Quicktail Steals The Wrong Thing

Little Stories for Tiny People: Anytime and bedtime stories for kids

The episode begins with host Rhea dealing with a playful protest from 'studio spiders' regarding her email notifications before transitioning into the main story. The

Key takeaways

Quicktail the mole decorates his burrow with stolen items like a glass eye, a pearl ring, and a $100 bill.
The mole uses a human wool sock with a reinforced toe as a cozy sleeping bag.

Main topics

The habits of Quicktail the mole
Items stolen from campers

Notable quotes

Quicktail doesn''t know they are campers. He calls them travelers.

Conclusion

A charming fable that explores the unintended consequences of greed an

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:08) This is Ria. Welcome to Little Stories for Tiny People. Speaker 1 (0:13) Ow! What was that? Something Speaker 2 (0:16) just hit me in the eye. Something pointy. Of course this happens right when I turn on my microphone. Give me just a second. Let me see what's going on. Ow! Hey! What Speaker 1 (0:30) are you... Are those paper airplanes? Speaker 2 (0:33) Well, you're not going to believe this, but the studio spiders and beetles are pelting me with paper airplanes. Ow! They're Speaker 1 (0:43) surprisingly well-constructed. Hmm. Can you... Ow! Speaker 2 (0:47) Just Speaker 1 (0:47) stop Speaker 2 (0:48) for a minute, please? Oh, there's something written on this one. It says, open me. Okay. Speaker 2 (0:59) Dear Rhea, we will continue to throw paper airplanes until you turn your email notifications back on. How else are we supposed to give you sharply worded feedback on your mediocre stories? Sincerely, the Studio Spider and Studio Beetle paper airplane throwing committee. Okay, that cannot be a real committee. Look, Speaker 1 (1:26) I'll make you a deal. I will turn on my email notifications Speaker 2 (1:29) if you give me 30 minutes of silence. That's all I need. 30 minutes. Then I will allow my inbox to chime all day. Are we good? Hey! Dear Rhea, that was the last airplane. We agree to your terms. You have precisely 30 minutes. Go. Well, you don't have to tell me twice. Let's get to our story. It's called Quick Tail Steals the Wrong Thing. Take it away, Wesley. Speaker 1 (2:02) Remember, there are no pictures. You will have to imagine the pictures in your mind. You can imagine them however you want. Okay, here we go. Speaker 2 (2:19) On a beautiful day in autumn, two people go camping in a mountainous forest. They take care to pack what they need, carrying it all in hefty packs strapped to their backs. They bring a nifty water filtration bottle, plenty of food, and fishing gear for the nearby river. They have wide-brimmed hats for hours when the sun might decide to reassert its summer self. They think carefully about each aspect of their trip. Then, they pick a terrible location for their tent. I mean, a really terrible location. It looks fine. It looks ideal. They set up the tent on a flat spot surrounded by lovely trees with bright gold and orange leaves. The river is just a short hike away, as is a water-filling station. Their campsite is numbered, after all. It's official. It's not like the people just pop out of their car and toss a tent on the ground. No, this trip has been planned. There were reservations involved, phone calls, confirmation emails. They'd parked their truck several miles away and hiked into this pleasant spot. Surrounded by gorgeous tall trees and sunshine winking down through the leafy canopy. But none of that, none of it, changes the fact that it is a terrible spot. Terrible. Because, and of course, they had no way of knowing this, so we can't fault them too harshly. Because... Right next to their campsite lives a mole named Quicktail, who has a nasty habit of stealing from campers. Speaker 2 (4:33) Quicktail doesn't know they are campers. He calls them travelers. It never looks like these people are settling into camp. It looks like they're on some kind of long journey, and they're just stopping near his house for a couple of days. He would be shocked, shocked, I tell you, to learn that they are not on a journey at all. And in a few days' time, they will simply go home. Quicktail imagines they are nomadic people, forever traveling, setting up a tent, taking it down, setting it up somewhere else. How is he supposed to know the truth? He knows a tremendous amount about tunneling through the earth and various recipes for preparing worms. He knows next to nothing about human people's leisure activities. Campers are easy to steal from. Quicktail learned this a long time ago. He can crawl out from his molehill, creep into the campsite, grab something up, and slip away without being noticed. Campers don't just loll around reading magazines or pontificating about ancient poetry. They're active. They get up at dawn and build a fire. They hike to get water, they go fishing, so they're not usually keeping a close eye on their stuff. As soon as the campers trot off to pretend they're back in the olden days, Quicktail zips into action. He emerges from his lair beneath the ground and goes sniffing around the tent until he finds something. He's not interested in food. The people food is awful. He's Speaker 1 (6:29) tried Speaker 2 (6:29) it. He's given it a shot. But it never tastes anything like worms. Instead, Quicktail likes objects.