A squirrel is on vacation in the north woods, and decides to get some sleep, but his sleep is disturbed by what he originally thinks is a woodpecker pecking away, but finds out upon investigation that "lumberjackson" Porky Pig is attempting to chop the very tree the squirrel is resting in down. The squirrel zips open a door at the base of the tree and removes the blade off of Porky's axe. This situation then requires Porky to go for a flock of axes, which in turn requires the squirrel to employ some "stra-tee-gee". He covers the slightly damaged part of his tree, bolts it in, and paints it over. Porky comes back with his flock of axes, and proceeds to chop, but the blades keep breaking. Unknown to him, the squirrel is handing Porky every available axe until he himself becomes one, to which point he says "Hold it, stupid!" and berates him, telling him to cease that chop-chop. But Porky's not through yet.
The squirrel tries to read the racing form when he hears a sawing noise, looks outside, and sees Porky attempting to saw the tree down. More action is required. He pulls the saw to a smaller tree, and when Porky tries to saw back, he's sent through the crack, is airborne, and lands in a small pond underneath a lilly pad with a frog on top. Porky then chases the squirrel up the tree, but is stopped by a branch placed by the squirrel, who then cuts the pig's suspenders and falls. Almost immediately after, Porky is on the other side of the tree with a shotgun, and fires. Unfortunately, he hits the branch he's standing on, while the squirrel runs inside and hands him a fruit basket. Porky then falls due to the weight of the basket. The squirrel then runs down with a mattress, but intentionally places it next to where Porky ends up crashing. Porky is then disoriented, and the two bananas he's holding in his hands are opened up by the squirrel, making for a funny-looking mustache.
Convinced he's finally defeated Porky, the squirrel proceeds to change, but is met by the shotgun held by the pig. A chase down the tree ensues, with Porky firing. Porky then shoots inside the log, but is met with some fierce growling, and goes YIPE!. Those growls turned out to be the squirrel imitating a bear, who scares Porky up a branch. The squirrel then goes back inside, laughing.
Porky has one last scheme up his sleeve. He brings over a supply of dynamite sticks, which he places inside the tree, which the squirrel then puts into a log nearby. Porky lights the fuse, and it ends up blowing the hollow log, awakening a real bear, which scares both Porky and the squirrel. They both run away, allowing the bear to occupy the squirrel's tree, wearing his pajamas, and reading the racing form. The bear gets the last word by saying "Paperboy in the 6th", and then the iris out.
Censorship[]
On ABC's The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show, two scenes were removed:[1]
The squirrel sticking his fingers into Porky's eyes and saying, "Scram ham,"
A whole scene starting with Porky climbing the tree and pointing his a rifle at the squirrel but blasting the branch on which he is standing. As the branch is breaking, the squirrel hands to Porky a fruit basket, which increases the weight on the broken tree limb. It snaps, and Porky falls. At ground level, the squirrel lays a mattress onto which for Porky to land, but Porky misses it and hits the ground. He rises, dazed, holding two bananas as though they were pistols. The squirrel squeezes the two bananas in Porky's hands, and the contents of the bananas squirt onto Porky's face, creating a fruity, false mustache.
Beck, Jerry and Friedwald, Will (1989): Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Company.