the very gates of death. That he will return with 

 Bobolink, that he will come up alive with the spring 

 out of this dark way, is very strange. 



For he went in most meagrely prepared. He took 

 nothing with him, apparently. The muskrat built 

 him a house, and under the spreading ice turned all 

 the meadow into a well-stocked cellar. The beaver 

 built a dam, cut and anchored under water a plenty 

 of green sticks near his lodge, so that he too would 

 be under cover when the ice formed, and have an 

 abundance of tender bark at hand. Chipmunk spent 

 half of his summer laying up food near his under- 

 ground nest. But Woodchuck simply digged him a 

 hole, a grave, then ate until no particle more of fat 

 could be got into his baggy hide, and then crawled 

 into his tomb, gave up the ghost, and waited the 

 resurrection of the spring. 



This is his shift ! This is the length to which he 

 goes, because he has no wings, and because he can- 

 not cut, cure, and mow away in the depths of the 

 stony hillside, enough clover hay to last him over 

 the winter. The beaver cans his fresh food in cold 

 water; the chipmunk selects long-keeping things 

 and buries them ; the woodchuck makes of himself a 



13 



