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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19092-h.zip b/19092-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..30253d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/19092-h.zip diff --git a/19092-h/19092-h.htm b/19092-h/19092-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b1a6cb --- /dev/null +++ b/19092-h/19092-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2535 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver, by Thornton W. Burgess + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + + hr {margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 0; + border-width: 1px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #ffcc00; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-collapse: collapse;} + + .tda {text-align: right; padding-right: 2em;} + .tdb {text-align: left;} + .tdc {text-align: right;} + .tdindent {padding-left: 2em; text-align: left;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + white-space: nowrap; + } /* page numbers */ + + .dropcap {float: left; width: .7em; font-size: 4em; line-height: 83%;} + .dropcapw {float: left; width: 1em; font-size: 4em; line-height: 83%;} + .dropcapj {float: left; width: .5em; font-size: 4em; line-height: 83%;} + .dropcapo {float: left; width: .72em; font-size: 4em; line-height: 83%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-top: 0em; margin-right: 0.05em; padding: 3px 0 0 0; text-align: center;} + .figleftt {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-top: 0em; margin-right: 0.05em; padding: 12px 0 0 0; text-align: center;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of Paddy Beaver, by Thornton W. Burgess + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Adventures of Paddy Beaver + +Author: Thornton W. Burgess + +Illustrator: Harrison Cody + +Release Date: August 21, 2006 [EBook #19092] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF PADDY BEAVER *** + + + + +Produced by Sigal Alon, Jacqueline Jeremy, La Monte H.P. +Yarroll, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="images/frontisp80.png" height="531" width="400" alt="frontisp80" /></p> +<h5>Paddy pretended to be terribly frightened. <a href="#frontispiece">Page 80</a>. +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</h5> + + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + + + + +<h4>THE<br /> +<br /> +ADVENTURES OF<br /></h4> + +<h1>Paddy<br /> +BEAVER +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</h1> + +<h4>T H O R N T O N W. B U R G E S S +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</h4> + + +<p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +</p> + + +<h5>LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY</h5> +<h5>BOSTON TORONTO</h5> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h6>Copyright 1917 by Thornton W. Burgess</h6> + +<h4><i>Illustrations by Harrison Cody</i></h4> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> +<h2><a name="contents" id="contents">CONTENTS</a></h2> + + +<table summary="table of contents"> +<colgroup span="3"> +<col width="5%"></col> +<col width="80%"></col> +<col width="15%"></col> +</colgroup> +<tr> +<td class="tda">CHAPTER</td> +<td class="tdb"> </td> +<td class="tdc">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#work">I</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#work"><span class="smcap">Paddy the Beaver Begins Work</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#work">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#pond">II</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#pond"><span class="smcap">Paddy Plans a Pond</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#pond">6</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#visitors">III</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#visitors"><span class="smcap">Paddy Has Many Visitors</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#visitors">11</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#mind">IV</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#mind"><span class="smcap">Sammy Jay Speaks His Mind</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#mind">16</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#promise">V</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#promise"><span class="smcap">Paddy Keeps His Promise</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#promise">22</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#curious">VI</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#curious"><span class="smcap">Farmer Brown's Boy Grows Curious</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#curious">28</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#surprise">VII</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#surprise"><span class="smcap">Farmer Brown's Boy Gets Another Surprise</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#surprise">34</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#ducking">VIII</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#ducking"><span class="smcap">Peter Rabbit Gets a Ducking</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#ducking">40</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#house">IX</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#house"><span class="smcap">Paddy Plans a House</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#house">46</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#hishouse">X</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#hishouse"><span class="smcap">Paddy Starts His House</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#hishouse">51</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#puzzled">XI</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#puzzled"><span class="smcap">Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat Are Puzzled</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#puzzled">56</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#something">XII</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#something"><span class="smcap">Jerry Muskrat Learns Something</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#something">61</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#storehouse">XIII</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#storehouse"><span class="smcap">The Queer Storehouse</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#storehouse">67</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#mud">XIV</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#mud"><span class="smcap">A Footprint in the Mud</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#mud">73</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#call">XV</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#call"><span class="smcap">Sammy Jay Makes Paddy a Call</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#call">78</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#crafty">XVI</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#crafty"><span class="smcap">Old Man Coyote Is Very Crafty</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#crafty">83</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#disappointed">XVII</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#disappointed"><span class="smcap">Old Man Coyote is Disappointed</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#disappointed">89</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#plan">XVIII</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#plan"><span class="smcap">Old Man Coyote Tries Another Plan</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#plan">94</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#friends">XIX</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#friends"><span class="smcap">Paddy and Sammy Jay Become Friends</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#friends">99</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#paddy">XX</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#paddy"><span class="smcap">Sammy Jay Offers to Help Paddy</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#paddy">104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#together">XXI</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#together"><span class="smcap">Paddy and Sammy Jay Work Together</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#together">109</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tda"><a href="#harvest">XXII</a></td> +<td class="tdb"><a href="#harvest"><span class="smcap">Paddy Finishes His Harvest</span></a></td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#harvest">114</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + + +<h1>THE ADVENTURES OF</h1> +<h3>PADDY THE BEAVER</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h2>I</h2> + +<h3><a name="work" id="work">PADDY THE BEAVER BEGINS WORK</a></h3> + +<table class="table" summary="verse"> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">Work, work all the night</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">While the stars are shining bright;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">Work, work all the day;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">I have got no time to play.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="figleftt"><img src="images/t.jpg" height="44" width="46" alt="t" /></p> +<p>HIS little rhyme Paddy the Beaver made up as he toiled at building the +dam which was to make the pond he so much desired deep in the Green +Forest. Of course it wasn't quite true, that about working all night and +all day. Nobody could do that, you know, and keep it up. Everybody has +to rest and sleep. Yes, and everybody has to play a little to be at +their best. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Page 2]</a></span>So it wasn't quite true that Paddy worked all day after +working all night. But it was true that Paddy had no time to play. He +had too much to do. He had had his playtime during the long summer, and +now he had to get ready for the long cold winter.</p> + +<p>Now of all the little workers in the Green Forest, on the Green Meadows, +and in the Smiling Pool, none can compare with Paddy the Beaver, not +even his cousin, Jerry Muskrat. Happy Jack Squirrel and Striped Chipmunk +store up food for the long cold months when rough Brother North Wind and +Jack Frost rule, and Jerry Muskrat builds a fine house wherein to keep +warm and comfortable, but all this is as nothing to the work of Paddy +the Beaver.</p> + +<p>As I said before, Paddy had had a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Page 3]</a></span>long playtime through the summer. He +had wandered up and down the Laughing Brook. He had followed it way up +to the place where it started. And all the time he had been studying and +studying to make sure that he wanted to stay in the Green Forest. In the +first place, he had to be sure that there was plenty of the kind of food +that he likes. Then he had to be equally sure that he could make a pond +near where this particular food grew. Last of all, he had to satisfy +himself that if he did make a pond and build a home, he would be +reasonably safe in it. And all these things he had done in his playtime. +Now he was ready to go to work, and when Paddy begins work, he sticks to +it until it is finished. He says that is the only way to succeed, and +you know and I know that he is right.</p> + +<p>Now Paddy the Beaver can see at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Page 4]</a></span>night just as Reddy Fox and Peter +Rabbit and Bobby Coon can, and he likes the night best, because he feels +safest then. But he can see in the daytime too, and when he feels that +he is perfectly safe and no one is watching, he works then too. Of +course the first thing to do was to build a dam across the Laughing +Brook to make the pond he so much needed. He chose a low open place deep +in the Green Forest, around the edge of which grew many young +aspen-trees, the bark of which is his favorite food. Through the middle +of this open place flowed the Laughing Brook. At the lower edge was just +the place for a dam. It would not have to be very long, and when it was +finished and the water was stopped in the Laughing Brook, it would just +have to flow over the low open place and make a pond there. Paddy's eyes +twinkled <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Page 5]</a></span>when he first saw it. It was right then that he made up his +mind to stay in the Green Forest.</p> + +<p>So now that he was ready to begin his dam he went up the Laughing +Brook to a place where alders and willows grew, and there he began +work; that work was the cutting of a great number of trees by means +of his big front teeth which were given him for just this purpose. +And as he worked, Paddy was happy, for one can never be truly happy +who does no work.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>II</h2> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Page 6]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="pond" id="pond">PADDY PLANS A POND</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/p.jpg" height="44" width="36" alt="p" /></p> + +<p>ADDY THE BEAVER was busy cutting down trees for the dam he had planned +to build. Up in the woods of the North from which he had come to the +Green Forest he had learned all about tree-cutting and dam-building and +canal-digging and house-building. Paddy's father and mother had been +very wise in the ways of the Beaver world, and Paddy had been quick to +learn. So now he knew just what to do and the best way of doing it. You +know a great many people waste time and labor doing things the wrong +way, so that they have to be done over again. They forget to be sure +they are right, and so they go ahead until they find they are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Page 7]</a></span>wrong, and +all their work goes for nothing.</p> + +<p>But Paddy the Beaver isn't this kind. Paddy would never have leaped +into the spring with the steep sides without looking, as Grandfather +Frog did. So now he carefully picked out the trees to cut. He could +not afford to waste time cutting down a tree that wasn't going to be +just what he wanted when it was down. When he was sure that the tree +was right, he looked up at the top to find out whether, when he had +cut it, it would fall clear of other trees. He had learned to do that +when he was quite young and heedless. He remembered just how he had +felt when after working hard, oh, so hard, to cut a big tree, he had +warned all his friends to get out of the way so that they would not be +hurt when it fell, and then it <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Page 8]</a></span>hadn't fallen at all because the top had +caught in another tree. He was so mortified that he didn't get over it +for a long time.</p> + +<p>So now he made sure that a tree was going to fall clear and just where +he wanted it. Then he sat up on his hind legs, and with his great broad +tail for a brace, began to make the chips fly. You know Paddy has the +most wonderful teeth for cutting. They are long and broad and sharp. +He would begin by making a deep bite, and then another just a little +way below. Then he would pry out the little piece of wood between. +When he had cut very deep on one side so that the tree would fall that +way, he would work around to the other side. Just as soon as the tree +began to lean and he was sure that it was going to fall, he would +scamper away so as to be out of danger. He loved to see those <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Page 9]</a></span>tall +trees lean forward slowly, then faster and faster, till they struck +the ground with a crash.</p> + +<p>Just as soon as they were down, he would trim off the branches until +the trees were just long poles. This was easy work, for he could take +off a good-sized branch with one bite. On many he left their bushy +tops. When he had trimmed them to suit him and had cut them into the +right lengths, he would tug and pull them down to the place where he +meant to build his dam.</p> + +<p>There he placed the poles side by side, not across the Laughing Brook +like a bridge, but with the big ends pointing up the Laughing Brook, +which was quite broad but shallow right there. To keep them from +floating away, he rolled stones and piled mud on the bushy ends. Clear +across on both sides he laid those poles until the land began <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Page 10]</a></span>to rise. +Then he dragged more poles and piled on top of these and wedged short +sticks crosswise between them.</p> + +<p>And all the time the Laughing Brook was having harder and harder work +to run. Its merry laugh grew less merry and finally almost stopped, +because, you see, the water could not get through between all those +poles and sticks fast enough. It was just about that time that the +little people of the Smiling Pool decided that it was time to see just +what Paddy was doing, and they started up the Laughing Brook, leaving +only Grandfather Frog and the tadpoles in the Smiling Pool, which for a +little while would smile no more.