“No,” said the oldest, wisest oak, “we must not risk, foolishly, the lives of our acorns. We could do nothing against so many.”
All the acorns had been listening to what the tree said. Each one longed to help in finding out the great secret.
One of them became so excited that he fell from the limb, down upon the hard ground. He did not stop at the foot of the tree, but rolled over and over, far down into the valley.
Here a brook picked him up and hurried him away; but as he stopped to rest by a stone, he heard his good friend, the wind, talking to a pine tree.
“What is the secret of fire which the pine trees know?” asked the wind. “Don’t you think it is selfish to keep it all to yourselves?”
The pine tree loved the wind and answered:
“Great wind, it is, indeed, a wonderful secret; you must never tell it.” Then she whispered it to the wind.
The little acorn went on and on down the stream.
He came to an old log, which was the home of a large family of squirrels. The mother squirrel was very sad. The last flood had brought her and her children far away from her old forest home. Her family had all been saved, but food was scarce and winter was near.
The acorn felt very sorry for her and said: