The banyan tree was also the setting for what we were to call the Strange Case of the Grey Squirrel and the White Rat. The white rat was Grandfather's - he had bought it from the bazaar for four annas - but I would often take it with me into the roots and branches of the old tree. Banyan tree, where it soon struck up a friendship with one of the squirrels.They would go off together on little excursions among the branches
Then the squirrel started building a nest. At first she tried building it in my pockets, and when I went indoors and changed my clothes I would find straw and grass falling out. Then one day Grandmother's knitting was missing.We hunted for it everywhere but without success. Next day I saw something glinting in the hole in the banyan tree. Going up to investigate, I saw that it was the end of Grandmother's steel knitting-needle. On looking further, I discovered that the hole was crammed with knitting. And amongst the wool were three baby squirrels-all of them white!
Grand father had never seen white squirrels before, and we gazed at them in wonder. We were puzzled for some time, but when I mentioned the white rat's frequent visits to the tree, Grandfather told me that the rat must be the father. Rats and squirrels were related to each other, he said, and so it was quite possible for them to have offspring- -in this case, white squirrels!
Knitting
Answer the following questions
How did the new and strange friendship develop between the grey squirrel and the white rat?
Did they enjoy each other’s company? How?
How did the boy come to know that the squirrel was building a nest?
What happened to grandmother’s knitting? Where did the boy find it later?
What was the wonder that nature had kept for them in the nest?
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