0:00 A single acorn can weigh almost as much as a field mouse.0:04 Just last week, we talked about Barnaby the Rabbit, who learned that being the FASTEST isn't always the same as being the best.0:15 Well, today's story is about a little creature who learned a similar lesson, not about speed, but about sound.0:24 Her name was Millie, and she lived in a cozy burrow tucked into the roots of a great oak tree.0:31 From her tiny front door, she had a perfect view of the world.0:37 And the most exciting part of that world, to Millie, was the squirrels.0:42 Oh, the squirrels were magnificent.0:45 They were loud.0:46 They were daring.0:48 They chattered and scolded from the highest branches, their voices carrying all across the meadow.0:56 They would chase each other in breathtaking spirals around the tree trunk, their bushy tails flashing like banners.1:05 They were important, and everyone knew it.1:09 Millie, on the other hand, was...1:12 quiet.1:12 Her squeak was more of a peep.1:14 Her movements were tiny scurries, almost invisible in the grass.1:20 And she was tired of it.1:22 She wanted to be NOTICED.1:24 So, Millie decided she would become more like a squirrel.1:28 Her first attempt was to be loud.1:31 One morning, a particularly bold squirrel named Rusty sat on a low branch, chattering at the top of his lungs about a nut he had found.1:42 It was a perfectly ordinary nut, but the way he announced it, you would think he’d discovered a mountain of gold.1:52 "I can do that," Millie whispered to herself.1:55 She took a deep breath, puffed out her tiny chest, and let out the biggest, loudest, most commanding squeak she could muster.2:06 It came out as a sound no louder than a dry leaf skittering across the ground.2:12 Rusty the squirrel paused his announcement, twitched his nose, and then continued on, not having noticed a thing.2:21 Millie’s ears drooped.2:23 It was mortifying.2:25 Her second attempt was to be daring.2:28 She watched the squirrels leap from branch to branch, flying through the air for a thrilling second before landing perfectly.2:38 They made it look so easy.2:40 Millie found her own launchpad: a sturdy brown mushroom.2:45 Her target: the waving green frond of a nearby fern.2:49 It wasn’t exactly a leap across the canopy, but it was a start.2:54 She backed up, took a running start, and sprang into the air with all her might.3:01 For a glorious half-second, she was flying.3:04 Then, she missed the fern entirely and landed, not with a crash, but with a soft little poof in a patch of moss.3:13 The squirrels, if they had seen her, probably would have laughed.3:19 But they didn't see her.3:21 She was too small to even be a spectacle.3:24 Her final attempt was to be impressive.3:27 Squirrels were famous for their hoards.3:30 They could roll acorns three times their size and bury them for the winter.3:37 Millie found the PERFECT acorn.3:39 It was plump, and round, and HUGE.3:42 It was a squirrel-worthy acorn.3:44 She put her shoulder into it and pushed.3:48 It didn't budge.3:49 She tried again, her little legs trembling with effort.3:54 The acorn rocked, just a tiny bit, and then settled back into the dirt.3:59 Millie sat down hard, her breath coming in tiny, frustrated pants.4:05 She looked at the giant acorn, then at her own small paws.4:10 A tear welled up in her eye.4:12 Why couldn't she be loud, and daring, and strong like the squirrels?4:18 Why did she have to be so...4:20 small?4:20 So quiet?4:21 So utterly, hopelessly mouse-like?4:24 A few days later, the sky began to change.4:27 The bright blue faded to a bruised purple-grey.4:31 The wind, which usually whispered through the leaves, began to howl.4:37 A great storm was coming.4:39 All the animals of the meadow were in a frenzy.4:43 The birds flew to their nests.4:45 The rabbits hunkered down in their warrens.4:49 And the squirrels… well, the squirrels were louder than ever.4:54 They raced up and down the great oak, chattering warnings, shouting at the wind, securing their homes against the coming rain.5:04 The entire forest was filled with their noise and their frantic energy.5:10 Millie was scared, too.5:12 She retreated to the safety of her burrow.5:15 But as the chaos raged outside, she noticed something.5:20 It wasn't a sound.5:21 In fact, it was the opposite.5:24 Because she was so quiet, and so close to the ground, she could feel things the other animals couldn't.5:32 She felt a strange, deep vibration through the soles of her paws.5:37 It was a low thrumming, like a secret heartbeat under the earth.5:43 And then she saw it.5:44 A tiny trickle of water, dark with soil, was seeping out from the base of the oak, right near her front door.5:53 It wasn't there before.5:55 The rain hadn't even started.5:58 This was different.5:59 This was… wrong.6:00 While the squirrels were all looking UP at the sky, Millie was looking DOWN at the earth.6:08 And she realized the quiet vibration and the tiny stream were connected.6:14 The storm was shaking the ground, and a small underground spring, usually dormant, had been forced open.6:22 It was slowly, silently, washing away the soil around the great oak's most important roots.6:30 The very foundation of their world was being eaten away from beneath them, and nobody even knew it.6:38 Millie knew she had to warn them.6:41 But how?6:41 Her squeak was nothing against the roaring wind.6:45 Shouting was useless.6:47 Trying to be a squirrel had failed.6:50 So, she decided to be a mouse.6:52 She didn't run into the open and try to yell.6:56 Instead, she dove into the network of tunnels and hidden pathways that only the smallest creatures knew.7:04 She scurried to the rabbit warren and didn't squeak, but nudged the sleeping bunnies with her nose until their eyes opened.7:15 Then she led them to the growing stream.7:18 She scrambled up the bark of the great oak, not to the high branches, but to the entrances of the squirrels' nests.7:27 She didn't chatter; she tapped.7:30 A persistent, rhythmic tap-tap-tapping right on their doorsteps.7:35 At first, Rusty the squirrel poked his head out, annoyed.7:40 "What is it?7:41 Can't you see we're busy?" he chattered.7:44 But Millie didn't try to explain with words.7:48 She just tapped again, more urgently, and then scurried down the trunk, looking back at him.7:55 She didn't look loud or daring.7:58 She looked certain.7:59 Curious, Rusty followed her.8:02 Then another squirrel followed him.8:05 Soon, a small crowd had gathered at the base of the tree, their noisy chatter falling silent as they saw what Millie was showing them.8:16 They saw the dark water.8:18 They felt the strange tremor in the ground.8:21 They understood.8:22 The great oak was in danger.8:25 And the smallest, quietest resident of all was the only one who had noticed.8:31 Working together, they dug trenches to divert the water.8:36 They packed mud and stones around the exposed roots.8:40 They saved their home.8:42 That evening, as the storm finally passed, Millie sat at her doorway.8:47 Rusty came down from his nest and quietly placed a perfect, polished acorn right in front of her.8:55 He didn't say anything.8:57 He didn't need to.8:59 Millie looked at the acorn, then up at the squirrel, and gave a tiny, contented peep.9:06 She finally understood.9:08 Her quietness wasn't a weakness.9:10 It was her strength.9:12 It allowed her to listen when others were shouting.9:16 It allowed her to see the small details that others missed.9:21 She didn't need to be a squirrel.9:24 She was a mouse.9:25 And that was MORE than enough.9:27 Curled up in her burrow that night, Millie listened.9:32 Not to the fading wind, but to the quiet, steady, solid feeling of the safe earth all around her.9:40 It was the best sound in the world.
