Perri Page #3

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She knows by instinct

that survival of her young

depends upon her watchfulness

and tender care.

As late spring turns to early summer,

the time of learning still goes on.

Down at the beaver pond,

the beaver kit is on his way to school.

As a rule, it's Mother

who supplies the transportation here,

while Father,

as the chief construction engineer,

provides the object lesson.

The subject for today is logging,

and everything that Father does,

Baby Beaver tries

on something more his size.

In beaver school,

even scratching is catching.

Nature teaches

many special skills and arts,

and at the wildcats' den,

a primary course for predators

is just about to start.

(MEWING)

The lesson for today

will be how to lie in wait

(GROWLS)

and pounce upon your prey.

(MEWING)

(GROWLING)

The other students,

having learned by observation

all a kitten needs to know,

now sally forth.

A-hunting they will go.

(FROG CROAKING)

"This fellow's tricky.

"Looks pretty dangerous, too.

"More than that, he's awful soft

and sort of sticky."

(CROAKING)

It's the instinct of the predator

to quell the flow of life,

and so these youngsters will try to stop

anything that creeps or crawls or hops.

(MEWING)

This time,

it was a mouse that got away.

A very clever mouse, no doubt of that.

After all, he just outfoxed a cat.

But now what will he do?

Just who's going to outfox who?

(BARKS)

(MOUSE SQUEAKING)

Well, so far, score one for the mouse.

And what's more,

he'll challenge anybody in the house.

(SQUEAKING)

Brother's willing

and knows exactly what to do.

(SNARLING)

"First you grab him,

then a shake or two...

"But what comes next?

"Any suggestions?

"No?

"Oh, well, I guess you just let him go."

(SQUEAKING)

And so, in this time of learning,

many live to run away,

and death can wait for another day.

The young raccoons

are nimble-footed now and strong,

and they've long since entered

the second phase of their training.

Mother's teaching them

to forage for themselves,

and this is a hunting trip.

But it so happens that not far away,

a family of skunks

is also faring forth today,

and this can only lead

to confusion at the crossroads.

(GRUNTING)

(SKUNKS SQUEALING)

The skunks regroup,

hold a council of war,

but it's all over now.

Everything's just as it was before.

Well, not quite.

Mother Raccoon has three, all right,

but not three of a kind,

and as for Mother Skunk,

well, she drew the wrong suit, too.

(GRUNTING)

Another scuffle, another shuffle.

And then each family

goes its separate way again,

but for one at least,

the fun is over much too soon.

He still thinks he's part raccoon.

In the varied diet of the raccoons,

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