Not enough nuts!

A cool easterly wind brought about the change of the season. The trees shed their leaves, the rivers and streams swelled from the mountain rains, and the Swifts and Swallows took flight for sunnier skies. It was the busiest time of the year for the squirrels of Cotton Woods. Except for one who went by the name of Nuts.
"You need to forage, now," said Grey. "The winter will come soon and you need food to keep warm. You should start to bury your hoard."
"I'll do it later," said Nuts as he kicked back in his drey, taking in the early Autumn sunshine. "There's plenty of time."
Whilst all the other squirrels in the forest eagerly rummaged amongst the dying bushes and ferns for seeds, tree bark and acorns, Nuts was lazily laid out with his paws behind his head.
"I'll just rest here, for now," he said. "It's too nice a day to be working. I'll find food when its dark."
As the night drew in Nuts was too comfortable curled up on the thistledown that lined his nest to get up and find food.
'It's far too cold out there to work,' he thought. 'I'll freeze my paws. I'll forage tomorrow. When it's warm.'
But when the next day came Nuts had another excuse for not finding food. "There's plenty of time. It's still warm. No need to rush."
The other squirrels in the forest didn't share his easy-going attitude, and by the time the trees were bare they had all safely snaffled away thousands of caches of nuts and seeds within easy reach of their dreys.
But still Nuts wasn't concerned.
"I don't need to find much food," he said when Grey, his only friend, challenged him . "I hardly eat as it is."
"That's because it was warm and sunny. You never eat much when its warm and sunny. But in Winter you need food to keep warm, or you'll die."
That was a word Nuts didn't want to hear. "Die?" he exclaimed. "That'll never happen. I'm too strong."
But before Nuts could do anything about it, the air became so cold he could see his breath and the days were too short for him to find food.
He used every second of daylight to forage but most of the nuts had been taken by the other squirrels and those that were left were either husks or too rotten or mashed to store.
"What am I going to do?" cried Nuts as the first snows fluttered from the sky. "I'm going to starve. I should have listened to you, Grey. I should have did what you said."
"Don't worry. We'll ask the Scurry for help. They're bound to have a secret cache of food you can use."
From the sorrowful look on Grey's face when he returned from the meet, the news what not what Nuts wanted to hear. Grey sat with his bushy tail curled round his legs and his head buried in his paws.
"I'm sorry, Nuts," said Grey. "But the Scurry said that they have no hoard to share. What little nuts and seeds they had stashed away, given the poor crop this year, was raided by birds."
Nuts climbed up his leafless oak and sombrely slumped down onto his thistledown drey. All he could do was hope and prey he would survive the winter.
Then Grey poked his head through the branches and peered over Nuts's nest. "I have an idea," he said. "It's not the best idea as it will mean that you have to starve a little, but you could share my hoard."
Nuts shook his head. "I couldn't possibly ask you to do that. I didn't find any of that food. I don't deserve it."
Grey climbed up and perched himself on the edge of the nest. "That's my decision to make and I say I want to share my food with you. I know you learned your lesson and it wouldn't be nice to see you suffer because you're stupid."
Nuts sat up and threw his paws round Grey's neck. A lone tear trickled down his furred cheek. "Thanks. I owe you," he said.