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Page 11]</a></span></p> + +<h2>III</h2> + +<h3><a name="visitors" id="visitors">PADDY HAS MANY VISITORS</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/p.jpg" height="44" width="36" alt="p" /></p> + +<p>ADDY THE BEAVER knew perfectly well that he would have visitors just +as soon as he began to build his dam. He expected a lot of them. You +see, he knew that none of them ever had seen a Beaver at work unless +perhaps it was Prickly Porky the Porcupine, who also had come down +from the North. So as he worked he kept his ears open, and he smiled +to himself as he heard a little rustle here and then a little rustle +there. He knew just what those little rustles meant. Each one meant +another visitor. Yes, Sir, each rustle meant another visitor, and yet +not one had shown himself.</p> + +<p>Paddy chuckled. "Seems to me <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Page 12]</a></span>that you are dreadfully afraid to show +yourselves," said he in a loud voice, just as if he were talking to +nobody in particular. Everything was still. There wasn't so much as a +rustle after Paddy spoke. He chuckled again. He could just <i>feel</i> ever +so many eyes watching him, though he didn't see a single pair. And he +knew that the reason his visitors were hiding so carefully was because +they were afraid of him. You see, Paddy was much bigger than most of the +little meadow and forest people, and they didn't know what kind of a +temper he might have. It is always safest to be very distrustful of +strangers. That is one of the very first things taught all little meadow +and forest children.</p> + +<p>Of course, Paddy knew all about this. He had been brought up that way. +"Be sure, and then you'll never <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Page 13]</a></span>be sorry" had been one of his mother's +favorite sayings, and he had always remembered it. Indeed, it had saved +him a great deal of trouble. So now he was perfectly willing to go right +on working and let his hidden visitors watch him until they were sure +that he meant them no harm. You see, he himself felt quite sure that +none of them was big enough to do him any harm. Little Joe Otter was +the only one he had any doubts about, and he felt quite sure that Little +Joe wouldn't try to pick a quarrel. So he kept right on cutting trees, +trimming off the branches, and hauling the trunks down to the dam he +was building. Some of them he floated down the Laughing Brook. This +was easier.</p> + +<p>Now when the little people of the Smiling Pool, who were the first to +find out that Paddy the Beaver had come to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Page 14]</a></span>the Green Forest, had started +up the Laughing Brook to see what he was doing, they had told the Merry +Little Breezes where they were going. The Merry Little Breezes had been +greatly excited. They couldn't understand how a stranger could have been +living in the Green Forest without their knowledge. You see, they quite +forgot that they very seldom wandered to the deepest part of the Green +Forest. Of course they started at once as fast as they could go to tell +all the other little people who live on or around the Green Meadows, all +but Old Man Coyote. For some reason they thought it best not to tell +him. They were a little doubtful about Old Man Coyote. He was so big and +strong and so sly and smart that all his neighbors were afraid of him. +Perhaps the Merry Little Breezes had this fact in mind, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Page 15]</a></span>and knew that +none would dare go to call on the stranger if they knew that Old Man +Coyote was going too. Anyway, they simply passed the time of day with +Old Man Coyote and hurried on to tell every one else, and the very last +one they met was Sammy Jay.</p> + +<p>Sammy was terribly put out to think that anything should be going on +that he didn't know about first. You know he is very fond of prying into +the affairs of other people, and he loves dearly to boast that there is +nothing going on in the Green Forest or on the Green Meadows that he +doesn't know about. So now his pride was hurt, and he was in a terrible +rage as he started after the Merry Little Breezes for the place deep in +the Green Forest where they said Paddy the Beaver was at work. He didn't +believe a word of it, but he would see for himself.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Page 16]</a></span></p> + +<h2>IV</h2> + +<h3><a name="mind" id="mind">SAMMY JAY SPEAKS HIS MIND</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/w.jpg" height="44" width="72" alt="w" /></p> + +<p>HEN Sammy Jay reached the place deep in the Green Forest where Paddy +the Beaver was so hard at work, he didn't hide as had the little +four-footed people. You see, of course, he had no reason to hide, +because he felt perfectly safe. Paddy had just cut a big tree, and it +fell with a crash as Sammy came hurrying up. Sammy was so surprised +that for a minute he couldn't find his tongue. He had not supposed +that anybody but Farmer Brown or Farmer Brown's boy could cut down so +large a tree as that, and it quite took his breath away. But he got it +again in a minute. He <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Page 17]</a></span>was boiling with anger, anyway, to think that he +should have been the last to learn that Paddy had come down from the +North to make his home in the Green Forest, and here was a chance to +speak his mind.</p> + +<p>"Thief! thief! thief!" he screamed in his harshest voice.</p> + +<p>Paddy the Beaver looked up with a twinkle in his eyes. "Hello, Mr. Jay! +I see you haven't any better manners than your cousin who lives up where +I came from," said he.</p> + +<p>"Thief! thief! thief!" screamed Sammy, hopping up and down, he was +so angry.</p> + +<p>"Meaning yourself, I suppose," said Paddy. "I never did see an honest +Jay, and I don't suppose I ever will."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Peter Rabbit, who had quite forgotten that he +was hiding.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Page 18]</a></span>"Oh, how do you do, Mr. Rabbit? I'm very glad you have called on me this +morning," said Paddy, just as if he hadn't known all the time just where +Peter was. "Mr. Jay seems to have gotten out of the wrong side of his +bed this morning."</p> + +<p>Peter laughed again. "He always does," said he. "If he didn't, he +wouldn't be happy. You wouldn't think it to look at him, but he is happy +right now. He doesn't know it, but he is. He always is happy when he can +show what a bad temper he has."</p> + +<p>Sammy Jay glared down at Peter. Then he glared at Paddy. And all the +time he still shrieked "Thief!" as hard as ever he could. Paddy kept +right on working, paying no attention to Sammy. This made Sammy more +angry than ever. He kept coming nearer and nearer until at last he +was in the very <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Page 19]</a></span>tree that Paddy happened to be cutting. Paddy's +eyes twinkled.</p> + +<p>"I'm no thief!" he exclaimed suddenly.</p> + +<p>"You are! You are! Thief! Thief!" shrieked Sammy. "You're stealing +our trees!"</p> + +<p>"They're not your trees," retorted Paddy. "They belong to the Green +Forest, and the Green Forest belongs to all who love it, and we all have +a perfect right to take what we need from it. I need these trees, and +I've just as much right to take them as you have to take the fat acorns +that drop in the fall."</p> + +<p>"No such thing!" screamed Sammy. You know he can't talk without +screaming, and the more excited he gets, the louder he screams. "No such +thing! Acorns are food. They are meant to eat. I have to have them to +live. But you are cutting down whole trees. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Page 20]</a></span>You are spoiling the Green +Forest. You don't belong here. Nobody invited you, and nobody wants you. +You're a thief!"</p> + +<p>Then up spoke Jerry Muskrat, who, you know, is cousin to Paddy +the Beaver.</p> + +<p>"Don't you mind him," said he, pointing at Sammy Jay. "Nobody does. +He's the greatest trouble-maker in the Green Forest or on the Green +Meadows. He would steal from his own relatives. Don't mind what he +says, Cousin Paddy."</p> + +<p>Now all this time Paddy had been working away just as if no one was +around. Just as Jerry stopped speaking, Paddy thumped the ground with +his tail, which is his way of warning people to watch out, and suddenly +scurried away as fast as he could run. Sammy Jay was so surprised that +he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Page 21]</a></span>couldn't find his tongue for a minute, and he didn't notice anything +peculiar about that tree. Then suddenly he felt himself falling. With a +frightened scream, he spread his wings to fly, but branches of the tree +swept him down with them right into the Laughing Brook.</p> + +<p>You see while Sammy had been speaking his mind, Paddy the Beaver had cut +down the very tree in which he was sitting.</p> + +<p>Sammy wasn't hurt, but he was wet and muddy and terribly +frightened,—the most miserable looking Jay that ever was seen. +It was too much for all the little people who were hiding. They +just had to laugh. Then they all came out to pay their respects +to Paddy the Beaver.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Page 22]</a></span></p> + +<h2>V</h2> + +<h3><a name="promise" id="promise">PADDY KEEPS HIS PROMISE</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/p.jpg" height="44" width="36" alt="p" /></p> + +<p>ADDY THE BEAVER kept right on working just as if he hadn't any +visitors. You see, it is a big undertaking to build a dam. And when that +was done there was a house to build and a supply of food for the winter +to cut and store. Oh, Paddy the Beaver had no time for idle gossip, you +may be sure! So he kept right on building his dam. It didn't look much +like a dam at first, and some of Paddy's visitors turned up their noses +when they first saw it. They had heard stories of what a wonderful +dam-builder Paddy was, and they had expected to see something like the +smooth, grass-covered bank with which Farmer <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Page 23]</a></span>Brown kept the Big River +from running back on his low lands. Instead, all they saw was a great +pile of poles and sticks which looked like anything but a dam.</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" exclaimed Billy Mink, "I guess we needn't worry about the +Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool, if that is the best Paddy can do. +Why, the water of the Laughing Brook will work through that in no time."</p> + +<p>Of course Paddy heard him, but he said nothing, just kept right +on working.</p> + +<p>"Just look at the way he has laid those sticks!" continued Billy Mink. +"Seems as if any one would know enough to lay them <i>across</i> the Laughing +Brook instead of just the other way. I could build a better dam +than that."</p> + +<p>Paddy said nothing; he just kept right on working.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Page 24]</a></span>"Yes, Sir," Billy boasted. "I could build a better dam than that. Why, +that pile of sticks will never stop the water."</p> + +<p>"Is something the matter with your eyesight, Billy Mink?" inquired +Jerry Muskrat.</p> + +<p>"Of course not!" retorted Billy indignantly. "Why?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing much, only you don't seem to notice that already the +Laughing Brook is over its banks above Paddy's dam," replied Jerry, +who had been studying the dam with a great deal of interest.</p> + +<p>Billy looked a wee bit foolish, for sure enough there was a little pool +just above the dam, and it was growing bigger.</p> + +<p>Paddy still kept at work, saying nothing. He was digging in front of +the dam now, and the mud and grass he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Page 25]</a></span>dug up he stuffed in between the +ends of the sticks and patted down with his hands. He did this all along +the front of the dam and on top of it too, wherever he thought it was +needed. Of course this made it harder for the water to work through, and +the little pond above the dam began to grow faster. It wasn't a great +while before it was nearly to the top of the dam, which at first was +very low. Then Paddy brought more sticks. This was easier now, because +he could float them down from where he was cutting. He would put them in +place on the top of the dam, then hurry for more. Wherever it was +needed, he would put in mud. He even rolled a few stones in to help hold +the mass.</p> + +<p>So the dam grew and grew, and so did the pond above the dam. Of course, +it took a good many days to build so big a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Page 26]</a></span>dam, and a lot of hard work! +Every morning the little people of the Green Forest and the Green +Meadows would visit it, and every morning they would find that it +had grown a great deal in the night, for that is when Paddy likes +best to work.</p> + +<p>By this time, the Laughing Brook had stopped laughing, and down in the +Smiling Pool there was hardly water enough for the minnows to feel safe +a minute. Billy Mink had stopped making fun of the dam, and all the +little people who live in the Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool were +terribly worried.</p> + +<p>To be sure Paddy had warned them of what he was going to do, and had +promised that just as soon as his pond was big enough, the water would +once more run in the Laughing Brook. They tried to believe him, but they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Page 27]</a></span>couldn't help having just a wee bit of fear that he might not be wholly +honest. You see, they didn't know him, for he was a stranger. Jerry +Muskrat was the only one who seemed absolutely sure that everything +would be all right. Perhaps that was because Paddy is his cousin, and +Jerry couldn't help but feel proud of such a big cousin and one who was +so smart.</p> + +<p>So day by day the dam grew, and the pond grew, and then one morning +Grandfather Frog, down in what had once been the Smiling Pool, heard a +sound that made his heart jump for joy. It was a murmur that kept +growing and growing, until at last it was the merry laugh of the +Laughing Brook. Then he knew that Paddy had kept his word and water +would once more fill the Smiling Pool.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Page 28]</a></span></p> + +<h2>VI</h2> + +<h3><a name="curious" id="curious">FARMER BROWN'S BOY GROWS CURIOUS</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/n.jpg" height="44" width="59" alt="n" /></p> + +<p>OW it happened that the very day before Paddy the Beaver decided that +his pond was big enough, and so allowed the water to run in the Laughing +Brook once more, Farmer Brown's boy took it into his head to go fishing +in the Smiling Pool. Just as usual he went whistling down across the +Green Meadows. Somehow, when he goes fishing, he always feels like +whistling. Grandfather Frog heard him coming and dived into the little +bit of water remaining in the Smiling Pool and stirred up the mud at the +bottom so that Farmer Brown's boy shouldn't see him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Page 29]</a></span>Nearer and nearer drew the whistle. Suddenly it stopped right short off. +Farmer Brown's boy had come in sight of the Smiling Pool or rather, it +was what used to be the Smiling Pool. Now there wasn't any Smiling Pool, +for the very little pool left was too small and sickly-looking to smile. +There were great banks of mud, out of which grew the bulrushes. The +lily-pads were forlornly stretched out towards the tiny pool of water +remaining. Where the banks were steep and high, the holes that Jerry +Muskrat and Billy Mink knew so well were plain to see. Over at one side +stood Jerry Muskrat's house, wholly out of water.</p> + +<p>Somehow, it seemed to Farmer Brown's boy that he must be dreaming. He +never, never had seen anything like this before, not even in the very +driest weather of the hottest part of the sum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Page 30]</a></span>mer. He looked this way and +looked that way. The Green Meadows looked just as usual. The Green +Forest looked just as usual. The Laughing Brook—ha! What was the matter +with the Laughing Brook? He couldn't hear it and that, you know, was +very unusual. He dropped his rod and ran over to the Laughing Brook. +There wasn't any brook. No, sir, there wasn't any brook; just pools of +water with the tiniest of streams trickling between. Big stones over +which he had always seen the water running in the prettiest of little +white falls were bare and dry. In the little pools frightened minnows +were darting about.</p> + +<p>Farmer Brown's boy scratched his head in a puzzled way. "I don't +understand it," said he. "I don't understand it at all. Something must +have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Page 31]</a></span>gone wrong with the springs that supply the water for the Laughing +Brook. They must have failed. Yes, Sir, that is just what must have +happened. But I never heard of such a thing happening before, and I +really don't see how it could happen." He stared up into the Green +Forest just as if he thought he could see those springs. Of course, he +didn't think anything of the kind. He was just turning it all over in +his mind. "I know what I'll do! I'll go up to those springs this +afternoon and find out what the trouble is," he said out loud. "They are +way over almost on the other side of the Green Forest, and the easiest +way to get there will be to start from home and cut across the Old +Pasture up to the edge of the Mountain behind the Green Forest. If I try +to follow up the Laughing Brook now, it will take too long, because it +winds and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Page 32]</a></span>twists so. Besides, it is too hard work."