The smallest squirrel

Dolores Hans
MSMU class of 2025

(4/2025) There are many animals in the forest with important jobs. The beavers build strong dams, the birds sing beautiful songs throughout the skies, and the bees help pollinate the flowers and make honey. Then there are the squirrels, who help plants and trees grow by burying seeds and acorns in the ground. The trees grow big and tall, and make nice homes for lots of animals.

One day, a small squirrel named Lily came across the biggest acorn she had ever seen. She thought about eating it or playing with it, something that would make her happy. She simply couldn’t decide. Eventually she decided to bury it.

Over the years, that acorn would become the biggest tree in the forest, and many future generations of squirrels would live there.

Now, Stella was the smallest squirrel in the tree. She would watch as her friends and neighbors scurried down the tree trunk each day to do their daily tasks.

From where she sat in the tree, she could see some squirrels go left through the tall grass, the path that led to a riverbank that was covered in fluffy moss. This moss was perfect for making cozy places for other squirrels to sleep in the tree. She knew how important this job was. She liked to picture herself going to see the riverbank herself and bringing back moss for her family to sleep on.

From her place in the tree, she also saw some squirrels go right through the tall grass, the path that led to a row of bushes, which were full of delicious hazelnuts. She loved the taste of this food, and it was especially important to scavenge these tasty treats before the winter.

As the summer came to a close and the autumn leaves began to fall, Stella knew she was old enough to do a job just like the rest of the squirrels. She was so excited to help her family and friends. She got to thinking though, what if she was too small? What if she chose the path to the moss but wasn’t strong enough to carry it back to the tree? What if she chose the path to the bushes but couldn’t reach high enough to take hazelnuts from the branches?

From her spot in the tree, she looked back and forth, from the path on the left to the path on the right. She just couldn’t decide. She asked her mom what she should do. Her mom said "the moss is lighter than you think, and you are plenty strong. The hazelnuts are low to the ground, you would be able to reach them". This helped Stella realize she could do either job just fine, but for some reason she still couldn’t decide. Her mom said, "Do you know how this tree came to be?"

"It came from a big acorn, right?" asked Stella.

"Yes, but the acorn wasn’t put there by accident. A long time ago, there was a squirrel named Lily. She was small like you. She came across the acorn, and was trying to decide what to do with it. Now, she could have eaten it or played with it, or given it to someone else as a gift. But she decided to bury it."

"Why?" asked Stella curiously.

"Because she knew that the acorn might become a big strong tree for her family to live in for many years to come."

"So, Lily was in our family?"

"Yes," said her mother, "so you see, no matter what job you decide to do, as long as you are helping someone else, you are doing something important."

Stella smiled. She loved helping others, and she could do that with both jobs. She slept well that night knowing that when she woke up, she could follow the rest of the squirrels down one of the paths through the tall grass and no matter what she was doing a good thing.

The next morning, as the sun beamed through the treetops, the squirrels scurried one by one down the tall trunk of the tree. Stella leaped off her mossy bed and scurried down too. She was going so fast that she started to trip over herself. She started to tumble down to the ground. When she landed in the dirt, she felt sad. She started to question her path again. If she couldn’t go down the tree without falling, does that make her too small to carry moss or pick hazelnuts? Even if she got up and continued today, she would still have to go down the tree tomorrow and every day after that. She was afraid to fall. Maybe she was too small.

She looked up at the tree and tried to have courage. She remembered Lily, a small squirrel like her, a squirrel who did something important. "If she can do it, so can I", Stella thought. She thought about what her mother said, and about how much she wanted to help people. The idea of falling was scary, but even if she fell every day, it was a struggle she would have to face in order to do something for the good of squirrels in the tree.

She got up out of the dirt and decided to keep going. But there was one problem. From the top of the tree, she could see the paths, but from the ground, she was too small to see over the tall grass. She didn’t know which direction to go in. She started to feel uneasy. Should she wait until someone else came along to direct her? Should she give up and go home? She looked back up at the tree.

Just then, a leaf floated down toward the ground from the top of the tree. It moved with grace and ease. Not certain in a direction, it didn’t have to be. It was just free. Inspired, Stella decided to just take a step forward. She didn’t know if it would lead her to the riverbank or the bushes, she just went. She thought to herself "even if I don’t end up carrying moss or picking hazelnuts, I can still find something important to do. And who knows? Maybe I will come across a big acorn."

The End