Once upon a time in the kingdom of Stark, the King was walking through the woods. As he came to a clearing he heard a great commotion. Curious, he went to see what was happening. There in the center of the clearing was a family of Blue Jays yelling and screaming. The King, always concerned about the welfare of his subjects, went up to the leader of the Blue Jays and asked what was all the commotion about? Well, said the leader, someone has stolen our peanuts. "How could this be?", asked the King. No one steals in my Kingdom. If you find out who is doing this come to see me and I will take swift action.

A week passed and the King heard nothing from the Blue Jay. Now, once a month, the King holds open court so that his subjects can bring disputes to him to settle. On such a day, the King entered the great hall to find the room filled with his subjects. There, in front, was the Blue Jay that he had talked to in the woods. With him was his family, a group of Mourning Doves, Sparrows, House Finches, just to name a few. What a clatter they made in the great hall. The King had to put his hands over his ears, the noise was so loud. The King called the meeting to order and the Blue Jay came forward to tell his story.

Someone has been stealing our peanuts and we found out who it is. A family of Squirrels has moved into the woods and they are the ones who are raiding our storehouse of peanuts. We are here to ask the King to do something to stop it, said the Blue Jay. Squirrels you say, says the King. We have never had Squirrels living in the Kingdom. The King not knowing much about Squirrels said, I will have to consult the Great Wizard.

So off the King went to consult with the Wizard, who knows everything, in the great library in the castle. The Wizard searched the library for a book on squirrels. Finding it he opened it and read, Squirrels are very clever fellows, could climb just about anything and jump large distances. The Wizard thought about it for a while and then suggested to the King that special barriers be built around the storehouses. The King immediately returned to the throne room and called in his carpenters and instructed them to build the barriers to the Wizard’s design.

Now, the King was a very curious fellow, so when all was prepared, he hid behind a tree to watch what would happen when the Squirrels returned to raid the peanuts. The King did not have long to wait. The first Squirrel climbed the pole that lead to the storehouse of peanuts and when he came to the barrier, as hard as he tried, he could not get to the peanuts. He then returned to the ground and circled the storehouse. As he did he would sit down, twitch his tail, cock his head, look at the peanuts and say out loud, "How am I going to get to the peanuts". After circling several times he finally came to a tree, measuring out the distance to the storehouse, he climbed the tree and jumped to the roof and entered. The King would not be put off so he returned to the castle and called in the carpenters, instructing them to move the storehouse away from the tree. The problem was solved.

The King returned to the castle a happy king. Unfortunately, the Queen was not happy. She said, "How could you be so happy when you have a starving Squirrel family living in your kingdom?". The King thought about it and said, "You are right, I will build a special peanut storehouse for the squirrel family".

The following month the King was once again walking through the woods. As he came to the same clearing he heard someone yelling and screaming. This time it was the Squirrel family that had a problem. It seems that someone was stealing their peanuts. The King said that if they would find out who is stealing their peanuts, he would see that it is stopped.

When the King held open court the following week, the Squirrel family was there. The King asked them to come forward and tell their story. It seems that the Blue Jays were now stealing the Squirrels peanuts. The King said that he would consult with the Wizard and see what he could do.

Again the King went to consult the Wizard on how to solve this new problem. The Wizard said, "Remember, Squirrels are very clever, so what we have to do is to build a door that only the Squirrels know how to open." The King rushed back to the throne room and called in the carpenters to build a special door to the Squirrel storehouse, which they did.

Peace reigned, and again, the King could enjoy his walk through the Kingdom of Stark.

End of Story