Why the Squirrel Coughs

"Why the Squirrel Coughs" by Julia Darrow Cowles is a whimsical children's book that blends humor with lessons about nature and health. Through the curious antics of a squirrel with a cough, young readers are introduced to themes of empathy, curiosity, and the interconnectedness of all living things. The narrative invites children to explore questions about animals, their behaviors, and the importance of caring for the environment, making it an engaging read for both kids and their caregivers.

• Children
• Humour
• Short story

								
A GREAT trickster was Manabozho. He loved to play jokes upon his
friends of the forest.

One day he invited them all to a feast in his wigwam. And every one
came, from the woodpecker and the tiny mouse, to the great moose with
branching horns.

It was a time of scarcity of food, and all were glad to be asked to a
banquet.

But the meat that Manabozho had ready for his guests, he had prepared
by magic--though of that no one knew except himself.

When all had assembled, Manabozho gave to each a portion of meat. The
woodpecker was the first to taste of his, and as he took the delicious
looking morsel in his mouth, it turned to ashes on his tongue, so that
he was choked and began to cough. But the meat looked so good, and he
was so hungry that he tasted again, and again it turned to ashes and
choked him.

Every guest had the same experience. The little mouse, the otter, the
badger, the fox, the wolf, and even the moose tasted his portion and
it turned to ashes on his tongue.

In vain the guests tried to be courteous and to stifle their coughing,
but it grew worse and worse as first one and then another ate of the
meat.

At length there was such a deafening noise in the wigwam, caused by
the chorus of coughing and strangling from so many throats great and
small, that Manabozho picked up a club in pretended anger. Threatening
them with it, he drove them out of doors, where he changed them all to
squirrels.

And that, the Indians tell us, is the reason that the squirrel coughs.
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