Squirrel’s lesson to us

Many a time out in the bush I have been part of a search for an elusive something as pointed out by a chirping squirrel only to find that the elusive something was something innocuous like a branch that happened to look like a snake or some other such object of terrifying similarity. To this day, I still check it out when a Squirrel is losing his mind because you never know what he might be alarmed by.

What follows is a recount of a story told by the Hambakushu people...

On a clear summers day, when the grass was long and sky was blue, there sat a Squirrel with sharp eyes upon a perch high up in a tree. Squirrel happened to be looking down towards the ground searching for tasty morsels of food that he could go and gather up when he happened to spy a Spotted Bush Snake slithering through the long grass not too far from the tree that he had made his seat in.

Now Squirrel unleashed his mightiest of squeaks and did so repeatedly until the Snake was forced to just curl up and try to hide in the grass, for this Snake knew that he had no way of defending himself from others. Lion was nearby and decided to come over and investigate all the commotion. Lion approached the base of the tree, utilising all the stealth he possessed for he knew Squirrel usually only called with danger around, where upon reaching the tree he discovered Snake curled up at its base. With a grumpy humph Lion stalked off cursing Squirrel for wasting his time with such a harmless snake and one which would prove to be less than a mouthful for him muttering how he would never trust Squirrel’s silly squeaking again.

Now this did not deter Squirrel and he kept up his incessant squeaking. Leopard caught wind of the disturbance and she too approached the tree with as much caution as she could muster. Once she reached the tree she too gave a snort of derision once she laid eyes on the cowering Snake and angrily stalked off murmuring about the wasted time and energy on such an insignificant and harmless morsel.

Squirrel still did not cease his constant chittering until yet another passer by became intrigued by his distress. This time it was a bold Dwarf Mongoose who approached with all due care as befitting the alarm raised by Squirrel. Upon setting eyes on the Snake, Mongoose pounced and in 3 bites gobbled up Snake as quick as she could. She looked up to where Squirrel had now ceased his barrage and called up in thanks for alerting her to the potential meal.

Squirrel watched as Mongoose sauntered off and said quietly in his now hoarse voice “One can never know what one will be safe from, to some you are insignificant and to others you are a treat” whereupon he bounded over to the next tree to continue his search for tasty morsels of food that he could go and gather up.