THE DISCONTENTED SQUIRREL 67 
until he found himself in a place where it was all 
stony, without trees and bushes or even grass; 
and there was no food to be found, and no shelter 
from the cold, violent wind. 
He could go no farther, and the summit was 
still far, far above him. Hunching himself up on 
the stony ground, with his nose down between his 
paws and his bushy tail spread along his back, he 
began to reflect on his condition. 
Why had he not taken into account that he 
could not travel like a bird with wings to bear him 
through the air, and over hills and rivers and long 
stretches of rough country? And when he asked 
the birds how long it would take them to reach 
that happy land of everlasting sunshine beyond the 
blue ridge, had they not answered in a careless way, 
as if they thought little of it, “Oh, not long; two 
or three weeks, according to one’s powers”? And 
it never occurred to him that a bird can fly farther 
in half an hour than a squirrel can travel in a whole 
day! Now, when it was too late, when he could 
not go forward, and his home was too far, far 
behind him, he remembered and considered these 
things. Oh poor squirrel! Oh miserable end of 
all your happy dreams! 
And while he was sitting hunched up, shivering 
with cold and thinking these bitter, desponding 
thoughts, a passing kite. spied him, and swooping 
down, snatched him up in his talons and carried 
him off. Little strength had he now to struggle, 
and at his least movement the sharp, crooked claws 
