“First of all, you must know that Seek-Seek is an old family name which has been handed down just as the pattern of my coat has been.  The very first of all my great-great-grandfathers was called Seek-Seek.  When Old Mother Nature made Seek-Seek she must have had two families in mind at one time, the Marmot family and the Squirrel family, for she made him a little like each, so that in his looks he sort of fitted in between the two.  Mother Nature told him that he was a member of the Squirrel family and set him free to find a place for himself in the Great World.

“Now it didn’t take Grandfather Seek-Seek long to find out that though he might be a member of the Squirrel family, Old Mother Nature had failed to furnish him with the right kind of claws for climbing trees, as most of his cousins did.  True, he could climb a little, but it was not easy, and he felt anything but comfortable off the ground.  But if those claws were of little use for climbing they were splendid tools for digging, just as are the claws of the Marmot family.  So Old Mother Nature must have been thinking of the Marmots when she fashioned those claws.

“At first Seek-Seek wandered about trying to find a place for himself in the Great World.  Being a Squirrel, he tried to live as did his cousins, Mr. Red Squirrel and Mr. Gray Squirrel, but on account of those claws he didn’t make much of a success of it.  Then one day he met Mr. Chipmunk.  They stopped and stared at each other in surprise because, you know, their coats were so much alike.  At that time Seek-Seek was wearing plain stripes, just as Striped Chipmunk does to this day.

“‘What do you mean by stealing my coat?’ demanded Mr. Chipmunk angrily.

“‘I was just about to ask you the same question,’ retorted Seek-Seek.

“Mr. Chipmunk had a sharp reply right on the tip of his tongue, but he checked it just in time.  ’What’s the use of quarreling over something neither of us had anything to do with?’ said he.  ’It must be that we are cousins.  Where do you live?’

“Seek-Seek explained that he didn’t live anywhere in particular but was trying to find his place in the Great World.  He told how he had tried to live like the other Squirrels and failed.  ‘I know!  I know all about it,’ interrupted Mr. Chipmunk.  ’I’ve been all through it.  The place for us is on the ground or at least close to it.  Come see how I live.’

“So Seek-Seek went with Mr. Chipmunk and saw how he lived among the rocks and stones.  For a time he tried living there too, but he didn’t like the rocks and stones much better than he did the trees.  Besides, all the neighbors were forever mistaking him for Mr. Chipmunk because they looked so much alike, and he didn’t like this.  One day he wandered out on the Green Meadows.  It was very lovely out there among the grasses and flowers.  He wandered farther and farther, and the farther he wandered the better he liked it.  By and by he came to the home of Yap-Yap the Prairie Dog, who is one of the Marmot family, as you know.