His cousins are great climbers and could get the nuts still left on the trees , but Mr. Chipmunk is a poor climber , so he had to be content with those on the ground . Of course he could carry only one nut at a time and his legs were so short that he had to run as fast as ever he could to store each nut in his secret store-house and get back for another . And while the others quarreled and fought , he hurried back and forth , back and forth , from early morning until jolly , round , red Mr. Sun pulled his night cap on behind the Purple Hills , hunting for nuts and putting them away in his secret store-house . `` But the nuts grew scarcer and scarcer on the ground and harder to find , for the other squirrels were picking them up too , and then they did not have so far to carry them . `` Sometimes one of his cousins up in the trees would drop a nut , but Mr. Chipmunk never would take it , not even when he was having hard work to find any , ` for , ' said he to himself , ` if my cousin drops a nut , it is his nut just the same . ' `` Finally Mr. Gray Squirrel announced that he had got his thousand nuts . Then Mr. Fox Squirrel announced that he had got his thousand nuts . The next day Mr. Red Squirrel stopped hunting because he had his thousand nuts . `` But Mr. Chipmunk had hardly more than half as many . And that night he made a dreadful discovery -- some one had found his secret store-house and had stolen some of his precious nuts . '' ` It 's of no use to cry over what ca n't be helped , ' said Mr. Chipmunk , and the next morning he bravely started out again . He had worked so hard that he had grown thinner and thinner until now he was only a shadow of his old self . But he was as cheerful as ever and kept right on hunting and hunting for stray nuts . Mr. Gray Squirrel and Mr. Fox Squirrel and Mr. Red Squirrel sat around and rested and made fun of him . Way up in the tops of the tallest trees a few nuts still clung , but his cousins did not once offer to go up and shake them down for Mr. Chipmunk . `` And then old Mother Nature came down across the Green Meadows . First Mr. Gray Squirrel took her to his storehouse and she counted his thousand nuts . Then Mr. Fox Squirrel led her to his storehouse and she counted his thousand nuts . Then Mr. Red Squirrel showed her his store-house and she counted his thousand nuts . `` Last of all Mr. Chipmunk led her to his secret store-house and showed her the pile of nuts he had worked so hard to get .
Old XXXXX Nature did n't need to count them to see that there were not a thousand there . ''
Mother Red Squirrel Sun climber climbers morning night right store-house