Look at
those flowers that droop their blossoms down to its glassy surface,
and the white lilies that rest upon its bosom,--will you see anything
fairer or better if you leave this place? Stay at home and be contented."
"If I hear any more grumbling," said their father, "I shall pinch your
ears and tails." So the little squirrels said no more, but I am sorry
to say they did not pay much heed to their wise old mother's counsels;
for whenever they were alone, all their talk was how to run away, and
go abroad to see the world, as their black cousin had called the new
settlement down the lakes. It never came into the heads of the silly
creatures that those wonderful stories they had been told originated
in an artful scheme of the greedy black squirrel, to induce them to
leave their warm pleasant house in the oak, that he and his children
might come and live in it, and get the hoards of grain, and nuts, and
acorns, that their father and mother had been laying up for winter
stores.
Moreover, the wily black squirrel had privately told them that their
father and mother intended to turn them out of the nest very soon, and
make provision for a new family. This indeed was really the case; for as
soon as young animals can provide for themselves, their parents turn them
off, and care no more for them.
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