</p> + +<p>With that, Farmer Brown's boy went back and picked up his rod. Then he +started for home across the Green Meadows, and for once he wasn't +whistling. You see, he was too busy thinking. In fact, he was so busy +thinking that he didn't see Jimmy Skunk until he almost stepped on him, +and then he gave a frightened jump and ran, for without a gun he was +just as much afraid of Jimmy as Jimmy was of him when he did have a gun.</p> + +<p>Jimmy just grinned and went on about his business. It always tickles +Jimmy to see people run away from him, especially people so much bigger +than himself; they look so silly.</p> + +<p>"I should think that they would have learned by this time that if +they don't bother me, I won't bother them," he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Page 33]</a></span>muttered, as he rolled +over a stone to look for fat beetles. "Somehow, folks never seem to +understand me."</p> + + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="images/img_3.png" height="448" width="400" alt="img_3" /></p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Page 34]</a></span></p> + +<h2>VII</h2> + +<h3><a name="surprise" id="surprise">FARMER BROWN'S BOY GETS ANOTHER<br /> SURPRISE</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/a.jpg" height="44" width="49" alt="a" /></p> + +<p>CROSS the Old Pasture to the foot of the Mountain back of the Green +Forest tramped Farmer Brown's boy. Ahead of him trotted Bowser the +Hound, sniffing and snuffing for the tracks of Reddy or Granny Fox. Of +course he didn't find them, for Reddy and Granny hadn't been up in the +Old Pasture for a long time. But he did find old Jed Thumper, the big +gray Rabbit who had made things so uncomfortable for Peter Rabbit once +upon a time, and gave him such a fright that old Jed didn't look where +he was going and almost ran headfirst into Farmer Brown's boy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Page 35]</a></span>"Hi, there, you old cottontail!" yelled Farmer Brown's boy, and this +frightened Old Jed still more, so that he actually ran right past his +own castle of bullbriars without seeing it.</p> + +<p>Farmer Brown's boy kept on his way, laughing at the fright of old Jed +Thumper. Presently he reached the springs from which came the water that +made the very beginning of the Laughing Brook. He expected to find them +dry, for way down on the Green Meadows the Smiling Pool was nearly dry, +and the Laughing Brook was nearly dry, and he had supposed that of +course the reason was that the springs where the Laughing Brook started +were no longer bubbling.</p> + +<p>But they were! The clear cold water came bubbling up out of the ground +just as it always had, and ran off down into the Green Forest in a +little stream <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Page 36]</a></span>that would grow and grow as it ran and become the Laughing +Brook. Farmer Brown's boy took off his ragged old straw hat and scowled +down at the bubbling water just as if he thought it had no business to +be bubbling there.</p> + +<p>Of course, he didn't think just that. The fact is, he didn't know just +what he did think. Here were the springs bubbling away just as they +always had. There was the little stream starting off down into the Green +Forest with a gurgle that by and by would become a laugh, just as it +always had. And yet down on the Green Meadows on the other side of the +Green Forest there was no longer a Laughing Brook or a Smiling Pool. He +felt as if he ought to pinch himself to make sure that he was awake and +not dreaming.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what it means," said he, talking out loud. "No, Sir, I +don't <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Page 37]</a></span>know what it means at all, but I'm going to find out. There's a +cause for everything in this world, and when a fellow doesn't know a +thing, it is his business to find out all about it. I'm going to find +out what has happened to the Laughing Brook, if it takes me a year!"</p> + +<p>With that he started to follow the little stream which ran gurgling +down into the Green Forest. He had followed that little stream more than +once, and now he found it just as he remembered it. The farther it ran, +the larger it grew, until at last it became the Laughing Brook, merrily +tumbling over rocks and making deep pools in which the trout loved to +hide. At last he came to the edge of a little open hollow in the very +heart of the Green Forest. He knew what splendid deep holes there were +in the Laughing Brook here, and how the big trout loved to lie in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Page 38]</a></span>them +because they were deep and cool. He was thinking of these trout now and +wishing that he had brought along his fishing-rod. He pushed his way +through a thicket of alders and then—Farmer Brown's boy stopped +suddenly and fairly gasped! He had to stop because there right in front +of him was a pond!</p> + +<p>He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Then he stooped down and put his +hand in the water to see if it was real. There was no doubt about it. It +was real water,—a real pond where there never had been a pond before. +It was very still there in the heart of the Green Forest. It was always +very still there, but it seemed stiller than usual as he tramped around +the edge of this strange pond. He felt as if it were all a dream. He +wondered if pretty soon he wouldn't wake up and find it all untrue. But +he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Page 39]</a></span>didn't, and so he kept on tramping until presently he came to a +dam,—a splendid dam of logs and sticks and mud. Over the top of it the +water was running, and down in the Green Forest below he could hear the +Laughing Brook just beginning to laugh once more. Farmer Brown's boy sat +down with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. He was +almost too much surprised to even think.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="images/img_4.png" height="463" width="400" alt="img_4" /></p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>VIII</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Page 40]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="ducking" id="ducking">PETER RABBIT GETS A DUCKING</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/f.jpg" height="44" width="35" alt="f" /></p> + +<p>ARMER Brown's boy sat with his chin in his hands staring at the new +pond in the Green Forest and at the dam which had made it. That dam +puzzled him. Who could have built it? What did they build it for? Why +hadn't he heard them chopping? He looked carelessly at the stump of one +of the trees, and then a still more puzzled look made deep furrows +between his eyes. It looked—yes, it looked very much as if teeth, and +not an axe, had cut down that tree. Farmer Brown's boy stared and +stared, his mouth gaping wide open. He looked so funny that Peter +Rabbit, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Page 41]</a></span>who was hiding under an old pile of brush close by, nearly +laughed right out.</p> + +<p>But Peter didn't laugh. No, Sir, Peter didn't laugh, for just that very +minute something happened. Sniff! Sniff! That was right behind him at +the very edge of the old brush-pile, and every hair on Peter stood on +end with fright.</p> + +<p>"Bow, wow, wow!" It seemed to Peter that the great voice was right in +his very ears. It frightened him so that he just <i>had</i> to jump. He +didn't have time to think. And so he jumped right out from under the +pile of brush and of course right into plain sight. And the very instant +he jumped there came another great roar behind him. Of course it was +from Bowser the Hound. You see, Bowser had been following the trail of +his master, but as he always stops to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Page 42]</a></span>sniff at everything he passes, he +had been some distance behind. When he came to the pile of brush under +which Peter was hiding he had sniffed at that, and of course he had +smelled Peter right away.</p> + +<p>Now when Peter jumped out so suddenly, he had landed right at one end +of the dam. The second roar of Bowser's great voice frightened him still +more, and he jumped right up on the dam. There was nothing for him to do +now but go across, and it wasn't the best of going. No, indeed, it +wasn't the best of going. You see, it was mostly a tangle of sticks. +Happy Jack Squirrel or Chatterer the Red Squirrel or Striped Chipmunk +would have skipped across it without the least trouble. But Peter Rabbit +has no sharp little claws with which to cling to logs and sticks, and +right away he was in a peck of trou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Page 43]</a></span>ble. He slipped down between the +sticks, scrambled out, slipped again, and then, trying to make a long +jump, he lost his balance and—tumbled heels over head into the water!</p> + +<p>Poor Peter Rabbit! He gave himself up for lost this time. He could swim, +but at best he is a poor swimmer and doesn't like the water. He couldn't +dive and keep out of sight like Jerry Muskrat or Billy Mink. All he +could do was to paddle as fast as his legs would go. The water had gone +up his nose and down his throat so that he choked, and all the time he +felt sure that Bowser the Hound would plunge in after him and catch him. +And if he shouldn't, why Farmer Brown's Boy would simply wait for him to +come ashore and then catch him.</p> + +<p>But Farmer Brown's boy didn't do anything of the kind. No, Sir, he +didn't. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Page 44]</a></span>Instead he shouted to Bowser and called him away. Bowser didn't +want to come, but he long ago learned to obey, and very slowly he walked +over to where his master was sitting.</p> + +<p>"You know it wouldn't be fair, old fellow, to try to catch Peter now. It +wouldn't be fair at all, and we never want to do anything unfair, do +we?" said he. Perhaps Bowser didn't agree, but he wagged his tail as if +he did, and sat down beside his master to watch Peter swim.</p> + +<p>It seemed to Peter as if he never, never would reach the shore, though +really it was only a very little distance that he had to swim. When he +did scramble out, he was a sorry looking Rabbit. He didn't waste any +time, but started for home as fast as he could go, +lipperty—lipperty—lip. And Farmer Brown's boy and Bowser the Hound +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Page 45]</a></span>just laughed and didn't try to catch him at all.</p> + +<p>"Well, I never!" exclaimed Sammy Jay, who had seen it all from the top +of a pine-tree. "Well, I never! I guess Farmer Brown's boy isn't so bad, +after all."</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="images/img_5.png" height="407" width="400" alt="img_5" /></p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Page 46]</a></span></p> + +<h2>IX</h2> + +<h3><a name="house" id="house">PADDY PLANS A HOUSE</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/p.jpg" height="44" width="36" alt="p" /></p> + + +<p>ADDY THE BEAVER sat on his dam, and his eyes shone with happiness as he +looked out over the shining water of the pond he had made. All around +the edge of it grew the tall trees of the Green Forest. It was very +beautiful and very still and very lonesome. That is, it would have +seemed lonesome to almost any one but Paddy the Beaver. But Paddy never +is lonesome. You see, he finds company in the trees and flowers and all +the little plants.</p> + +<p>It was still, very, very still. Over on one side was a beautiful rosy +glow in the water. It was the reflection from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Page 47]</a></span>jolly, round, red Mr. Sun. +Paddy couldn't see him because of the tall trees, but he knew exactly +what Mr. Sun was doing. He was going to bed behind the Purple Hills. +Pretty soon the little stars would come out and twinkle down at him. He +loves the little stars and always watches for the first one.</p> + +<p>Yes, Paddy the Beaver was very happy. He would have been perfectly +happy but for one thing: Farmer Brown's boy had found his dam and pond +that very afternoon, and Paddy wasn't quite sure what Farmer Brown's boy +might do. He had kept himself snugly hidden while Farmer Brown's boy was +there, and he felt quite sure that Farmer Brown's boy didn't know who +had built the dam. But for this very reason he might, he just <i>might</i>, +try to find out all about it, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Page 48]</a></span>and that would mean that Paddy would have +to be always on the watch.</p> + +<p>"But what's the use of worrying over troubles that haven't come yet, and +may never come? Time enough to worry when they do come," said Paddy to +himself, which shows that Paddy has a great deal of wisdom in his little +brown head. "The thing for me to do now is to get ready for winter, and +that means a great deal of work," he continued. "Let me see, I've got to +build a house, a big, stout, warm house, where I will be warm and safe +when my pond is frozen over. And I've got to lay in a supply of food, +enough to last me until gentle Sister South Wind comes to prepare the +way for lovely Mistress Spring. My, my, I can't afford to be sitting +here dreaming, when there is such a lot to be done!"</p> + +<p>With that Paddy slipped into the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Page 49]</a></span>water and swam all around his new pond +to make sure of just the best place to build his house. Now placing +one's house in just the right place is a very important matter. Some +people are dreadfully careless about this. Jimmy Skunk, for instance, +often makes the mistake of digging his house (you know Jimmy makes his +house underground) right where every one who happens along that way will +see it. Perhaps that is because Jimmy is so independent that he doesn't +care who knows where he lives.</p> + +<p>But Paddy the Beaver never is careless. He always chooses just the very +best place. He makes sure that it is best before he begins. So now, +although he was quite positive just where his house should be, he swam +around the pond to make doubly sure. Then, when he was quite satisfied, +he swam over to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Page 50]</a></span>the place he had chosen. It was where the water was +quite deep.</p> + +<p>"There mustn't be the least chance that the ice will ever get thick +enough to close up my doorway," said he, "and I'm sure it never will +here. I must make the foundations strong and the walls thick. I must +have plenty of mud to plaster with, and inside, up above the water, I +must have the snuggest, warmest room where I can sleep in comfort. This +is the place to build it, and it is high time I was at work."</p> + +<p>With that Paddy swam over to the place where he had cut the trees for +his dam, and his heart was light, for he had long ago learned that the +surest way to be happy is to be busy.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Page 51]</a></span></p> + +<h2>X</h2> + +<h3><a name="hishouse" id="hishouse">PADDY STARTS HIS HOUSE</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/j.jpg" height="44" width="24" alt="j" /></p> + +<p>ERRY MUSKRAT was very much interested when he found that Paddy the +Beaver, who, you know, is his cousin, was building a house. Jerry is a +house-builder himself, and down deep in his heart he very much doubted +if Paddy could build as good a house as he could. His house was down in +the Smiling Pool, and Jerry thought it a very wonderful house indeed, +and was very proud of it. It was built of mud and sod and little alder +and willow twigs and bulrushes. Jerry had spent one winter in it, and he +had decided to spend another there after he had fixed it up a little. +So, as long as he didn't have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Page 52]</a></span>to build a brand new house, he could +afford the time to watch his cousin Paddy. Perhaps he hoped that Paddy +would ask his advice.</p> + +<p>But Paddy did nothing of the kind. He had seen Jerry Muskrat's house, +and he had smiled. But he had taken great pains not to let Jerry see +that smile. He wouldn't have hurt Jerry's feelings for the world. He is +too polite and good-natured to do anything like that. So Jerry sat on +the end of an old log and watched Paddy work. The first thing to build +was the foundation. This was of mud and grass with sticks worked into it +to hold it together. Paddy dug the mud from the bottom of his new pond. +And because the pond was new, there was a great deal of grassy sod +there, which was just what Paddy needed. It was very convenient.</p> + +<p>Jerry watched a little while and then, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Page 53]</a></span>because Jerry is a worker +himself, he just had to get busy and help. Rather timidly he told his +big cousin that he would like to have a share in building the new house.