“Isn’t it rather unpleasant to live in a stump, after having been queen of the City Wonderful?” asked Tiny, after a moment of silence.
“No, I rather enjoy the change,” returned the queen bee, with a merry buzz. “I hear that my oldest daughter, the princess, is now queen of the City Wonderful, but that she is uneasy all the time, as her next younger sister is almost ready to leave her nursery and fight for the crown. Occasionally there is strife in the City Wonderful, for as soon as a princess leaves her nursery, she wants to rule. I am quite content to live here with my twenty thousand faithful followers. It is better to live peaceably in a stump than with a quarrelsome daughter in a fine palace.”
“I wish you much happiness,” said Tiny, with still another bow.
“Thank you,” replied the queen, testing her gauzy wings. “I learned yesterday from one of my workers that Squirreltown is but a short distance away. Follow the path leading eastward, and you will be there in time for dinner.”
“And what a dinner I shall take to my good mother!” exclaimed Tiny, looking about him.
There was his hunting bag filled with choice acorns. Fully two bushels of beech-nuts and three barrels of pine cones were scattered over the ground. On the blackberry bushes, some of which were five feet high, were at least a dozen gallons of dried berries.
“I warn you that all is not well at Squirreltown,” continued the queen. “They are having a dreadful famine there, and your poor mother may have starved by this time. Fear, want, and anxiety are terrible companions with which to live.”
“What caused the famine?” asked Tiny in alarm.
“Acorns and all the other queer food that squirrels eat are very scarce in Squirreltown just now,” explained the queen; “and, to make it all the worse, the squirrels there were annoyed by a host of bears that took up their abode in the city. As a result, all the inhabitants were afraid to leave their homes. The poor creatures were hungry enough to eat one another.”
“Are there many bears about here?” asked Tiny.