It was nine o`clock of a spring morning in the Greenwood when Father Squirrel woke from sleep, tried to stretch himself to the tips of his paws and found no room. Mother Squirrel lay with her little grey nose propped on her three squeaking, restless babies, and the sunlight strayed into the mouth of the nursery drey.

"Yelp!" said Father Squirrel, I really think it`s time we moved house." And he was going to squeeze out when a shadow crossed the doorway and a voice in mock reverence said: "Good luck go with you, O Chief; and good luck and bushy tails to the highborn children, and may they never forget where they hid their nuts."

It was the jaybird – Blue Plume, the mimicker – and we Squirrels of the Greenwood despise Blue Plume because he flies about making mischief. We are afraid of him too, because Blue Plume, more than anyone else in the Greenwood, is apt to go mad, and then flies through the trees imitating every bird in his path. Even the buzzards hide when the mimicker goes mad, for madness is the most disgraceful thing that can overtake a wild creature. We call it The Jumble, for it confuses all the inhabitants of the Greenwood.

Father Squirrel, besides looking for a larger abode, had to bring back food for Mother Squirrel so that she has milk enough for her babies. He said to Blue Plume, "you will never find where we have hidden our acorns and nuts," for he knew what was in the mimicker`s mind to do.

"Other birds, no," said Blue Plume, "but so clever a bird as myself does not have even to look for your secret stores, I can tell at a glance."

Mother Squirrel is angry with Blue Plume and she put her little head out of the hole and told him to BeOff! Mother Squirrel has spirit, and Father Squirrel saw why he chose her from all the others. Blue Plume flew away, chattering and mimicking, while Father Squirrel leapt across the beech branches and disappeared from sight. All the while he was gone, Mother Squirrel worried about the journey she must make, carrying her babies to the new abode. She knew she would have to leave her other kittens alone when Father Squirrel found a new home and they might not be safe from the magpiebird – Motley, the thief – who steals nestlings, and therefore is worse than Blue Plume. Motley is also a raucous chatterer, but far more of a menace.

Father Squirrel signalled that he had found an admirable new drey. So Mother Squirrel left the nursery nest and carried a fur-ball to a neighbouring tree. That was one squirrel-kitten; then she returned to the nursery and carried one more fur-ball to the larger drey and went back for the next one. She had just reached the new home and had set down her last squirrel-kitten, when there was a hullabaloo on the floor of the Greenwood. Something alive had been found under the very tree where Father Squirrel had found their new home.

"It`s a cat-kitten," said the owlbird – The Sage, the wise one – who knew the names of all young things.

"Where is Mother Cat?" Father Squirrel asked.

"She ran away from the dog – Chaser, the hound – who killed her litter of kittens but she carried this surviving one until she could take him no farther. Now, the cat - Yellow Eyes, the stalker - was even more of a threat than any bird in the Greenwood, and could climb the trees and eat eggs and little birds and even squirrel-kittens. Father and Mother Squirrel had many times seen him licking his lips after a raid on a nest, and they feared him more than anybody. But this was not a tom-cat but the family-cat - Mouser, the graceful female - who had been running away from the dog - Chaser, the hound, who had killed her litter of kittens.

Father Squirrel told Mother Squirrel about the little abandoned kitten, and Mother Squirrel said, "bring the kitten-cat here, I will care for it, as if it were my own."

"You don`t know what you are letting us in for, Mother," warned Father Squirrel.

"Yes, I do. We cannot leave that little thing to die for the want of love and a bellyful of milk. Go, bring it to me."

"But it is heavier than our kittens. Moreover, it will grow much bigger. And then what shall we do?"

"If you cannot carry it up here, then get some help. But make haste. I am waiting."

Mother Squirrel fostered the cat-kitten as if it were her own. And they named him Miaowgli.

The adventures of Miaogli are many, and it will take many days to relate.