</p> + +<p>"All right," replied Paddy, "that will be fine. You can bring mud while +I am getting the sticks and grass."</p> + +<p>So Jerry dived down to the bottom of the pond and dug up mud and piled +it on the foundation and was happy. The little stars looked down and +twinkled merrily as they watched the two workers. So the foundation grew +and grew down under the water. Jerry was very much surprised at the size +of it. It was ever and ever so much bigger than the foundation for his +own house. You see, he had forgotten how much bigger Paddy is.</p> + +<p>Each night Jerry and Paddy worked, resting during the daytime. +Occasion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Page 54]</a></span>ally Bobby Coon or Reddy Fox or Unc' Billy Possum or Jimmy Skunk +would come to the edge of the pond to see what was going on. Peter +Rabbit came every night. But they couldn't see much because, you know, +Paddy and Jerry were working under water.</p> + +<p>But at last Peter was rewarded. There, just above the water, was a +splendid platform of mud and grass and sticks. A great many sticks were +carefully laid as soon as the platform was above the water, for Paddy +was very particular about this. You see, it was to be the floor for the +splendid room he was planning to build. When it suited him, he began to +pile mud in the very middle.</p> + +<p>Jerry puzzled and puzzled over this. Where was Paddy's room going to +be, if he piled up the mud that way? But he didn't like to ask +questions, so he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Page 55]</a></span>kept right on helping. Paddy would dive down to the +bottom and then come up with double handfuls of mud, which he held +against his chest. He would scramble out onto the platform and waddle +over to the pile in the middle, where he would put the mud and pat it +down. Then back to the bottom for more mud.</p> + +<p>And so the mud pile grew and grew, until it was quite two feet high. +"Now," said Paddy, "I'll build the walls, and I guess you can't help me +much with those. I'm going to begin them to-morrow night. Perhaps you +will like to see me do it, Cousin Jerry."</p> + +<p>"I certainly will," replied Jerry, still puzzling over that pile of mud +in the middle.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Page 56]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XI</h2> + +<h3><a name="puzzled" id="puzzled">PETER RABBIT AND JERRY MUSKRAT ARE<br /> +PUZZLED</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/j.jpg" height="44" width="24" alt="j" /></p> + + +<p>ERRY MUSKRAT was more and more sure that his big cousin, Paddy the +Beaver, didn't know quite so much as he might about house-building. +Jerry would have liked to offer some suggestions, but he didn't quite +dare. You see, he was very anxious not to displease his big cousin. But +he felt that he simply had got to speak his mind to some one, so he swam +across to where he had seen Peter Rabbit almost every night since Paddy +began to build. Sure enough, Peter was there, sitting up very straight +and staring with big round eyes at the platform <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Page 57]</a></span>of mud and sticks out in +the water where Paddy the Beaver was at work.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="images/img_6.png" height="526" width="400" alt="img_6" /></p> + +<h5>"Why, it's a house, you stupid. It's Paddy's new house," replied Jerry. <a href="#img6">Page 57</a>.</h5> + +<p>"Well, Peter, what do you think of it?" asked Jerry.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Peter innocently. "Is it another dam?"</p> + +<p>Jerry threw back his head and laughed and laughed.</p> + +<p>Peter looked at him suspiciously. "I don't see anything to laugh at," +said he.</p> + +<p><a name="img6" id="img6"></a>"Why, it's a house, you stupid. It's Paddy's new house," replied Jerry, +wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'm not stupid!" retorted Peter. "How was I to know that that pile of +mud and sticks is meant for a house? It certainly doesn't look it. Where +is the door?"</p> + +<p>"To tell you the truth, I don't think it is much of a house myself," +replied Jerry. "It has got a door, all right. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Page 58]</a></span>In fact, it has got three. +You can't see them because they are under water, and there is a passage +from each right up through that platform of mud and sticks, which is the +foundation of the house. It really is a very fine foundation, Peter; it +really is. But what I can't understand is what Paddy is thinking of by +building that great pile of mud right in the middle. When he gets his +walls built, where will his bedroom be? There won't be any room at all. +It won't be a house at all—just a big useless pile of sticks and mud."</p> + +<p>Peter scratched his head and then pulled his whiskers thoughtfully as he +gazed out at the pile in the water where Paddy the Beaver was at work.</p> + +<p>"It does look foolish, that's a fact," said he. "Why don't you point +out to him the mistake he is making, Jerry? <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Page 59]</a></span>You have built such a +splendid house yourself that you ought to be able to help Paddy and show +him his mistakes."</p> + +<p>Jerry had smiled a very self-satisfied smile when Peter mentioned his +fine house, but he shook his head at the suggestion that he should give +Paddy advice.</p> + +<p>"I—I don't just like to," he confessed. "You know, he might not like it +and—and it doesn't seem as if it would be quite polite."</p> + +<p>Peter sniffed. "That wouldn't trouble me any if he were my cousin," +said he.</p> + +<p>Jerry shook his head. "No, I don't believe it would," he replied, "but +it does trouble me and—and—well, I think I'll wait awhile."</p> + +<p>Now all this time Paddy had been hard at work. He was bringing the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Page 60]</a></span>longest branches which he had cut from the trees out of which he had +built his dam, and a lot of slender willow and alder poles. He pushed +these ahead of him as he swam. When he reached the foundation of his +house, he would lean them against the pile of mud in the middle with +their big ends resting on the foundation. So he worked all the way +around until by and by the mud pile in the middle couldn't be seen. It +was completely covered with sticks, and they were cunningly fastened +together at the tops.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Page 61]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XII</h2> + +<h3><a name="something" id="something"></a>JERRY MUSKRAT LEARNS SOMETHING</h3> + +<table class="table" summary="verse"> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">If you think you know it all</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">You are riding for a fall.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">Use your ears and use your eyes,</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">But hold your tongue and you'll be wise.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="figleftt"><img src="images/j.jpg" height="44" width="24" alt="j" /></p> + +<p>ERRY MUSKRAT will tell you that is as true as true can be.</p> + +<p>Jerry knows. He found it out for himself. Now he is very careful what +he says about other people or what they are doing. But he wasn't so +careful when his cousin, Paddy the Beaver, was building his house. No, +Sir, Jerry wasn't so careful then. He thought he knew more about +building a house than Paddy did. He was sure of it when he watched +Paddy heap up a great pile <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Page 62]</a></span>of mud right in the middle where his room +ought to be, and then build a wall of sticks around it. He said as much +to Peter Rabbit.</p> + +<p>Now it is never safe to say anything to Peter Rabbit that you don't +care to have others know. Peter has a great deal of respect for Jerry +Muskrat's opinion on house-building. You see, he very much admires +Jerry's snug house in the Smiling Pool. It really is a very fine house, +and Jerry may be excused for being proud of it. But that doesn't +excuse Jerry for thinking that he knows all there is to know about +house-building. Of course Peter told every one he met that Paddy the +Beaver was making a foolish mistake in building his house, and that +Jerry Muskrat, who ought to know, said so.</p> + +<p>So whenever they got the chance, the little people of the Green Forest +and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Page 63]</a></span>the Green Meadows would steal up to the shore of Paddy's new pond +and chuckle as they looked out at the great pile of sticks and mud which +Paddy had built for a house, but in which he had forgotten to make a +room. At least they supposed that he had forgotten this very important +thing. He must have, for there wasn't any room. It was a great joke. +They laughed a lot about it, and they lost a great deal of the respect +for Paddy which they had had since he built his wonderful dam.</p> + +<p>Jerry and Peter sat in the moonlight talking it over. Paddy had stopped +bringing sticks for his wall. He had dived down out of sight, and he was +gone a long time. Suddenly Jerry noticed that the water had grown very, +very muddy all around Paddy's new house. He wrinkled his brows trying to +think what Paddy could be doing. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Page 64]</a></span>Presently Paddy came up for air. Then +he went down again, and the water grew muddier than ever. This went on +for a long time. Every little while Paddy would come up for air and a +few minutes of rest. Then down he would go, and the water would grow +muddier and muddier.</p> + +<p>At last Jerry could stand it no longer. He just had to see what was +going on. He slipped into the water and swam over to where the water was +muddiest. Just as he got there up came Paddy.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Cousin Jerry!" said he. "I was just going to invite you over to +see what you think of my house inside. Just follow me."</p> + +<p>Paddy dived, and Jerry dived after him. He followed Paddy in at one of +the three doorways under water and up a smooth hall right into the +biggest, nicest bedroom Jerry had ever seen in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Page 65]</a></span>all his life. He just +gasped in sheer surprise. He couldn't do anything else. He couldn't find +his tongue to say a word. Here he was in this splendid great room up +above the water, and he had been so sure that there wasn't any room at +all! He just didn't know what to make of it.</p> + +<p>Paddy's eyes twinkled. "Well," said he, "what do you think of it?"</p> + +<p>"I—I—think it is splendid, just perfectly splendid! But I don't +understand it at all, Cousin Paddy. I—I—Where is that great pile of +mud I helped you build in the middle?" Jerry looked as foolish as he +felt when he asked this.</p> + +<p>"Why, I've dug it all away. That's what made the water so muddy," +replied Paddy.</p> + +<p>"But what did you build it for in the first place?" Jerry persisted.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Page 66]</a></span>"Because I had to have something to rest my sticks against while I was +building my walls, of course," replied Paddy. "When I got the tops +fastened together for a roof, they didn't need a support any longer, and +then I dug it away to make this room. I couldn't have built such a big +room any other way. I see you don't know very much about house-building, +Cousin Jerry."</p> + +<p>"I—I'm afraid I don't," confessed Jerry sadly.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Page 67]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XIII</h2> + +<h3><a name="storehouse" id="storehouse">THE QUEER STOREHOUSE</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/e.jpg" height="44" width="39" alt="e" /></p> + +<p>VERYBODY knew that Paddy the Beaver was laying up a supply of food for +the winter, and everybody thought it was queer food. That is, everybody +but Prickly Porky the Porcupine thought so. Prickly Porky likes the same +kind of food, but he never lays up a supply. He just goes out and gets +it when he wants it, winter or summer. What kind of food was it? Why, +bark, to be sure. Yes, Sir, it was just bark—the bark of certain kinds +of trees.</p> + +<p>Now Prickly Porky can climb the trees and eat the bark right there, but +Paddy the Beaver cannot climb, and if <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Page 68]</a></span>he should just eat the bark that +he can reach from the ground it would take such a lot of trees to keep +him filled up that he would soon spoil the Green Forest. You know, when +the bark is taken off a tree all the way around, the tree dies. That is +because all the things that a tree draws out of the ground to make it +grow and keep it alive are carried up from the roots in the sap, and the +sap cannot go up the tree trunks and into the branches when the bark is +taken off, because it is up the inside of the bark that it travels. So +when the bark is taken from a tree all the way around the trunk, the +tree just starves to death.</p> + +<p>Now Paddy the Beaver loves the Green Forest as dearly as you and I do, +and perhaps even a little more dearly. You see, it is his home. Besides, +Paddy never is wasteful. So he cuts <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Page 69]</a></span>down a tree so that he can get all +the bark instead of killing a whole lot of trees for a very little bark, +as he might do if he were lazy. There isn't a lazy bone in him—not one. +The bark he likes best is from the aspen. When he cannot get that, he +will eat the bark from the poplar, the alder, the willow, and even the +birch. But he likes the aspen so much better that he will work very hard +to get it. Perhaps it tastes better because he does have to work so hard +for it.</p> + +<p>There were some aspen-trees growing right on the edge of the pond Paddy +had made in the Green Forest. These he cut just as he had cut the trees +for his dam. As soon as a tree was down, he would cut it into short +lengths, and with these swim out to where the water was deep, close to +his new house. He took them one by one and carried the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Page 70]</a></span>first ones to the +bottom, where he pushed them into the mud just enough to hold them. +Then, as fast as he brought more, he piled them on the first ones. And +so the pile grew and grew.</p> + +<p>Jerry Muskrat, Peter Rabbit, Bobby Coon, and the other little people of +the Green Forest watched him with the greatest interest and curiosity. +They couldn't quite make out what he was doing. It was almost as if he +were building the foundation for another house.</p> + +<p>"What's he doing, Jerry?" demanded Peter, when he could keep still +no longer.</p> + +<p>"I don't exactly know," replied Jerry. "He said that he was going to +lay in a supply of food for the winter, just as I told you, and I +suppose that is what he is doing. But I don't quite understand what he +is taking it all out <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Page 71]</a></span>into the pond for. I believe I'll go ask him."</p> + +<p>"Do, and then come tell us," begged Peter, who was growing so curious +that he couldn't sit still.</p> + +<p>So Jerry swam out to where Paddy was so busy. "Is this your food supply, +Cousin Paddy?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Paddy, crawling up on the side of his house to rest. +"Yes, this is my food supply. Isn't it splendid?"</p> + +<p>"I guess it is," replied Jerry, trying to be polite, "though I like +lily-roots and clams better. But what are you going to do with it? Where +is your storehouse?"</p> + +<p>"This pond is my storehouse," replied Paddy. "I will make a great pile +right here close to my house, and the water will keep it nice and fresh +all winter. When the pond is frozen over, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Page 72]</a></span>all I will have to do is to +slip out of one of my doorways down there on the bottom, swim over here +and get a stick, and fill my stomach. Isn't it handy?"</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="images/img_7.png" height="418" width="400" alt="img_7" /></p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Page 73]</a></span></p> + + +<h2>XIV</h2> + +<h3><a name="mud" id="mud">A FOOTPRINT IN THE MUD</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/v.jpg" height="44" width="47" alt="v" /></p> + +<p>ERY early one morning Paddy the Beaver heard Sammy Jay making a +terrible fuss over in the aspen-trees on the edge of the pond Paddy +had made in the Green Forest. Paddy couldn't see because he was inside +his house, and it has no window, but he could hear. He wrinkled up his +brows thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Seems to me that Sammy is very much excited this morning," said he, +talking to himself, a way he has because he is so much alone. "When he +screams like that, Sammy is usually trying to do two things at +once—make trouble for somebody and keep some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Page 74]</a></span>body else out of trouble; +and when you come to think of it, that's rather a funny way of doing. It +shows that he isn't all bad, and at the same time he is a long way from +being all good. Now, I should say from the sounds that Sammy has +discovered Reddy Fox trying to steal up on some one over where my +aspen-trees are growing. Reddy is afraid of me, but I suspect that he +knows that Peter Rabbit has been hanging around here a lot lately, +watching me work, and he thinks perhaps he can catch Peter. I shall have +to whisper in one of Peter's long ears and tell him to watch out."