Once upon a time, deep in the woods, lived a smart little mouse and a cute gray squirrel and a funny little bunny.  The cute gray squirrel lived in the very top of an old oak tree.  The smart little mouse lived lower down in the same oak tree and the funny little bunny lived at the very bottom of the same oak tree.  The three friends played all day long except…..
 The tree fell down!  A terrible, terrible storm hit the woods and shook it down to its very roots!  The poor tree that was home to the mouse, squirrel, and bunny toppled to the ground.  Luckily, no one got hurt because…..
 They all crawled out before the tree was cut to pieces and burned.  They ran away in different directions, trying to find another tree to hide in, but…..
 Suddenly, they lost each other!  Where was funny bunny?  What about  cute squirrel and smart mouse?  The three of them ran frantically about, trying their best to find each other.  They became so maddened in their search that they didn’t see each other before they collided into one another. Ouch!  That hurt, but they found themselves together again.
 Calmer now that the fright had past the three sat down to come up with a plan.  Funny bunny thought it would be quite fun to live in the meadow lit by fireflies, but squirrel protested, reminding the bunch that there are no nut trees where the fireflies lived! Then mouse being the smartest added studiously…..
 (or maybe not very since they are only animals)  “FOOD! I see some over there.” He pointed at a pie on the counter, in the kitchen of a nearby house.
 The funny bunny and the cute squirrel both yelled at the mouse to get out of that house!  If the farmer gets home he will throw you out by your tail.  The mouse wasn’t listening.  He was too hungry to think straight. The funny bunny and the cute squirrel knew they were all in trouble!

The Smart Little Mouse by Earl Sherwan and illustrated by Katherine L. Phillips was originally published in 1950, Rand McNally (Chicago).