Perhaps it is time to tell you about the squirrels. In these days they were not small with tiny nests in treetops as we know them today. They were larger than a pony and smaller than a horse. They were very fast afoot, but only a highly skilled rider could hold on while riding one as the trip was not a smooth one on their backs.
They could fight fiercely when pressed, but it was not in their nature.
Now squirrels have never paid attention to the boundaries of men and wander (and eat) where they please. This caused a near war with the Bannana Foster farmers of the midland lakes, a people with vast knowledge of all things that are green and grow. Using their knowledge, they shrunk the chestnuts, acorns and peanuts from their original huge proportions into something that can fit in a man's hand. Within a generation or two, which is to say rather quickly as a man might live his life seeing many generations of squirrels pass in his lifetime, the squirrels also became small, and fearful of men. But that is another tale, and not part of this story.