PETER, PATTY, AND MR PIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 4042, 1 September 1931, Page 70

PETER, PATTY, AND MR PIP.

BRAVO, SQUIRRELS! (Special for the Otago Witness.)

It was a very nice day, and Peter, * Patty, Mr Pip, and Kitty were resting under a tree after eating an out-of-doors lunch. “ A pleasant picnic,” remarked Peter after a time. “ Perfect,” agreed Patty. Then she looked at the empty bags which had once contained their lunch. I wish we hadn’t eaten all the sandwiches,” she said, “ I’m feeling hungry again.” —- “Well,” said Peter, “have a nut! ” And he picked a nut up from the ground. “Where did you find it?” asked Patty. “Why! ” She suddenly began to scramble on all-fours. “There are dozens about here —and—look Peter! There’s a little hole in the tree with hundreds of nuts in it.” “Oh dear! Oh dear! ” moaned the little Squirrels wiio were watching, “they’ve found our larder. Now what will they do?”

Peter and Patty collected all the nuts they could hold, brought them out, and tried to crack them. But those nuts were hard! “ Cracked any yet? ” asked Patty, biting painfully on one in her mouth. “No! Have you?” replied Peter. “I’m afraid of breaking my teeth. I know—let’s jump on them to break the shells.” So everyone began to jump and stamp on the poor Squirrels’ store of nuts, while the little furry creatures gazed down with tears in their eyes. “Not much good! ” declared Peter at last. “They’re silly old nuts, much too hard to crack this way. Let’s go home for the nut-crackers.” “Three cheers!” chuckled the Squirrels, as they watched them go.

On the way home to fetch the nut-crackers, Peter was talking excitedly about their great “ find ” of nuts. “ You know, I’m very fond of nuts,” he said, “ and now we can ‘have as many as we want.” “ I suppose it was quite safe to leave them on the ground under the tree,” said Patty. “No one will go along and steal them, L hope? ” But her hopes were in vain! No sooner were Peter, Patty, Mr Pip, and Kitty out of sight than Mr and Mrs Squirrel popped down from the branch and started to gather up their harvest of nuts. “ We’ll put them in these paper bags,” said Mr Squirrel. And the little furry pair worked with a will, one eye of each always watching for the return of the thieves.

When the paper bags were full of nuts, Mr Squirrel took one, and Mrs Squirrel took the other, and up the tree they flashed like lightning. Meantime, Peter, Patty, Mr Pip, and Kitty were searching everywhere for the nut-eraekers. “Where on earth can the silly things be,” muttered Peter crossly. “I never can find anything when I want it in a hurry! ” Then Patty gave a little shout. “Here they are! ” she called, standing on a stool in the kitchen and reaching for the crackers, which were on a dresser shelf. “Good! ” said Peter. “Come on! We must get back for the nuts before anyone else finds them.”

“Now we’re ready for them!” smiled Mrs Squirrel, when she and Mr Squirrel were safely on their branch again, with the nuts beside them. “Listen to them! ” laughed Mr Squirrel, his bright little eyes peering into the distance where Peter, Patty, Mr Tip, and Kitty could be seen hurrying back to the tree. “What a surprise they’ll have when they arrive! ” They certainly had a surprise! “Well! ” Patty stopped beside the hole in the tree-trunk and stared in amazement. “Peter! ” she called. “Every single nut has disappeared! There's not a sign of them here! ” “Nonsense! ” gasped Peter, “you’re looking in the wrong place.” “ Come and look for yourself then,” invited Patty. Then everyone looked, and looked, and looked. But those nuts had most mysteriously vanished!

Then two queer voices sounded above them. Looking up, Peter and Patty were astonished to see Mr and Mrs Squirrel seated on the branch with paper bags full of nuts which they were deliberately tipping over. “There, then! ” chuckled Mr Squirrel. “Take the nuts! Allof them! Let them go, my dear! ” He turned to Mrs Squirrel, “Send them down with a good bang! They wanted our nuts in their mouths, but they can have them on their heads instead—and they’re"good, hard nuts! Ha, Ha! ” “Ha! Ha! ” echoed Mrs Squirrel, flinging down the good hard nuts with a will. But the nut thieves didn’t wait any longer. With cries of “Nanny, Nanny! ” they fled home again, leaving the nut-crackers behind in their hurry. “ Now we’ll have to pick them up again,” sighed Mrs Squirrel, “ but the sight of those thieves flying for their lives was worth the trouble.” “ Here are their nut-crackers,” said Mr Squirrel presently, “ but we can throw them away. We don’t need them: ” “No fear! ” laughed Mrs Squirrel, “we only want our own nuts! ”