HOW THE GRASS GREW 33 



" Thank you, dear patient little Oak ! I will 

 put some sticks around you, so that no one shall 

 crush you until you grow big enough to stand by 

 yourself. You fell from the great Oak above ; 

 but how did the other trees, that I see in the 

 grass, come here? I am sure that there are no 

 others with leaves like theirs, nearby." 



" Pr-r-r-r-ink ! Pr-r-r-ink. Pr-u-p ! Pr-u-p ! 

 Pr-r-r-ink," chattered a voice from a branch of 

 tlu! great Oak that reached over Tommy- Anne's 

 head. She knew before looking up that it was 

 Adjidaumo, the Red Squirrel, who was talking 

 and scolding. 



There he sat, his tail curved up over his back, 

 his round ears twitching, his poppy eyes gazing 

 several ways at once, while he munched at a 

 bunch of apple blossoms that he held between his 

 front paws. 



"Pr-r-r-ink ! Pr-r-r-r-r ! " he called again, turn- 

 ing suddenly about, so that he faced her. 



"Well, Mr. Rattle, what have you to say? Do 

 you know how the seeds of the other trees came 

 here," she asked, shaking her finger at him, for 

 they were old friends. 



" Certainly I do ; that is, of a part of them at 

 least. I live in a hole under this tree, and my 

 nest is up in the cedar yonder; and often 



