stayed in the nest, or else went only a little way out on a limb, for they were afraid of falling.

One day Grandpa Lightfoot said to his wife:

“I think it is time we taught Johnnie and Billie to jump. They are getting big now and will soon have to learn to gather nuts and things for themselves.”

“It is a good idea,” agreed Grandma. “I will watch you teach them.”

So Grandpa Lightfoot took the two little boy squirrels to the edge of the nest.

“We will begin with a very easy lesson,” said he. “You see that big limb down there?” and he pointed to one about ten feet away.

“Yes,” said Billie, “I see it.”

“I see it, too,” added Johnnie, who did not want his brother to get ahead of him.

“Well, watch me jump to it,” said Grandpa, and, though he was quite an old squirrel, he jumped and landed on it, just as a man in a circus leaps over the elephants.

“Now you two boys try it,” suggested Grandpa, as he scrambled up the tree, digging his sharp claws into the bark.

“I — I'm afraid,” answered Billie.

“So am I,” echoed his brother.

“Oh, nonsense!” exclaimed Grandpa. “It can't hurt you. Look, I will jump again,” which he did, even better than before.

But still the two little boy squirrels were afraid, and they stayed on the branch close to the nest.

“If you jump, you shall have some hickory nut pudding for supper, and I will have Jennie put some acorn sauce on it,” promised Grandma Lightfoot.

Oh, I forgot to tell you that living with the Lightfoot family was a little orphan girl named Jennie Chipmunk. She was a jolly little girl, always laughing and happy. She used to wash and dry the dishes and help Grandma Lightfoot. But even the promise of hickory-nut pudding with acorn sauce on it would not make Billie and Johnnie jump. They were afraid, and, though Grandpa and Grandma, and even Jennie jumped several times to show them how it ought to be done, they would not try.

Then, all at once, when the old squirrels were down on a far limb, what should come flying out of the woods but a big owl. He wanted to eat Billie and Johnnie and he swooped right at them. Then they were too frightened to stay up there alone on the limb by the nest, and they jumped down where

[Description: Full page color illustration by Louis Wisa. Two squirrels dressed in jackets jump around in a tree, while two other similarly-dressed squirrels sit watching them.]

their Grandma and Grandpa were, and the owl did not get them.

“Fine!” cried Grandpa Lightfoot. “You have at last learned to jump!”

“Now, if you do not pull the cat's tail once to-morrow, I shall tell you, to-morrow night, how Billie Bushytail found some Christmas nuts.