</p> + +<p>After a while he heard Sammy Jay's voice growing fainter and fainter in +the Green Forest. Finally he couldn't hear it at all. "Whoever was there +has gone away, and Sammy has followed just to torment them," thought +Paddy. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Page 75]</a></span>He was very busy making a bed. He is very particular about his +bed, is Paddy the Beaver. He makes it of fine splinters of wood which he +splits off with those wonderful great cutting teeth of his. This makes +the driest kind of a bed. It requires a great deal of patience and work, +but patience is one of the first things a little Beaver learns, and +honest work well done is one of the greatest pleasures in the world, as +Paddy long ago found out for himself. So he kept at work on his bed for +some time after all was still outside.</p> + +<p>At last Paddy decided that he would go over to his aspen-trees and look +them over to decide which ones he would cut the next night. He slid down +one of his long halls, out the doorway at the bottom of the pond, and +then swam up to the surface, where he floated for a few minutes with +just his head out of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Page 76]</a></span>water. And all the time his eyes and nose and ears +were busy looking, smelling, and listening for any sign of danger. +Everything was still. Sure that he was quite safe, Paddy swam across to +the place where the aspen-trees grew, and waddled out on the shore.</p> + +<p>Paddy looked this way and looked that way. He looked up in the tree +tops, and he looked off up the hill, but most of all he looked at the +ground. Yes, Sir, Paddy just studied the ground. You see, he hadn't +forgotten the fuss Sammy Jay had been making there, and he was trying to +find out what it was all about. At first he didn't see anything unusual, +but by and by he happened to notice a little wet place, and right in the +middle of it was something that made Paddy's eyes open wide. It was a +footprint! Some one had carelessly stepped in the mud.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Page 77]</a></span>"Ha!" exclaimed Paddy, and the hair on his back lifted ever so little, +and for a minute he had a prickly feeling all over. The footprint was +very much like that of Reddy Fox, only it was larger.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" said Paddy again, "that certainly is the footprint of Old Man +Coyote! I see I have got to watch out more sharply than I had thought +for. All right, Mr. Coyote; now that I know you are about, you'll have +to be smarter than I think you are to catch me. You certainly will be +back here to-night looking for me, so I think I'll do my cutting right +now in the daytime."</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Page 78]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XV</h2> + +<h3><a name="call" id="call">SAMMY JAY MAKES PADDY A CALL</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/p.jpg" height="44" width="36" alt="p" /></p> + +<p>ADDY THE BEAVER was hard at work. He had just cut down a good-sized +aspen-tree and now he was gnawing it into short lengths to put in his +food pile in the pond. As he worked, Paddy was doing a lot of thinking +about the footprint of Old Man Coyote in a little patch of mud, for he +knew that meant that Old Man Coyote had discovered his pond, and would +be hanging around, hoping to catch Paddy off his guard. Paddy knew it +just as well as if Old Man Coyote had told him so. That was why he was +at work cutting his food supply in the daytime. Usually he works at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Page 79]</a></span>night, and he knew that Old Man Coyote knew it.</p> + +<p>"He'll try to catch me then," thought Paddy, "so I'll do my working on +land now and fool him."</p> + +<p>The tree he was cutting began to sway and crack. Paddy cut out one +more big chip, then hurried away to a safe place while the tree fell +with a crash.</p> + +<p>"Thief! thief! thief!" screamed a voice just back of Paddy.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Sammy Jay! I see you don't feel any better than usual this +morning," said Paddy. "Don't you want to sit up in this tree while I +cut it down?"</p> + +<p>Sammy grew black in the face with anger, for he knew that Paddy was +laughing at him. You remember how only a few days before he had been so +intent on calling Paddy bad names that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Page 80]</a></span>he actually hadn't noticed that +Paddy was cutting the very tree in which he was sitting, and so when it +fell he had had a terrible fright.</p> + +<p>"You think you are very smart, Mr. Beaver, but you'll think differently +one of these fine days!" screamed Sammy. "If you knew what I know, you +wouldn't be so well satisfied with yourself."</p> + +<p>"What do you know?" asked Paddy, pretending to be very much alarmed.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to tell you what I know," retorted Sammy Jay. "You'll +find out soon enough. And when you do find out, you'll never steal +another tree from our Green Forest. Somebody is going to catch you, and +it isn't Farmer Brown's boy either!"</p> + +<p><a name="frontispiece" id="frontispiece"></a>Paddy pretended to be terribly frightened. "Oh, who is it? Please tell +me, Mr. Jay," he begged.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Page 81]</a></span>Now to be called Mr. Jay made Sammy feel very important. Nearly +everybody else called him Sammy. He swelled himself out trying to look +as important as he felt, and his eyes snapped with pleasure. He was +actually making Paddy the Beaver afraid. At least he thought he was.</p> + +<p>"No, Sir, I won't tell you," he replied. "I wouldn't be you for a great +deal though! Somebody who is smarter than you are is going to catch you, +and when he gets through with you, there won't be anything left but a +few bones. No, Sir, nothing but a few bones!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Jay, this is terrible news! Whatever am I to do?" cried Paddy, +all the time keeping right on at work cutting another tree.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing you can do," replied Sammy, grinning wickedly at +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Page 82]</a></span>Paddy's fright. "There's nothing you can do unless you go right straight +back to the North where you came from. You think you are very smart +but—"</p> + +<p>Sammy didn't finish. Crack! Over fell the tree Paddy had been cutting +and the top of it fell straight into the alder in which Sammy was +sitting. "Oh! Oh! Help!" shrieked Sammy, spreading his wings and flying +away just in time.</p> + +<p>Paddy sat down and laughed until his sides ached. "Come make me another +call some day, Sammy!" he said. "And when you do, please bring some real +news. I know all about Old Man Coyote. You can tell him for me that when +he is planning to catch people he should be careful not to leave +footprints to give himself away."</p> + +<p>Sammy didn't reply. He just sneaked off through the Green Forest, +looking quite as foolish as he felt.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Page 83]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XVI</h2> + +<h3><a name="crafty" id="crafty">OLD MAN COYOTE IS VERY CRAFTY</a></h3> + +<table class="table" summary="verse"> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">Coyote has a crafty brain;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">His wits are sharp his ends to gain.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="figleftt"><img src="images/t.jpg" height="44" width="46" alt="t" /></p> + +<p>HERE is nothing in the world more true than that. Old Man Coyote has +the craftiest brain of all the little people of the Green Forest or the +Green Meadows. Sharp as are the wits of old Granny Fox, they are not +quite as sharp as the wits of Old Man Coyote. If you want to fool him, +you will have to get up very early in the morning, and then it is more +than likely that you will be the one fooled, not he. There is very +little going on around him that he doesn't know about. But once in a +while something escapes him. The coming of Paddy the Beaver to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Page 84]</a></span>Green +Forest was one of these things. He didn't know a thing about Paddy until +Paddy had finished his dam and his house, and was cutting his supply of +food for the winter.</p> + +<p>You see, it was this way: When the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother +West Wind first heard what was going on in the Green Forest and hurried +around over the Green Meadows and through the Green Forest to spread the +news, as is their way, they took the greatest pains not to even hint it +to Old Man Coyote because they were afraid that he would make trouble +and perhaps drive Paddy away. The place that Paddy had chosen to build +his dam was so deep in the Green Forest that Old Man Coyote seldom went +that way. So it was that he knew nothing about Paddy, and Paddy knew +nothing about him for some time.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Page 85]</a></span>But after a while Old Man Coyote noticed that the little people of +the Green Meadows were not about as much as usual. They seemed to have +a secret of some kind. He mentioned the matter to his friend, Digger +the Badger.</p> + +<p>Digger had been so intent on his own affairs that he hadn't noticed +anything unusual, but when Old Man Coyote mentioned the matter he +remembered that Blacky the Crow headed straight for the Green Forest +every morning. Several times he had seen Sammy Jay flying in the same +direction as if in a great hurry to get somewhere.</p> + +<p>Old Man Coyote grinned. "That's all I need to know, friend Digger," +said he. "When Blacky the Crow and Sammy Jay visit a place more than +once, something interesting is going on there. I think I'll take a +stroll up <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Page 86]</a></span>through the Green Forest and have a look around."</p> + +<p>With that, off Old Man Coyote started. But he was too sly and crafty to +go straight to the Green Forest. He pretended to hunt around over the +Green Meadows just as he usually did, all the time working nearer and +nearer to the Green Forest. When he reached the edge of it, he slipped +in among the trees, and when he felt sure that no one was likely to see +him, he began to run this way and that way with his nose to the ground.</p> + +<p>"Ha!" he exclaimed presently, "Reddy Fox has been this way lately."</p> + +<p>Pretty soon he found another trail. "So," said he, "Peter Rabbit has +been over here a good deal of late, and his trail goes in the same +direction as that of Reddy Fox. I guess all I have to do now is to +follow Peter's trail, and it <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Page 87]</a></span>will lead me to what I want to find out."</p> + +<p>So Old Man Coyote followed Peter's trail, and he presently came to the +pond of Paddy the Beaver. "Ha!" said he, as he looked out and saw +Paddy's new house. "So there is a newcomer to the Green Forest! I have +always heard that Beaver is very good eating. My stomach begins to feel +empty this very minute." His mouth began to water, and a fierce, hungry +look shone in his yellow eyes.</p> + +<p>It was just then that Sammy Jay saw him and began to scream at the top +of his lungs so that Paddy the Beaver over in his house heard him. Old +Man Coyote knew that it was of no use to stay longer with Sammy Jay +about, so he took a hasty look at the pond and found where Paddy came +ashore to cut his food. Then, shaking his fist at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Page 88]</a></span>Sammy Jay, he started +straight back for the Green Meadows. "I'll just pay a visit here in the +night," said he, "and give Mr. Beaver a surprise while he is at work."</p> + +<p>But with all his craft, Old Man Coyote didn't notice that he had left a +footprint in the mud.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="images/img_8.png" height="427" width="400" alt="img_7" /></p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Page 89]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XVII</h2> + +<h3><a name="disappointed" id="disappointed">OLD MAN COYOTE IS DISAPPOINTED</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/o.jpg" height="44" width="45" alt="o" /></p> + +<p>LD MAN COYOTE lay stretched out in his favorite napping place on the +Green Meadows. He was thinking of what he had found out up in the Green +Forest that morning—that Paddy the Beaver was living there. Old Man +Coyote's thoughts seemed very pleasant to himself, though really they +were very dreadful thoughts. You see, he was thinking how easy it was +going to be to catch Paddy the Beaver, and what a splendid meal he would +make. He licked his chops at the thought.</p> + +<p>"He doesn't know I know he's here," thought Old Man Coyote. "In fact, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Page 90]</a></span>I +don't believe he even knows that I am anywhere around. Of course, he +won't be watching for me. He cuts his trees at night, so all I will have +to do is to hide right close by where he is at work, and he'll walk +right into my mouth. Sammy Jay knows I was up there this morning, but +Sammy sleeps at night, so he will not give the alarm. My, my, how good +that Beaver will taste!" He licked his chops once more, then yawned and +closed his eyes for a nap.</p> + +<p>Old Man Coyote waited until jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had gone to bed +behind the Purple Hills, and the Black Shadows had crept out across the +Green Meadows. Then, keeping in the blackest of them, and looking very +much like a shadow himself, he slipped into the Green Forest. It was +dark in there, and he made straight for Paddy's new pond, trotting along +swiftly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Page 91]</a></span>without making a sound. When he was near the aspen-trees which +he knew Paddy was planning to cut, he crept forward very slowly and +carefully. Everything was still as still could be.</p> + +<p>"Good!" thought Old Man Coyote. "I am here first, and now all I need do +is to hide and wait for Paddy to come ashore."</p> + +<p>So he stretched himself flat behind some brush close beside the little +path Paddy had made up from the edge of the water and waited. It was +very still, so still that it seemed almost as if he could hear his heart +beat. He could see the little stars twinkling in the sky and their own +reflections twinkling back at them from the water of Paddy's pond. Old +Man Coyote waited and waited. He is very patient when there is something +to gain by it. For such a splendid dinner as Paddy the Beaver <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Page 92]</a></span>would make +he felt that he could well afford to be patient. So he waited and +waited, and everything was as still as if no living thing but the trees +were there. Even the trees seemed to be asleep.</p> + +<p>At last, after a long, long time, he heard just the faintest splash. He +pricked up his ears and peeped out on the pond with the hungriest look +in his yellow eyes. There was a little line of silver coming straight +towards him. He knew that it was made by Paddy the Beaver swimming. +Nearer and nearer it drew. Old Man Coyote chuckled way down deep inside, +without making a sound. He could see Paddy's head now, and Paddy was +coming straight in, as if he hadn't a fear in the world.</p> + +<p>Almost to the edge of the pond swam Paddy. Then he stopped. In a few +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Page 93]</a></span>minutes he began to swim again, but this time it was back in the +direction of his house, and he seemed to be carrying something. It was +one of the little food logs he had cut that day, and he was taking it +out to his storehouse. Then back he came for another. And so he kept on, +never once coming ashore. Old Man Coyote waited until Paddy had carried +the last log to his storehouse and then, with a loud whack on the water +with his broad tail, had dived and disappeared in his house.</p> + +<p>Then Old Man Coyote arose and started elsewhere to look for his dinner, +and in his heart was bitter disappointment.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Page 94]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XVIII</h2> + +<h3><a name="plan" id="plan">OLD MAN COYOTE TRIES ANOTHER PLAN</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/f.jpg" height="44" width="35" alt="f" /></p> + +<p>OR three nights Old Man Coyote had stolen up through the Green Forest +with the coming of the Black Shadows and had hidden among the +aspen-trees where Paddy the Beaver cut his food, and for three nights +Paddy had failed to come ashore. Each night he had seemed to have enough +food logs in the water to keep him busy without cutting more. Old Man +Coyote lay there, and the hungry look in his eyes changed to one of +doubt and then to suspicion. Could it be that Paddy the Beaver was +smarter than he thought? It began to look very much as if Paddy knew +perfectly well that he was hiding there each <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Page 95]</a></span>night. Yes, Sir, that's the +way it looked. For three nights Paddy hadn't cut a single tree, and yet +each night he had plenty of food logs ready to take to his storehouse in +the pond.