Nick Chopper left his cabin to begin a day of work. He was in an exceptionally good mood. He loved his work in the forest, but his trip to town yesterday had been exhilarating. The woodsman was still floating on a cloud from the experience. Despite being fully dressed, he had failed to notice that his buttons were all in the wrong button holes and his stomach was audibly growling because he had forgotten breakfast. It is doubtful that he would have cared much had he noticed these things, though. His mind was much more agreeably occupied.
As he pictured the beautiful girl that he had met in the market, he held his axe before him. His feet whirled him around the clearing in a waltz. The axe didn't make a perfect partner, being not well balanced for dancing, but Nick had been carrying it since he was a small child and had mastered the art of being able to keep control of it at all times with little thought or effort.
A squirrel sat watching the waltz from his perch high in a nearby tree.
"Hey, Woodsman!" the squirrel yelled down to Nick. "You should eat before you make yourself dizzy!"
Nick stopped dancing and looked up at the squirrel.
"How do you know that I haven't already eaten?" he asked. The squirrel laughed.
"Woodsman, we all know when you wake up. You clomp around like you're made of metal!"
Nick scowled up at the squirrel, but his good mood wouldn't let him be annoyed for long.
"If you know I haven't eaten, why don't you offer to share your breakfast?"
"You want me to share?" asked the squirrel with a grin. "Catch!"
And suddenly Nick was being pelted by nuts.
'Well,' he thought as he ducked back into his cabin, 'maybe I should build a new home to live in with Nimmie Amee. Somewhere with better neighbors!'