FRIENDLY ENEMIES, THE ANIMALS 



/^UCH! Oh my! I wonder what is the matter 

 with me. I can hardly move," cried Stripes, 

 the striped ground squirrel, one day in April, as he 

 tried to unroll from the ball he had formed himself 

 into last October when he went into his long sleep. 

 He was nearly two feet under ground, in a nice warm 

 nest which he had constructed, and here he had 

 passed the winter. His sleeping chamber had been 

 carefully carpeted with soft grasses, while an ad- 

 joining subterranean chamber had been set apart for 

 storage of his food during inclement weather. Here 

 he had cached kernels of com he had taken from 

 Farmer Johnson's corn field. The wheat heads 

 which were cut by his sharp teeth from the nearby 

 wheat field were also placed here, as were the roots 

 and grasses of the pasture. 



During the summer and fall he had grown quite 

 sleek and fat, so one chilly, rainy day in October he 

 decided he would take a nap, and before he knew it 

 he fell fast asleep, so sound asleep that he did not 

 awaken until the warm April sun had warmed 



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