</p> + +<p>"That means that he comes ashore in the daytime and cuts his trees," +thought Old Man Coyote as, tired and with black anger in his heart, he +trotted home the third night. "He couldn't have found out about me +himself; he isn't smart enough. It must be that some one has told him. +And nobody knows that I have been over there but Sammy Jay. It must be +he who has been the tattletale. I think I'll visit Paddy by daylight +to-morrow, and then we'll see!"</p> + +<p>Now the trouble with some smart people is that they are never able to +believe that others may be as smart as they. Old Man Coyote didn't know +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Page 96]</a></span>that the first time he had visited Paddy's pond he had left behind him a +footprint in a little patch of soft mud. If he had known it, he wouldn't +have believed that Paddy would be smart enough to guess what that +footprint meant. So Old Man Coyote laid all the blame at the door of +Sammy Jay, and that very morning, when Sammy came flying over the Green +Meadows, Old Man Coyote accused him of being a tattletale and threatened +the most dreadful things to Sammy if ever he caught him.</p> + +<p>Now Sammy had flown down to the Green Meadows to tell Old Man Coyote +how Paddy was doing all his work on land in the daytime. But when Old +Man Coyote began to call him a tattletale and accuse him of having +warned Paddy, and to threaten dreadful things, he straightway forgot all +his anger at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Page 97]</a></span>Paddy and turned it all on Old Man Coyote. He called him +everything he could think of, and this was a great deal, for Sammy has a +wicked tongue. When he hadn't any breath left, he flew over to the Green +Forest, and there he hid where he could watch all that was going on.</p> + +<p>That afternoon Old Man Coyote tried his new plan. He slipped into the +Green Forest, looking this way and that way to be sure that no one saw +him. Then very, very softly, he crept up through the Green Forest +towards the pond of Paddy the Beaver. As he drew near, he heard a crash, +and it made him smile. He knew what it meant. It meant that Paddy was at +work cutting down trees. With his stomach almost on the ground, he crept +forward little by little, little by little, taking the greatest care not +to rustle so <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Page 98]</a></span>much as a leaf. Presently he reached a place where he could +see the aspen-trees, and there sure enough was Paddy, sitting up on his +hind legs and hard at work cutting another tree.</p> + +<p>Old Man Coyote lay down for a few minutes to watch. Then he wriggled +a little nearer. Slowly and carefully he drew his legs under him and +made ready for a rush. Paddy the Beaver was his at last! At just +that very minute a harsh scream rang out right over his head "Thief! +thief! thief!"</p> + +<p>It was Sammy Jay, who had silently followed him all the way. Paddy the +Beaver didn't stop to even look around. He knew what that scream meant, +and he scrambled down his little path to the water as he never had +scrambled before. And as he dived with a great splash, Old Man Coyote +landed with a great jump on the very edge of the pond.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Page 99]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XIX</h2> + +<h3><a name="friends" id="friends">PADDY AND SAMMY JAY BECOME FRIENDS</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/p.jpg" height="44" width="36" alt="p" /></p> + +<p>ADDY THE BEAVER floated in his pond and grinned in the most provoking +way at Old Man Coyote, who had so nearly caught him. Old Man Coyote +fairly danced with anger on the bank. He had felt so sure of Paddy +that time that it was hard work to believe that Paddy had really gotten +away from him. He bared his long cruel teeth, and he looked very fierce +and ugly.</p> + +<p>"Come on in; the water's fine!" called Paddy.</p> + +<p>Now, of course, this wasn't a nice thing for Paddy to do, for it only +made Old Man Coyote all the angrier. You <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Page 100]</a></span>see, Paddy knew perfectly well +that he was absolutely safe, and he just couldn't resist the temptation +to say some unkind things. He had had to be on the watch for days lest +he should be caught, and so he hadn't been able to work quite so well as +he could have done with nothing to fear, and he still had a lot of +preparations to make for winter. So he told Old Man Coyote just what he +thought of him, and that he wasn't as smart as he thought he was or he +never would have left a footprint in the mud to give him away.</p> + +<p>When Sammy Jay, who was listening and chuckling as he listened, heard +that, he flew down where he would be just out of reach of Old Man +Coyote, and then he just turned that tongue of his loose, and you know +that some people say that Sammy's tongue is hung in the middle and wags +at both ends. Of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Page 101]</a></span>course, this isn't really so, but when he gets to +abusing people it seems as if it must be true. He called Old Man Coyote +every bad name he could think of. He called him a sneak, a thief, a +coward, a bully, and a lot of other things.</p> + +<p>"You said I had warned Paddy that you were trying to catch him and that +was why you failed to find him at work at night, and all the time you +had warned him yourself!" screamed Sammy. "I used to think that you were +smart, but I know better now. Paddy is twice as smart as you are."</p> + +<table class="table" summary="verse"> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">"Mr. Coyote is ever so sly;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">Mr. Coyote is clever and spry;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdindent">If you believe all you hear.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">Mr. Coyote is naught of the kind;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">Mr. Coyote is stupid and blind;</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdindent">He can't catch a flea on his ear."</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>Paddy the Beaver laughed till the tears came at Sammy's foolish verse, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Page 102]</a></span>but it made Old Man Coyote angrier than ever. He was angry with Paddy +for escaping from him, and he was angry with Sammy, terribly angry, and +the worst of it was he couldn't catch either one, for one was at home in +the water and the other was at home in the air and he couldn't follow in +either place. Finally he saw it was of no use to stay there to be +laughed at, so, muttering and grumbling, he started for the Green +Meadows.</p> + +<p>As soon as he was out of sight Paddy turned to Sammy Jay.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jay," said he, knowing how it pleased Sammy to be called mister, +"Mr. Jay, you have done me a mighty good turn to-day, and I am not going +to forget it. You can call me what you please and scream at me all you +please, but you won't get any satisfaction out of it, because I simply +won't get angry. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Page 103]</a></span>I will say to myself, 'Mr. Jay saved my life the other +day,' and then I won't mind your tongue."</p> + +<p>Now this made Sammy feel very proud and very happy. You know it is very +seldom that he hears anything nice said of him. He flew down on the +stump of one of the trees Paddy had cut. "Let's be friends," said he.</p> + +<p>"With all my heart!" replied Paddy.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="images/img_9.png" height="252" width="400" alt="img_9" /></p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Page 104]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XX</h2> + +<h3><a name="paddy" id="paddy">SAMMY JAY OFFERS TO HELP PADDY</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/p.jpg" height="44" width="36" alt="p" /></p> + +<p>ADDY sat looking thoughtfully at the aspen-trees he would have to cut +to complete his store of food for the winter. All those near the edge of +his pond had been cut. The others were scattered about some little +distance away. "I don't know," said Paddy out loud. "I don't know."</p> + +<p>"What don't you know?" asked Sammy Jay, who, now that he and Paddy had +become friends, was very much interested in what Paddy was doing.</p> + +<p>"Why," replied Paddy, "I don't know just how I am going to get those +trees. Now that Old Man Coyote is watching for me, it isn't safe for +me to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Page 105]</a></span>go very far from my pond. I suppose I could dig a canal up to +some of the nearest trees and then float them down to the pond, but +it is hard to work and keep sharp watch for enemies at the same time. +I guess I'll have to be content with some of these alders growing +close to the water, but the bark of aspens is so much better that +I—I wish I could get them."</p> + +<p>"What's a canal?" asked Sammy abruptly.</p> + +<p>"A canal? Why, a canal is a kind of ditch in which water can run," +replied Paddy.</p> + +<p>Sammy nodded. "I've seen Farmer Brown dig one over on the Green Meadows, +but it looked like a great deal of work. I didn't suppose that any one +else could do it. Do you really mean that you can dig a canal, Paddy?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I mean it," replied Paddy, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Page 106]</a></span>in a surprised tone of voice. "I +have helped dig lots of canals. You ought to see some of them back where +I came from."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to," replied Sammy. "I think it is perfectly wonderful. I +don't see how you do it."</p> + +<p>"It's easy enough when you know how," replied Paddy. "If I dared to, I'd +show you."</p> + +<p>Sammy had a sudden idea. It almost made him gasp. "I tell you what, you +work and I'll keep watch!" he cried. "You know my eyes are very sharp."</p> + +<p>"Will you?" cried Paddy eagerly. "That would be perfectly splendid. You +have the sharpest eyes of any one whom I know, and I would feel +perfectly safe with you on watch. But I don't want to put you to all +that trouble, Mr. Jay."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Page 107]</a></span>"Of course I will," replied Sammy, "and it won't be any trouble at all. +I'll just love to do it." You see, it made Sammy feel very proud to have +Paddy say that he had such sharp eyes. "When will you begin?"</p> + +<p>"Right away, if you will just take a look around and see that it is +perfectly safe for me to come out on land."</p> + +<p>Sammy didn't wait to hear more. He spread his beautiful blue wings and +started off over the Green Forest straight for the Green Meadows. Paddy +watched him go with a puzzled and disappointed air. "That's funny," +thought he. "I thought he really meant it, and now off he goes without +even saying good-by."</p> + +<p>In a little while back came Sammy, all out of breath. "It's all right," +he panted. "You can go to work just as soon as you please."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Page 108]</a></span>Paddy looked more puzzled than ever. "How do you know?" he asked. "I +haven't seen you looking around."</p> + +<p>"I did better than that," replied Sammy. "If Old Man Coyote had been +hiding somewhere in the Green Forest, it might have taken me some time +to find him. But he isn't. You see, I flew straight over to his home in +the Green Meadows to see if he is there, and he is. He's taking a +sun-bath and looking as cross as two sticks. I don't think he'll be back +here this morning, but I'll keep a sharp watch while you work."</p> + +<p>Paddy made Sammy a low bow. "You certainly are smart, Mr. Jay," said +he. "I wouldn't have thought of going over to Old Man Coyote's home to +see if he was there. I'll feel perfectly safe with you on guard. Now +I'll get to work."</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Page 109]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XXI</h2> + +<h3><a name="together" id="together">PADDY AND SAMMY JAY WORK TOGETHER</a></h3> + +<p class="figleft"><img src="images/j.jpg" height="44" width="24" alt="j" /></p> + +<p>ERRY MUSKRAT had been home at the Smiling Pool for several days. But +he couldn't stay there long. Oh, my, no! He just had to get back to see +what his big cousin, Paddy the Beaver, was doing. So as soon as he was +sure that everything was all right at the Smiling Pool he hurried back +up the Laughing Brook to Paddy's pond, deep in the Green Forest. As soon +as he was in sight of it, he looked eagerly for Paddy. At first he +didn't see him. Then he stopped and gazed over at the place where Paddy +had been cutting aspen-trees for food. Something was going on there, +something queer. He couldn't make it out.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Page 110]</a></span>Just then Sammy Jay came flying over.</p> + +<p>"What's Paddy doing?" Jerry asked.</p> + +<p>Sammy Jay dropped down to the top of an alder-tree and fluffed out all +his feathers in a very important way. "Oh," said he, "Paddy and I are +building something!"</p> + +<p>"You! Paddy and you! Ha, ha! Paddy and you building something!" +Jerry laughed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, me!" snapped Sammy angrily. "That's what I said; Paddy and I are +building something."</p> + +<p>Jerry had begun to swim across the pond by this time, and Sammy was +flying across. "Why don't you tell the truth, Sammy, and say that Paddy +is building something and you are making him all the trouble you can?" +called Jerry.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Page 111]</a></span>Sammy's eyes snapped angrily, and he darted down at Jerry's little brown +head. "It isn't true!" he shrieked. "You ask Paddy if I'm not helping!"</p> + +<p>Jerry ducked under water to escape Sammy's sharp bill. When he came up +again, Sammy was over in the little grove of aspen-trees where Paddy was +at work. Then Jerry discovered something. What was it? Why a little +water-path led right up to the aspen-trees, and there, at the end of the +little water-path, was Paddy the Beaver hard at work. He was digging and +piling the earth on one side very neatly. In fact, he was making the +water-path longer. Jerry swam right up the little water-path to where +Paddy was working. "Good morning, Cousin Paddy," said he. "What are you +doing?"</p> + +<p>"Oh," replied Paddy, "Sammy Jay and I are building a canal."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Page 112]</a></span>Sammy Jay looked down at Jerry in triumph, and Jerry looked at Paddy as +if he thought that he was joking.</p> + +<p>"Sammy Jay? What's Sammy Jay got to do about it?" demanded Jerry.</p> + +<p>"A whole lot," replied Paddy. "You see, he keeps watch while I work. If +he didn't, I couldn't work, and there wouldn't be any canal. Old Man +Coyote has been trying to catch me, and I wouldn't dare work on shore if +it wasn't that I am sure that the sharpest eyes in the Green Forest are +watching for danger."</p> + +<p>Sammy Jay looked very much pleased indeed and very proud. "So you see it +takes both of us to make this canal; I dig while Sammy watches. So we +are building it together," concluded Paddy with a twinkle in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I see," said Jerry slowly. Then he turned to Sammy Jay. "I beg your +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Page 113]</a></span>pardon, Sammy," said he. "I do, indeed."</p> + +<p>"That's all right," replied Sammy airily. "What do you think of +our canal?"</p> + +<p>"I think it is wonderful," replied Jerry.</p> + +<p>And indeed it was a very fine canal, straight, wide, and deep enough +for Paddy to swim in and float his logs out to the pond. Yes, indeed, it +was a very fine canal.</p> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Page 114]</a></span></p> + +<h2>XXII</h2> + +<h3><a name="harvest" id="harvest">PADDY FINISHES HIS HARVEST</a></h3> + +<table summary="verse"> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">"Sharp his tongue and sharp his eyes—</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">Sammy guards against surprise.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">If 'twere not for Sammy Jay</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdb">I could do no work to-day."</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="figleftt"><img src="images/w.jpg" height="44" width="70" alt="w" /></p> + +<p>HEN Sammy overheard Paddy the Beaver say that to Jerry Muskrat, it +made him swell up all over with pure pride. You see, Sammy is so used to +hearing bad things about himself that to hear something nice like that +pleased him immensely. He straightway forgot all the mean things he had +said to Paddy when he first saw him—how he had called him a thief +because he had cut the aspen-trees he needed. He forgot all this. