Ereth’s Birthday

Erethi­zon Dorsatum—better known as Ereth, the self-cen­tered, foul-tem­pered old porcupine—is hav­ing a birth­day. And he ful­ly expects his best friend Pop­py, a deer mouse, to help him cel­e­brate in a grand man­ner. But Pop­py has gone off some­where with her hus­band, Rye, and it appears she has for­got­ten all about it. “Belch­ing Beavers,” says Ereth, “I am not angry!” (Though, per­haps he is—and more than just a little.)

Ereth knows his spe­cial occa­sion deserves a spe­cial treat—even if he has to get it for him­self. And what treat could be more spe­cial than tasty salt? But the near­est salt is locat­ed deep in the for­est, in a cab­in occu­pied by fur hunters, who have set out traps to cap­ture the Dim­wood For­est ani­mals. In one of the traps, Ereth finds Leaper the Fox—who, with her dying breath, begs the prick­ly por­cu­pine to take care of her three bois­ter­ous young kits, Tum­ble, Nim­ble, and Flip. “Jel­lied wal­rus warts!” Ereth exclaims, but reluc­tant­ly agrees.

Cer­tain­ly this day is not going as he planned—and it’s only just the begin­ning! Not only does Ereth sud­den­ly have a ram­bunc­tious new fam­i­ly to take care of, but he’s being stalked by Mar­ty the Fish­er, the one crea­ture in Dim­wood For­est who can do him harm. And Bound­er, the father of the three lit­tle fox­es, remem­bers all too well the nose full of quills he got a while back from the grumpy old ani­mal who now fan­cies him­self the leader of the den. He too sets out to show Ereth who’s boss. Throw in an unex­pect­ed snow­storm, and all in all, it adds up to one birth­day Ereth the por­cu­pine is nev­er going to for­get, not even if he lives to be a hun­dred and twenty-two!