THE DISCONTENTED sQuIRREL. Lo

them, and at the approach of winter, set out for some
remote country, where they enjoy summer weather all
the year round. My neighbour Cuckoo tells me he is
just going ; and even little Nightingale will soon fol-
-ow. ‘To be sure, I have not wings like them, but I
have legs nimble enough; and if one do not use them,
one might as well be a mole or a dormouse. I dare
say | could easily reach that blue ridge which I see
from the tops of the trees; which no doubt must be a
fine place, for the sun comes directly from it every
morning, and it often appears all covered with red and
yellow, and the finest colours imaginable. There can
be no harm, at least, in trying, for I can soon get back
again if I don’t like it. I am resolved to go, and I will
set out to-morrow morning.”

When Squirrel had taken this resolution, he could
not sleep all night for thinking of it; and at peep of
day, prudently taking with him as much provision as
he could conveniently carry, he began his journey in
high spirits. He presently got to the outside of the
wood, and entered upon the open moors that reached
to the foot of the hills. These he crossed before the
sun had got high; and then, having eaten his break-
fast with an excellent appetite, he began to ascend. It
was heavy, toilsome work scrambling up the steep sides
of the mountains; but Squirrel was accustomed to
climbing; so for a while he proceeded expeditiously.
Often, however, was he obliged to stop and take breath;
so that it was a good deal past noon before he had
arrived at the summit of the first cliff.’ Here he sat
down to eat his dinner; and looking back, was wonder-
fully pleased with the fine prospect. The wood in
which he lived lay far beneath his feet; and he viewed
with scorn the humble habitation in which he had been
born and bred.

‘When he looked forward, however, he was somewhat
discouraged to observe that another eminence rose
above him, full as distant as that to which he had
already reached; and he now began to feel stiff and