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Page 115]</a></span>He +forgot how Paddy had made him the laughing-stock of the Green Forest and +the Green Meadows by cutting down the very tree in which he had been +sitting. He forgot everything but that Paddy had trusted him to keep +watch and now was saying nice things about him. He made up his mind that +he would deserve all the nice things that Paddy could say, and he +thought that Paddy was the finest fellow in the world.</p> + +<p>Jerry Muskrat looked doubtful. He didn't trust Sammy, and he took +care not to go far from the water when he heard that Old Man Coyote +had been hanging around. But Paddy worked away just as if he hadn't +a fear in the world.</p> + +<p>"The way to make people want to be trusted is to trust them," said he +to himself. "If I show Sammy Jay that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Page 116]</a></span>I don't really trust him, he will +think it is of no use to try and will give it up. But if I do trust him, +and he knows that I do, he'll be the best watchman in the Green Forest."</p> + +<p>And this shows that Paddy the Beaver has a great deal of wisdom, for it +was just as he thought. Sammy was on hand bright and early every +morning. He made sure that Old Man Coyote was nowhere in the Green +Forest, and then he settled himself comfortably in the top of a tall +pine-tree where he could see all that was going on while Paddy the +Beaver worked.</p> + +<p>Paddy had finished his canal, and a beautiful canal it was, leading +straight from his pond up to the aspen-trees. As soon as he had finished +it, he began to cut the trees. As soon as one was down he would cut it +into short lengths <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Page 117]</a></span>and roll them into the canal. Then he would float +them out to his pond and over to his storehouse. He took the larger +branches, on which there was sweet, tender bark, in the same way, for +Paddy is never wasteful.</p> + +<p>After a while he went over to his storehouse, which, you know, was +nothing but a great pile of aspen-logs and branches in his pond close by +his house. He studied it very carefully. Then he swam back and climbed +up on the bank of his canal.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jay," said he, "I think our work is about finished."</p> + +<p>"What!" cried Sammy, "Aren't you going to cut the rest of those +aspen-trees?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Paddy. "Enough is always enough, and I've got enough to +last me all winter. I want those trees for next year. Now I am fixed for +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Page 118]</a></span>winter. I think I'll take it easy for a while."</p> + +<p>Sammy looked disappointed. You see he had just begun to learn that the +greatest pleasure in the world comes from doing things for other people. +For the first time since he could remember some one wanted him around +and it gave him such a good feeling down deep inside!</p> + + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<p><a href="#contents">Back to contents</a></p> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Paddy Beaver, by +Thornton W. 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Burgess + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Adventures of Paddy Beaver + +Author: Thornton W. Burgess + +Illustrator: Harrison Cody + +Release Date: August 21, 2006 [EBook #19092] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF PADDY BEAVER *** + + + + +Produced by Sigal Alon, Jacqueline Jeremy, La Monte H.P. +Yarroll, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Paddy pretended to be terribly frightened. _Page 80_.] + + +THE +ADVENTURES OF + +Paddy +BEAVER + +THORNTON W. BURGESS + + + +LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY +BOSTON TORONTO + + +Copyright 1917 by Thornton W. Burgess + +_Illustrations by Harrison Cody_ + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I PADDY THE BEAVER BEGINS WORK + + II PADDY PLANS A POND + + III PADDY HAS MANY VISITORS + + IV SAMMY JAY SPEAKS HIS MIND + + V PADDY KEEPS HIS PROMISE + + VI FARMER BROWN'S BOY GROWS + CURIOUS + + VII FARMER BROWN'S BOY GETS ANOTHER + SURPRISE + + VIII PETER RABBIT GETS A DUCKING + + IX PADDY PLANS A HOUSE + + X PADDY STARTS HIS HOUSE + + XI PETER RABBIT AND JERRY MUSKRAT + ARE PUZZLED + + XII JERRY MUSKRAT LEARNS SOMETHING + + XIII THE QUEER STOREHOUSE + + XIV A FOOTPRINT IN THE MUD + + XV SAMMY JAY MAKES PADDY A CALL + + XVI OLD MAN COYOTE IS VERY CRAFTY + + XVII OLD MAN COYOTE IS DISAPPOINTED + + XVIII OLD MAN COYOTE TRIES ANOTHER + PLAN + + XIX PADDY AND SAMMY JAY BECOME + FRIENDS + + XX SAMMY JAY OFFERS TO HELP PADDY + + XXI PADDY AND SAMMY JAY WORK TOGETHER + + XXII PADDY FINISHES HIS HARVEST + + * * * * * + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF PADDY THE BEAVER + +I + +PADDY THE BEAVER BEGINS WORK + + Work, work all the night + While the stars are shining bright; + Work, work all the day; + I have got no time to play. + + +This little rhyme Paddy the Beaver made up as he toiled at building the +dam which was to make the pond he so much desired deep in the Green +Forest. Of course it wasn't quite true, that about working all night and +all day. Nobody could do that, you know, and keep it up. Everybody has +to rest and sleep. Yes, and everybody has to play a little to be at +their best. So it wasn't quite true that Paddy worked all day after +working all night. But it was true that Paddy had no time to play. He +had too much to do. He had had his playtime during the long summer, and +now he had to get ready for the long cold winter. + +Now of all the little workers in the Green Forest, on the Green Meadows, +and in the Smiling Pool, none can compare with Paddy the Beaver, not +even his cousin, Jerry Muskrat. Happy Jack Squirrel and Striped Chipmunk +store up food for the long cold months when rough Brother North Wind and +Jack Frost rule, and Jerry Muskrat builds a fine house wherein to keep +warm and comfortable, but all this is as nothing to the work of Paddy +the Beaver. + +As I said before, Paddy had had a long playtime through the summer. He +had wandered up and down the Laughing Brook. He had followed it way up +to the place where it started. And all the time he had been studying and +studying to make sure that he wanted to stay in the Green Forest. In the +first place, he had to be sure that there was plenty of the kind of food +that he likes. Then he had to be equally sure that he could make a pond +near where this particular food grew. Last of all, he had to satisfy +himself that if he did make a pond and build a home, he would be +reasonably safe in it. And all these things he had done in his playtime. +Now he was ready to go to work, and when Paddy begins work, he sticks to +it until it is finished. He says that is the only way to succeed, and +you know and I know that he is right. + +Now Paddy the Beaver can see at night just as Reddy Fox and Peter +Rabbit and Bobby Coon can, and he likes the night best, because he feels +safest then. But he can see in the daytime too, and when he feels that +he is perfectly safe and no one is watching, he works then too. Of +course the first thing to do was to build a dam across the Laughing +Brook to make the pond he so much needed. He chose a low open place deep +in the Green Forest, around the edge of which grew many young +aspen-trees, the bark of which is his favorite food. Through the middle +of this open place flowed the Laughing Brook. At the lower edge was just +the place for a dam. It would not have to be very long, and when it was +finished and the water was stopped in the Laughing Brook, it would just +have to flow over the low open place and make a pond there. Paddy's eyes +twinkled when he first saw it. It was right then that he made up his +mind to stay in the Green Forest. + +So now that he was ready to begin his dam he went up the Laughing +Brook to a place where alders and willows grew, and there he began +work; that work was the cutting of a great number of trees by means +of his big front teeth which were given him for just this purpose. +And as he worked, Paddy was happy, for one can never be truly happy +who does no work. + + + + +II + +PADDY PLANS A POND + + +Paddy the Beaver was busy cutting down trees for the dam he had planned +to build. Up in the woods of the North from which he had come to the +Green Forest he had learned all about tree-cutting and dam-building and +canal-digging and house-building. Paddy's father and mother had been +very wise in the ways of the Beaver world, and Paddy had been quick to +learn. So now he knew just what to do and the best way of doing it. You +know a great many people waste time and labor doing things the wrong +way, so that they have to be done over again. They forget to be sure +they are right, and so they go ahead until they find they are wrong, +and all their work goes for nothing. + +But Paddy the Beaver isn't this kind. Paddy would never have leaped +into the spring with the steep sides without looking, as Grandfather +Frog did. So now he carefully picked out the trees to cut. He could +not afford to waste time cutting down a tree that wasn't going to be +just what he wanted when it was down. When he was sure that the tree +was right, he looked up at the top to find out whether, when he had +cut it, it would fall clear of other trees. He had learned to do that +when he was quite young and heedless. He remembered just how he had +felt when after working hard, oh, so hard, to cut a big tree, he had +warned all his friends to get out of the way so that they would not be +hurt when it fell, and then it hadn't fallen at all because the top had +caught in another tree. He was so mortified that he didn't get over it +for a long time. + +So now he made sure that a tree was going to fall clear and just where +he wanted it. Then he sat up on his hind legs, and with his great broad +tail for a brace, began to make the chips fly. You know Paddy has the +most wonderful teeth for cutting. They are long and broad and sharp. +He would begin by making a deep bite, and then another just a little +way below. Then he would pry out the little piece of wood between. +When he had cut very deep on one side so that the tree would fall that +way, he would work around to the other side. Just as soon as the tree +began to lean and he was sure that it was going to fall, he would +scamper away so as to be out of danger. He loved to see those tall +trees lean forward slowly, then faster and faster, till they struck +the ground with a crash. + +Just as soon as they were down, he would trim off the branches until +the trees were just long poles. This was easy work, for he could take +off a good-sized branch with one bite. On many he left their bushy +tops. When he had trimmed them to suit him and had cut them into the +right lengths, he would tug and pull them down to the place where he +meant to build his dam. + +There he placed the poles side by side, not across the Laughing Brook +like a bridge, but with the big ends pointing up the Laughing Brook, +which was quite broad but shallow right there. To keep them from +floating away, he rolled stones and piled mud on the bushy ends. Clear +across on both sides he laid those poles until the land began to rise. +Then he dragged more poles and piled on top of these and wedged short +sticks crosswise between them. + +And all the time the Laughing Brook was having harder and harder work +to run. Its merry laugh grew less merry and finally almost stopped, +because, you see, the water could not get through between all those +poles and sticks fast enough. It was just about that time that the +little people of the Smiling Pool decided that it was time to see just +what Paddy was doing, and they started up the Laughing Brook, leaving +only Grandfather Frog and the tadpoles in the Smiling Pool, which for a +little while would smile no more. + + + + +III + +PADDY HAS MANY VISITORS + + +Paddy the Beaver knew perfectly well that he would have visitors just +as soon as he began to build his dam. He expected a lot of them. You +see, he knew that none of them ever had seen a Beaver at work unless +perhaps it was Prickly Porky the Porcupine, who also had come down +from the North. So as he worked he kept his ears open, and he smiled +to himself as he heard a little rustle here and then a little rustle +there. He knew just what those little rustles meant. Each one meant +another visitor. Yes, Sir, each rustle meant another visitor, and yet +not one had shown himself. + +Paddy chuckled. "Seems to me that you are dreadfully afraid to show +yourselves," said he in a loud voice, just as if he were talking to +nobody in particular. Everything was still. There wasn't so much as a +rustle after Paddy spoke. He chuckled again. He could just _feel_ ever +so many eyes watching him, though he didn't see a single pair. And he +knew that the reason his visitors were hiding so carefully was because +they were afraid of him. You see, Paddy was much bigger than most of the +little meadow and forest people, and they didn't know what kind of a +temper he might have. It is always safest to be very distrustful of +strangers. That is one of the very first things taught all little meadow +and forest children. + +Of course, Paddy knew all about this. He had been brought up that way. +"Be sure, and then you'll never be sorry" had been one of his mother's +favorite sayings, and he had always remembered it. Indeed, it had saved +him a great deal of trouble. So now he was perfectly willing to go right +on working and let his hidden visitors watch him until they were sure +that he meant them no harm. You see, he himself felt quite sure that +none of them was big enough to do him any harm. Little Joe Otter was +the only one he had any doubts about, and he felt quite sure that Little +Joe wouldn't try to pick a quarrel. So he kept right on cutting trees, +trimming off the branches, and hauling the trunks down to the dam he +was building. Some of them he floated down the Laughing Brook. This +was easier. + +Now when the little people of the Smiling Pool, who were the first to +find out that Paddy the Beaver had come to the Green Forest, had started +up the Laughing Brook to see what he was doing, they had told the Merry +Little Breezes where they were going. The Merry Little Breezes had been +greatly excited. They couldn't understand how a stranger could have been +living in the Green Forest without their knowledge. You see, they quite +forgot that they very seldom wandered to the deepest part of the Green +Forest. Of course they started at once as fast as they could go to tell +all the other little people who live on or around the Green Meadows, all +but Old Man Coyote. For some reason they thought it best not to tell +him. They were a little doubtful about Old Man Coyote. He was so big and +strong and so sly and smart that all his neighbors were afraid of him. +Perhaps the Merry Little Breezes had this fact in mind, and knew that +none would dare go to call on the stranger if they knew that Old Man +Coyote was going too. Anyway, they simply passed the time of day with +Old Man Coyote and hurried on to tell every one else, and the very last +one they met was Sammy Jay. + +Sammy was terribly put out to think that anything should be going on +that he didn't know about first. You know he is very fond of prying into +the affairs of other people, and he loves dearly to boast that there is +nothing going on in the Green Forest or on the Green Meadows that he +doesn't know about. So now his pride was hurt, and he was in a terrible +rage as he started after the Merry Little Breezes for the place deep in +the Green Forest where they said Paddy the Beaver was at work. He didn't +believe a word of it, but he would see for himself. + + + + +IV + +SAMMY JAY SPEAKS HIS MIND + + +When Sammy Jay reached the place deep in the Green Forest where Paddy +the Beaver was so hard at work, he didn't hide as had the little +four-footed people. You see, of course, he had no reason to hide, +because he felt perfectly safe. Paddy had just cut a big tree, and it +fell with a crash as Sammy came hurrying up. Sammy was so surprised +that for a minute he couldn't find his tongue. He had not supposed +that anybody but Farmer Brown or Farmer Brown's boy could cut down so +large a tree as that, and it quite took his breath away. But he got it +again in a minute. He was boiling with anger, anyway, to think that he +should have been the last to learn that Paddy had come down from the +North to make his home in the Green Forest, and here was a chance to +speak his mind. + +"Thief! thief! thief!" he screamed in his harshest voice. + +Paddy the Beaver looked up with a twinkle in his eyes. "Hello, Mr. Jay! +I see you haven't any better manners than your cousin who lives up where +I came from," said he. + +"Thief! thief! thief!" screamed Sammy, hopping up and down, he was +so angry. + +"Meaning yourself, I suppose," said Paddy. "I never did see an honest +Jay, and I don't suppose I ever will." