Teenie Weenie Neighbors (eBook, PDF)

TH E Teenie Weenies have a great many pleasant neighbors among the birds, chipmunks, mice, squirrels, and rabbits that live near Teenie Weenie Town. One reason for this is that the town stands in a great tangle of weeds, briers, and bushes where big people never go. Small animals and birds live in this brushy spot for exactly the same reason as the Teenie Weenies — to keep out of the way of big folks. It isn't because they dislike big people that the Teenie Weenies and their neighbors choose this tangled spot, but because they are all so very small. Most-big people would never think of harming little creatures but they are often careless, and a very simple thing sometimes becomes a great accident to such small folks. Once a careless boy threw a snowball into the thicket where the Teenie Weenie town stands. The ball landed near the Chinaman's laundry and rolled into the old teapot, completely wrecking the tiny steps that lead up to the doorway. If the Chinaman had been standing on those steps, it would have been the last of that quaint little chap. A banana peel is tossed aside very easily by big people, but if it should fall on a Teenie Weenie that would be just as dangerous to him as it would be for a big person to have half the roof of a large house hit him. It takes three or four of the strongest Teenie Weenies to drag a banana peel over the ground. Big people are very curious about small animals and birds and often try to catch them. That is why the birds and animals almost always live in places where big people seldom go. Many big people would love to capture a Teenie Weenie and keep it in a cage, but a Teenie Weenie would not like that any more than a big person would like to be caught by a giant. That is one of the reasons why Teenie Weenies keep out of sight. Living so near to the birds and small animals, the Teenie Weenies naturally make friends with these neighbors. The little people have found out that the birds and animals can be most neighborly and helpful, and the Teenie Weenies often help the birds and animals too. Nick, the squirrel, is one of their close friends. He helps the Teenie Weemes dig their vegetables with his sharp claws. He sometimes pulls their sled when they are storing up nuts for winter use, and the Teenie Weenies help Nick gather nuts for his own storehouse.