Wilbur Woodchuck (or groundhog as he is sometimes
called) was sleeping soundly in his large burrow. It was
winter and like many animals he was hibernating, having eaten tremendous
amounts of food in late summer. This extra food turned into fat in his
body which nourished him during his long winter sleep. In the compartments
or rooms of the burrow the woodchuck family was waking up. Mother
Woodchuck was curious about the weather outside for it was February 2,
Groundhog Day. Mother Woodchuck went into Wilbur's room and gave him a nip
on the nose. Wilbur woke slowly and shook his
head. He rubbed his eyes, and crawled
out of bed. He stretched his front feet
forward and his rear feet backwards. He
yawned. Squatting on his rear legs he looked at his
mother and then at his warm soft bed. The young woodchuck bent
down to lay on his side. But Mother Woodchuck nipped him harder
on his toe and he cried. Mother wanted Wilbur to go
outside and check the weather. Wilbur didn't want to go, and he tried to
get away by crawling into the other rooms hoping to find
protection from his family. But Mother was persistent. She chased
him up to the burrow opening. Wilbur had to use his sharp claws
to dig at the entrance for it was full of leaves and
snow.
Now Wilbur really didn't want to go outside. What if it was cold and
snowy? He tried moving in all sorts of wild ways to make
his mother think he was too sick to go out. He stood up tall and
bent to the floor, touching it with his front paws. He
did this five times. Next he squatted and turned
all around at his waist with his front paws up in the
air. That didn't work. Wilbur tried laying and bending
at the waist, bringing his head up to a sitting position
(sit up) five times. He stood tall with
his arms above his head and his feet together. Suddenly he
jumped, throwing his arms over his head and
spreading his legs apart (jumping jack) ten times.
Nothing seemed to work. Wilbur tried laying down and
swinging his legs wildly as if he were riding a bicycle. That did
it! Mother Woodchuck nipped him hard on his nose and he sat
up quickly, rubbing the sore nose and
breathing deeply. He wanted to rest a minute.
Mother told him why it was so important to check the weather. People
depended on the woodchuck on February 2 to tell them about spring. If the
sun was shining and the woodchuck or groundhog saw his shadow, he was
frightened and crawled back into his hole. That meant there would be six
more weeks of winter weather. But if the day was cloudy and the woodchuck
could not see his shadow, he stayed out, meaning spring was coming soon.
Wilbur stood up tall and brave. He marched
toward the opening. He didn't want to be frightened by his shadow
but it was better than getting nipped by his mother again. Slowly he
crawled with his eyes closed. He was
afraid to look. Wilbur opened one eye, then the other.
Something moved behind him! Like a flash the woodchuck
zoomed down the tunnel into the burrow, into his bed and
buried his face. He was shaking.
Mother Woodchuck came after him and nipped him on the tail.
Again poor Wilbur marched through the burrow and
squatted at the opening. He had to be sure of what he saw
to tell his mother so he kept both eyes open. Slowly he
stretched his head out, his neck, two front paws, stomach, back
paws and tail. He turned in every
direction but saw nothing frightening. The sun came out from
behind a cloud and Wilbur saw his shadow but it didn't scare him. The
woodchuck sniffed the air and his shadow.
He climbed backwards into the opening and down into
the tunnel. He scurried into his warm bed and
turned around and around for a comfortable spot. Mother
Woodchuck followed him and wanted to know what happened. He explained how
brave he was for he saw his shadow. That meant six more weeks of winter so
Wilbur was going back to sleep. He yawned and closed his
eyes. |
