and presently he sat down to
rest under a chestnut-tree, and he heard two little voices talking in
the branches, voices soft as a squirrel's fur, and bright as a
squirrel's eyes. They were, indeed, the voices of two squirrels.

'Hush,' said one, 'there's some one below.'

'Oh,' said the other, 'it's a horrid boy. Let's scurry away.'

'I'm not a horrid boy,' said Sep. 'I'm the seventh son of a seventh
son.'

'Oh,' said Mrs. Squirrel, 'of course that makes all the difference. Have
some nuts?'

'Rather,' said Sep. 'At least I mean, yes, if you please.'

So the squirrels brought nuts down to him, and when he had eaten as many
as he wanted they filled his pockets, and then in return he chopped all
the lower boughs off the chestnut-tree, so that boys who were _not_
seventh sons could not climb up and interfere with the squirrels'
housekeeping arrangements.

Then they parted, the best of friends, and Sep went on.

'I haven't found my fortune yet,' said he, 'but I've made a friend or
two.'

And just as he was saying that, he turned a corner of the road and met
an old gentleman in a fur-lined coat riding a fine, big, grey horse.

'Hullo!' said the gentleman. 'Who are you, and where are you off to so
bright and early?'

'I'm Septimus Septimusson,' said Sep, 'and I'm going to seek my
fortune.'

'And you've taken an axe to help you carve your way to glory?'

'No,' said Sep, 'I found it, and I suppose some one lost it. So I'm
bringing it along in case I meet him.'

'Heavy, isn't it?' said the old gentleman.

'Yes,' said Sep.

'Then I'll carry it for you,' said the old gentleman, 'for it's one that
my head forester lost yesterday. And now come along with me, for you're
the boy I've been looking for for seven years--an honest boy and the
seventh son of a seventh son.'

So Sep went home with the gentleman, who was a great lord in that
country, and he lived in that lord's castle and was taught everything
that a gentleman ought to know. And in return he told the lord all about
the ways of birds and beasts--for as he understood their talk he knew
more about them than any one else in that country. And the lord wrote it
all down in a book, and half the people said it was wonderfully clever,
and the other half said it was nonsense, and how could he know. This was
fame, and the lord was very pleased. But though the old lord was so
famous he would not leave his castle, for he had a hump that an
enchanter had fastened on