I.
Once upon a time, three fat little prairie dogs lived together in a nice deep burrow, where they were quite safe and warm and snug.
These little prairie dogs had very queer names. One was Jump, another was Bump, and another was Thump.
Well, they lived very happily together until one day Jump said, “I believe I would rather live up on top of the ground than in this burrow.”
“I believe I would, too,” said Bump.
“I believe I would!” said Thump. “I’ll tell you what we can do! Let us each build a house!”
“Let us!” cried Jump and Bump, and away they all scampered up out of the burrow.
Each one ran in a different direction to hunt for something to use in building a house.
Jump gathered some straws.
“These will do,” he thought. “I shall not bother to look for anything else. Besides, they are very light and easy to carry.”
So Jump built a little straw house.
Bump gathered some sticks.
“These will make a nice house. They are quite good enough,” he said.
So Bump built a little stick house.
Thump saw the straw and the sticks, but thought he might find something better.
Pretty soon he came to a pile of stones.
“My, what a fine strong house they would make!” he thought. “They are heavy to move, but I will try to use them.”
So he carried and carried and worked and worked, but finally he had a stone house.