by William Thabiso
It was springtime in the forest, and that means there were lots of new trees, new flowers, and new baby animals – especially chipmunks!
Now, all of the new chipmunks had to go to chipmunk school and be taught about collecting nuts for the winter.
They were told they would need to find lots and lots of nuts all spring and summer and fall, because when the winter came the nuts would fall off the trees, just like the leaves, and then there would be no nuts. So the chipmunks were taught to collect nuts and put them in a safe place until winter. They were told that soon they could find their very own trees for storing their nuts.
Finally the day came that the chipmunks could choose a tree. They were very excited – many of them had already been looking around and had chosen some good trees. All of the chipmunks lined up early on this special day, and when the sun appeared above the mountain top they started their race to find a tree.
All of the fastest chipmunks got to the biggest trees first, and soon, only the smaller trees were left. But that was okay for the smallest chipmunk, because he actually wanted the littlest tree – a very funny, very small tree. He had hoped that no one else would choose it first, and now here he was, standing happily by his cute little tree.
The other chipmunks didn’t understand why he could like it so much; they even laughed at him! But he didn’t mind – he just loved his tree. In fact he loved her so much he promised he would always take care of her for his whole life!
That’s why she decided to give him a gift.
One day when the little chipmunk was taking care of his tree, some chocolate came out of her branches and made the chipmunk’s feet all sticky. He had never heard of a chocolate tree before. In fact, he didn’t even know what chocolate was!
He had to lick himself clean and WOW was he surprised! He had never tasted chocolate before and it was really really good! He told his tree “thank you” that night and went to sleep knowing he really did have the best tree in the whole world!
The next day though, some grown-up chipmunks came and told the little chipmunk that his little tree had one BIG problem – it didn’t have any room for storing nuts! All of the other chipmunks had been gathering nuts for days now and he didn’t have any! How was he going to eat in the winter time? He couldn’t take nuts from the other chipmunks – that was not allowed. They said he had better find a bigger tree and he had better start collecting nuts. He didn’t know how he was going to save any nuts, but he did know he couldn’t leave his tree. He had made a promise to his little tree and he was going to keep it!
He sat down to think. He had to figure out a way to keep his little tree, and still be able to have nuts in the winter. Again the other chipmunks told him to stop wishing for something he couldn’t have – they told him he better find a new tree fast and get to work. But he stayed sitting under his tree, and kept thinking. He had to find a better answer.
As he was thinking, some chocolate dripped on his head. It kept dripping and soon it was running down his face. He was thinking so hard about how to fix his problem that he didn’t realize he was getting covered in chocolate! Soon his whole body was covered – and then he licked his lips. All of a sudden he realized he was covered but before he could be very surprised, he knew the answer!
Quickly the little chipmunk ran to his mom and dad’s tree. He told them to come to his little tree as fast as they could and ran off again. He ran to his friends, he ran to the grown ups; he even ran to the chipmunks that had laughed at him. He invited them all to meet together at his little tree. He told them they each needed to bring one nut.
Soon, all of the chipmunks in the whole forest had gathered around. Even some other animals were there – badgers, song birds, and deer. The little chipmunk ran to the middle of all the animals and began to talk.
“You all know that my tree is too small to save any nuts for the winter.” All of the animals agreed.
“But she is a very special tree, and I can’t leave her.” Many of the chipmunks grumbled and started to tell him how silly he was.
He spoke faster, “But I have an answer that will help everyone here!” The animals listened again.
“Mom, Dad, I want you to taste this nut,” and he handed them a nut, covered in chocolate.
It seemed as if all of the forest was watching to see what would happen. None of them knew why the nut looked different – they thought it must be yucky. Why would the silly little chipmunk try and get his parents to eat a bad nut? But his parents slowly lifted the nut and took a small nibble.
“WOW!” they yelled. “That tastes great! What is it?” The little chipmunk hardly had time to try and explain because now all of the animals wanted a taste. They surrounded him and pushed to get closer. He shouted for everyone to get in line and told them he would dip each nut in the chocolate so they could taste it. Of course all of the animals wanted more. They asked him if they could bring all the nuts they gathered so that they could have chocolate nuts all winter long. This is where the chipmunk announced his solution, “I am happy to give each of you chocolate covered nuts, but it will take all of the time I have. I will be very busy and can not look for nuts myself. But, if each of you would share some of your nuts with me, I can also have enough nuts for winter.”
The forest was quiet again. The little chipmunk worried – would all of the others agree? Did they want the chocolate enough to share their nuts with him? He waited, and waited, and waited. It seemed like they would never answer. He hung his head down; he couldn’t bring himself to look at them if they said no.
The little chipmunk didn’t know what sound he was hearing – at first it sounded a little like raindrops. And then it sounded like a rainstorm. But he wasn’t getting wet. He finally looked up and saw everyone cheering! They were clapping and smiling. He could see they thought his idea was wonderful. All of the chipmunks wanted to share with him! He would have plenty of food to last through winter, and better than that, all of the chipmunks would have chocolate covered nuts!
After all of the chipmunks had gone back home, the little chipmunk had one more visitor. It was the badger. He asked if he could have some of his food covered in chocolate as well. The chipmunk answered that he didn’t really like badger food and didn’t know what he should do. Then the chipmunk had a very good idea – he said the badger could dig a very big hole for the little chipmunk to hold all the nuts the other chipmunks were going to share with him.This made both of them very happy.
Before the chipmunk went to sleep that night, he made sure to spend some extra time with his favorite tree. He also made sure to tell her thank you. He even sang her favorite lullaby three times!
the end.
Question Time
1. What were all the chipmunks taught to do with nuts?
2. What came out of the branches that made the little chipmunk’s feet all sticky?
3. What was wrong with the little tree?
4. What did he ask all the animals in return for chocolate?
5. Who did the chipmunk ask to dig a hole to store his nuts?
