120 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



chuck who had dug his lodge under the rocks near the pine, and a 

 frog who lived in a marshy place by the side of the river over which 

 the pine cast its shadow. 



The invisible Nuk-da-go listened. Said the frog: "I wonder who 

 could so cruelly deprive poor Jo-nis-gy-ont of his industrious 

 gleanings"; and with tears dropping from his eyes seemed to grieve 

 greatly. The woodchuck was indignant, declared it an outrage, and 

 inveighed most bitterly against the robber who had found the hiding 

 place of Jo-nis-gy-ont, but the wary squirrel knew they were his 

 only neighbors who cared for nuts, and received their sympathy 

 with suspicious silence. 



Thought Nuk-da-go as he listened, " Something wrong is going 

 on here, I will investigate." 



At midnight the invisible Nuk-da-go entered the forest on his 

 customary tour of inspection, and pausing near the pine his quick 

 ear caught a strange sound. 



Down by the rock side he saw a woodchuck digging the earth 

 which flew in great drifts behind him. " Strange," thought Nuk- 

 da-go, " he finished his lodge long ago." And suspicious Nuk-da-go 

 watched. 



Deeper and still deeper the woodchuck dug, frequently disap- 

 pearing for a time and returning with his cheeks bulging out like 

 bags puffed with wind, and skulkingly looking around to be sure 

 that nothing saw him, one by one he dropped in the hole the hickory 

 nuts which distended his cheeks. 



All the night through Nuk-da-go watched while the woodchuck 

 continued his trips for the nuts, but when the sun came he hid 

 in his burrow. 



" Too many nuts — too far from the tree — this is a pine forest — 

 the hickory grows hours away," thought the wise Nuk-da-go. " To- 

 morrow at midnight I will return." 



On the following night Nuk-da-go watched and saw the wood- 

 chuck carefully concealing the hole with grass. " Who would think 

 a deep little pit was under those grasses," said Teh-do-oh to him- 

 self, as he sat near the rock and complacently slicked his hair. 



Wise and suspicious Nuk-da-go still lingered. As noon ap- 

 proached he peered through the shade of the pine and down by 

 the marsh saw a frog disappear under a moss-covered stone from 

 which he cautiously peeked, his bright eyes blinking to themselves 

 in their cunning. The frog could jump far when bearing no load, 

 but so freighted was he that he could only hop slow to the marsh 

 where he disgorged several nuts which he pushed well under the 

 moss. 



