“Certainly not,” Nibble assured her. “It happened back when the world was young and the new creatures were choosing where they would live. Some chose the mountains and some the plains, some the sea and some the air. But my great-great-great-great—I can’t know how many greats I ought to use—grandfather sat back on his elegant fluffy tail and wondered about it.
“Right near him sat a queer, snaky-looking animal. He had pricked up ears and a bushy tail but his voice was a hissy whisper. He was talking to a crowd of beasts and birds and they couldn’t take their eyes off him. No wonder, for the things he said made my great-grandfather’s ears stiff just to listen to.
“Mother Nature came by and she was very busy. ‘Speak up, you with the tall ears,’ she said. ‘Where do you choose?’
“‘Please,’ said my great-grandfather, ‘I don’t choose at all yet. I just want to live on the earth until I see what these things are eating.’
“‘Oh, ho!’ remarked Mother Nature, looking at him very hard. ‘You see with more than your ears. And what are you eating your own self?’
“‘A nibble here and a nibble there,’ answered my great-grandfather, ‘but I take nothing that will not be again as it was before.’
“‘Good!’ said Mother Nature. ‘Make your choice when you please and it shall be as you wish.’ Then she turned to those others near him. ‘Who are you?’ she asked the strange-looking one, ‘and where do you choose?’
“‘I’m the Weasel,’ he answered. ‘I came up from under the earth.’
“‘Ah,’ sighed Mother Nature, ‘I knew some of you would get here. But choose.’
“‘I shall live anywhere I can lay my foot,’ announced the Weasel boldly. ‘And I shall eat fish, flesh and fowl, whatever I can catch.’ And the other beasts all nodded at one another.