Cold weather, snow and ice don't worry me a bit."
"I know," spoke up Striped Chipmunk. "I sleep most of the winter
myself. Of course I have a lot of food stored away down in my
house, and once in a while I wake up and eat a little. Do you
ever wake up in the winter, Johnny Chuck?"
"No," replied Johnny. "I sleep right through, thank goodness.
Sometimes I wake up very early in the spring before the snow is
all gone, earlier than I wish I did. That is where my fat comes
in handy. It keeps me warm and keeps me alive until I can find
the first green plants. Perhaps you have noticed that early in
the spring I am as thin as I was fat in the fall. This is
because I have used up the fat, waiting for the first green
things to appear."
"Do you have many enemies?" asked Peter Rabbit, who has so many
himself that he is constantly thinking of them.
"Not many, but enough," growled Johnny Chuck. "Reddy Fox, Old Man
Coyote, men and Dogs are the worst. Of course, when I was small I
always had to be watching out for Hawks, and of course, like all
the rest of us little folks, I am afraid of Shadow the Weasel.
Reddy Fox has tried to dig me out more than once, but I can dig
faster than he can. If he ever gets me cornered, he'll find that I
can fight. A small Dog surprised me once before I could get to my
hole and I guess that Dog never will tackle another Woodchuck.
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