Chestnut was a little mouse that lived in an old tree. In the springtime,
when the flowers bloomed and butterflies fluttered by, Chestnut sat in his
hole and watched the pink, blue, and yellow flowers dance in the gentle
breezes. In the summer it was a nice place to live. He was warm and had a
lot of shade. In the autumn, when the leaves fell to the ground, all he
had to do was look outside his old tree and see gold, red, yellow, and
orange all around him. When winter came, it was a different story.
Snowflakes fell and piled up on the ground, all the way to his hole.
“Brrrrr. I wish I had a hat, and a warm pair of gloves, and a scarf.”
Sometimes a cold wind blew into the hole and Chestnut would shiver and
shiver.
One
day, when it wasn’t snowing, he ran out of his hole to see if he could
find an acorn, or some seeds to nibble on. He was very hungry. He heard
the noise of a bird chirping. It sounded like it was hurt. Chestnut ran
over to find the bird. A sparrow lay on the snow. It hurt its wing and was
chirping with pain. “Can I help you, little sparrow?” Chestnut asked.
“Yes, you can go and get a stick and tie it to my wing, to keep it
straight. If you do that, then I can fly back to my nest and not be on the
ground. I don’t want a cat to eat me, or a fox, or even a bear,” the
sparrow said.
Chestnut looked all around and found a small stick. He took it to the
sparrow. “Will this do?”
“Yes. Tie it with some string to my wing.”
“Where will I find string?” The mouse looked all around.
“Run
up the tree and pull a piece out of my nest,” the sparrow said.
Chestnut ran up the tree. He pulled a piece of string out and ran back
down to the sparrow. “I’ve got it.” He tied the twig to her wing.
She
stood up and wiggled it around. “Thank you, Chestnut. I’ll fly back to my
nest and it will heal in a few days. I think I’ve got enough worms to last
me.” Chestnut watched as the bird flew slowly to its nest.
The
next day the mouse looked all around and found a worm. He pulled it out of
the frozen ground and took it to the bird. “Thank you. That was nice of
you to bring me a worm.” Each day he took the sparrow a worm, or some
seeds.
A
few days later there was a bad storm. The wind blew and the trees shook.
Chestnut was nearly frozen. He heard a knock on his tree and looked
outside. There was the sparrow. In her beak she had a pair of gloves, a
scarf, a hat, and a tie. “These are for you, for helping me. I can fly
well now. Thank you.” The sparrow flew away.
Chestnut put the tie around his neck. He slipped on the gloves, the hat
and the scarf. “I’ll never be cold again.” And he wasn’t. |