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Peter Rabbit, who had quite forgotten that he +was hiding. + +"Oh, how do you do, Mr. Rabbit? I'm very glad you have called on me this +morning," said Paddy, just as if he hadn't known all the time just where +Peter was. "Mr. Jay seems to have gotten out of the wrong side of his +bed this morning." + +Peter laughed again. "He always does," said he. "If he didn't, he +wouldn't be happy. You wouldn't think it to look at him, but he is happy +right now. He doesn't know it, but he is. He always is happy when he can +show what a bad temper he has." + +Sammy Jay glared down at Peter. Then he glared at Paddy. And all the +time he still shrieked "Thief!" as hard as ever he could. Paddy kept +right on working, paying no attention to Sammy. This made Sammy more +angry than ever. He kept coming nearer and nearer until at last he +was in the very tree that Paddy happened to be cutting. Paddy's +eyes twinkled. + +"I'm no thief!" he exclaimed suddenly. + +"You are! You are! Thief! Thief!" shrieked Sammy. "You're stealing +our trees!" + +"They're not your trees," retorted Paddy. "They belong to the Green +Forest, and the Green Forest belongs to all who love it, and we all have +a perfect right to take what we need from it. I need these trees, and +I've just as much right to take them as you have to take the fat acorns +that drop in the fall." + +"No such thing!" screamed Sammy. You know he can't talk without +screaming, and the more excited he gets, the louder he screams. "No such +thing! Acorns are food. They are meant to eat. I have to have them to +live. But you are cutting down whole trees. You are spoiling the Green +Forest. You don't belong here. Nobody invited you, and nobody wants you. +You're a thief!" + +Then up spoke Jerry Muskrat, who, you know, is cousin to Paddy +the Beaver. + +"Don't you mind him," said he, pointing at Sammy Jay. "Nobody does. +He's the greatest trouble-maker in the Green Forest or on the Green +Meadows. He would steal from his own relatives. Don't mind what he +says, Cousin Paddy." + +Now all this time Paddy had been working away just as if no one was +around. Just as Jerry stopped speaking, Paddy thumped the ground with +his tail, which is his way of warning people to watch out, and suddenly +scurried away as fast as he could run. Sammy Jay was so surprised that +he couldn't find his tongue for a minute, and he didn't notice anything +peculiar about that tree. Then suddenly he felt himself falling. With a +frightened scream, he spread his wings to fly, but branches of the tree +swept him down with them right into the Laughing Brook. + +You see while Sammy had been speaking his mind, Paddy the Beaver had cut +down the very tree in which he was sitting. + +Sammy wasn't hurt, but he was wet and muddy and terribly +frightened,--the most miserable looking Jay that ever was seen. +It was too much for all the little people who were hiding. They +just had to laugh. Then they all came out to pay their respects +to Paddy the Beaver. + + + + +V + +PADDY KEEPS HIS PROMISE + + +Paddy the Beaver kept right on working just as if he hadn't any +visitors. You see, it is a big undertaking to build a dam. And when that +was done there was a house to build and a supply of food for the winter +to cut and store. Oh, Paddy the Beaver had no time for idle gossip, you +may be sure! So he kept right on building his dam. It didn't look much +like a dam at first, and some of Paddy's visitors turned up their noses +when they first saw it. They had heard stories of what a wonderful +dam-builder Paddy was, and they had expected to see something like the +smooth, grass-covered bank with which Farmer Brown kept the Big River +from running back on his low lands. Instead, all they saw was a great +pile of poles and sticks which looked like anything but a dam. + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Billy Mink, "I guess we needn't worry about the +Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool, if that is the best Paddy can do. +Why, the water of the Laughing Brook will work through that in no time." + +Of course Paddy heard him, but he said nothing, just kept right +on working. + +"Just look at the way he has laid those sticks!" continued Billy Mink. +"Seems as if any one would know enough to lay them _across_ the Laughing +Brook instead of just the other way. I could build a better dam +than that." + +Paddy said nothing; he just kept right on working. + +"Yes, Sir," Billy boasted. "I could build a better dam than that. Why, +that pile of sticks will never stop the water." + +"Is something the matter with your eyesight, Billy Mink?" inquired +Jerry Muskrat. + +"Of course not!" retorted Billy indignantly. "Why?" + +"Oh, nothing much, only you don't seem to notice that already the +Laughing Brook is over its banks above Paddy's dam," replied Jerry, +who had been studying the dam with a great deal of interest. + +Billy looked a wee bit foolish, for sure enough there was a little pool +just above the dam, and it was growing bigger. + +Paddy still kept at work, saying nothing. He was digging in front of +the dam now, and the mud and grass he dug up he stuffed in between the +ends of the sticks and patted down with his hands. He did this all along +the front of the dam and on top of it too, wherever he thought it was +needed. Of course this made it harder for the water to work through, and +the little pond above the dam began to grow faster. It wasn't a great +while before it was nearly to the top of the dam, which at first was +very low. Then Paddy brought more sticks. This was easier now, because +he could float them down from where he was cutting. He would put them in +place on the top of the dam, then hurry for more. Wherever it was +needed, he would put in mud. He even rolled a few stones in to help hold +the mass. + +So the dam grew and grew, and so did the pond above the dam. Of course, +it took a good many days to build so big a dam, and a lot of hard work! +Every morning the little people of the Green Forest and the Green +Meadows would visit it, and every morning they would find that it +had grown a great deal in the night, for that is when Paddy likes +best to work. + +By this time, the Laughing Brook had stopped laughing, and down in the +Smiling Pool there was hardly water enough for the minnows to feel safe +a minute. Billy Mink had stopped making fun of the dam, and all the +little people who live in the Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool were +terribly worried. + +To be sure Paddy had warned them of what he was going to do, and had +promised that just as soon as his pond was big enough, the water would +once more run in the Laughing Brook. They tried to believe him, but they +couldn't help having just a wee bit of fear that he might not be wholly +honest. You see, they didn't know him, for he was a stranger. Jerry +Muskrat was the only one who seemed absolutely sure that everything +would be all right. Perhaps that was because Paddy is his cousin, and +Jerry couldn't help but feel proud of such a big cousin and one who was +so smart. + +So day by day the dam grew, and the pond grew, and then one morning +Grandfather Frog, down in what had once been the Smiling Pool, heard a +sound that made his heart jump for joy. It was a murmur that kept +growing and growing, until at last it was the merry laugh of the +Laughing Brook. Then he knew that Paddy had kept his word and water +would once more fill the Smiling Pool. + + + + +VI + +FARMER BROWN'S BOY GROWS CURIOUS + + +Now it happened that the very day before Paddy the Beaver decided that +his pond was big enough, and so allowed the water to run in the Laughing +Brook once more, Farmer Brown's boy took it into his head to go fishing +in the Smiling Pool. Just as usual he went whistling down across the +Green Meadows. Somehow, when he goes fishing, he always feels like +whistling. Grandfather Frog heard him coming and dived into the little +bit of water remaining in the Smiling Pool and stirred up the mud at the +bottom so that Farmer Brown's boy shouldn't see him. + +Nearer and nearer drew the whistle. Suddenly it stopped right short off. +Farmer Brown's boy had come in sight of the Smiling Pool or rather, it +was what used to be the Smiling Pool. Now there wasn't any Smiling Pool, +for the very little pool left was too small and sickly-looking to smile. +There were great banks of mud, out of which grew the bulrushes. The +lily-pads were forlornly stretched out towards the tiny pool of water +remaining. Where the banks were steep and high, the holes that Jerry +Muskrat and Billy Mink knew so well were plain to see. Over at one side +stood Jerry Muskrat's house, wholly out of water. + +Somehow, it seemed to Farmer Brown's boy that he must be dreaming. He +never, never had seen anything like this before, not even in the very +driest weather of the hottest part of the summer. He looked this way and +looked that way. The Green Meadows looked just as usual. The Green +Forest looked just as usual. The Laughing Brook--ha! What was the matter +with the Laughing Brook? He couldn't hear it and that, you know, was +very unusual. He dropped his rod and ran over to the Laughing Brook. +There wasn't any brook. No, sir, there wasn't any brook; just pools of +water with the tiniest of streams trickling between. Big stones over +which he had always seen the water running in the prettiest of little +white falls were bare and dry. In the little pools frightened minnows +were darting about. + +Farmer Brown's boy scratched his head in a puzzled way. "I don't +understand it," said he. "I don't understand it at all. Something must +have gone wrong with the springs that supply the water for the Laughing +Brook. They must have failed. Yes, Sir, that is just what must have +happened. But I never heard of such a thing happening before, and I +really don't see how it could happen." He stared up into the Green +Forest just as if he thought he could see those springs. Of course, he +didn't think anything of the kind. He was just turning it all over in +his mind. "I know what I'll do! I'll go up to those springs this +afternoon and find out what the trouble is," he said out loud. "They are +way over almost on the other side of the Green Forest, and the easiest +way to get there will be to start from home and cut across the Old +Pasture up to the edge of the Mountain behind the Green Forest. If I try +to follow up the Laughing Brook now, it will take too long, because it +winds and twists so. Besides, it is too hard work." + +With that, Farmer Brown's boy went back and picked up his rod. Then he +started for home across the Green Meadows, and for once he wasn't +whistling. You see, he was too busy thinking. In fact, he was so busy +thinking that he didn't see Jimmy Skunk until he almost stepped on him, +and then he gave a frightened jump and ran, for without a gun he was +just as much afraid of Jimmy as Jimmy was of him when he did have a gun. + +Jimmy just grinned and went on about his business. It always tickles +Jimmy to see people run away from him, especially people so much bigger +than himself; they look so silly. + +"I should think that they would have learned by this time that if +they don't bother me, I won't bother them," he muttered, as he rolled +over a stone to look for fat beetles. "Somehow, folks never seem to +understand me." + +[Illustration] + + + + +VII + +FARMER BROWN'S BOY GETS ANOTHER SURPRISE + + +Across the Old Pasture to the foot of the Mountain back of the Green +Forest tramped Farmer Brown's boy. Ahead of him trotted Bowser the +Hound, sniffing and snuffing for the tracks of Reddy or Granny Fox. Of +course he didn't find them, for Reddy and Granny hadn't been up in the +Old Pasture for a long time. But he did find old Jed Thumper, the big +gray Rabbit who had made things so uncomfortable for Peter Rabbit once +upon a time, and gave him such a fright that old Jed didn't look where +he was going and almost ran headfirst into Farmer Brown's boy. + +"Hi, there, you old cottontail!" yelled Farmer Brown's boy, and this +frightened Old Jed still more, so that he actually ran right past his +own castle of bullbriars without seeing it. + +Farmer Brown's boy kept on his way, laughing at the fright of old Jed +Thumper. Presently he reached the springs from which came the water that +made the very beginning of the Laughing Brook. He expected to find them +dry, for way down on the Green Meadows the Smiling Pool was nearly dry, +and the Laughing Brook was nearly dry, and he had supposed that of +course the reason was that the springs where the Laughing Brook started +were no longer bubbling. + +But they were! The clear cold water came bubbling up out of the ground +just as it always had, and ran off down into the Green Forest in a +little stream that would grow and grow as it ran and become the Laughing +Brook. Farmer Brown's boy took off his ragged old straw hat and scowled +down at the bubbling water just as if he thought it had no business to +be bubbling there. + +Of course, he didn't think just that. The fact is, he didn't know just +what he did think. Here were the springs bubbling away just as they +always had. There was the little stream starting off down into the Green +Forest with a gurgle that by and by would become a laugh, just as it +always had. And yet down on the Green Meadows on the other side of the +Green Forest there was no longer a Laughing Brook or a Smiling Pool. He +felt as if he ought to pinch himself to make sure that he was awake and +not dreaming. + +"I don't know what it means," said he, talking out loud. "No, Sir, I +don't know what it means at all, but I'm going to find out. There's a +cause for everything in this world, and when a fellow doesn't know a +thing, it is his business to find out all about it. I'm going to find +out what has happened to the Laughing Brook, if it takes me a year!" + +With that he started to follow the little stream which ran gurgling +down into the Green Forest. He had followed that little stream more than +once, and now he found it just as he remembered it. The farther it ran, +the larger it grew, until at last it became the Laughing Brook, merrily +tumbling over rocks and making deep pools in which the trout loved to +hide. At last he came to the edge of a little open hollow in the very +heart of the Green Forest. He knew what splendid deep holes there were +in the Laughing Brook here, and how the big trout loved to lie in them +because they were deep and cool. He was thinking of these trout now and +wishing that he had brought along his fishing-rod. He pushed his way +through a thicket of alders and then--Farmer Brown's boy stopped +suddenly and fairly gasped! He had to stop because there right in front +of him was a pond! + +He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Then he stooped down and put his +hand in the water to see if it was real. There was no doubt about it. It +was real water,--a real pond where there never had been a pond before. +It was very still there in the heart of the Green Forest. It was always +very still there, but it seemed stiller than usual as he tramped around +the edge of this strange pond. He felt as if it were all a dream. He +wondered if pretty soon he wouldn't wake up and find it all untrue. But +he didn't, and so he kept on tramping until presently he came to a +dam,--a splendid dam of logs and sticks and mud. Over the top of it the +water was running, and down in the Green Forest below he could hear the +Laughing Brook just beginning to laugh once more. Farmer Brown's boy sat +down with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. He was +almost too much surprised to even think. + +[Illustration] + + + + +VIII + +PETER RABBIT GETS A DUCKING + + +Farmer Brown's boy sat with his chin in his hands staring at the new +pond in the Green Forest and at the dam which had made it. That dam +puzzled him. Who could have built it? What did they build it for? Why +hadn't he heard them chopping? He looked carelessly at the stump of one +of the trees, and then a still more puzzled look made deep furrows +between his eyes. It looked--yes, it looked very much as if teeth, and +not an axe, had cut down that tree. Farmer Brown's boy stared and +stared, his mouth gaping wide open. He looked so funny that Peter +Rabbit, who was hiding under an old pile of brush close by, nearly +laughed right out. + +But Peter didn't laugh. No, Sir, Peter didn't laugh, for just that very +minute something happened. Sniff! Sniff! That was right behind him at +the very edge of the old brush-pile, and every hair on Peter stood on +end with fright. + +"Bow, wow, wow!" It seemed to Peter that the great voice was right in +his very ears. It frightened him so that he just _had_ to jump. He +didn't have time to think. And so he jumped right out from under the +pile of brush and of course right into plain sight. And the very instant +he jumped there came another great roar behind him. Of course it was +from Bowser the Hound. You see, Bowser had been following the trail of +his master, but as he always stops to sniff at everything he passes, he +had been some distance behind. When he came to the pile of brush under +which Peter was hiding he had sniffed at that, and of course he had +smelled Peter right away. + +Now when Peter jumped out so suddenly, he had landed right at one end +of the dam. The second roar of Bowser's great voice frightened him still +more, and he jumped right up on the dam. There was nothing for him to do +now but go across, and it wasn't the best of going. No, indeed, it +wasn't the best of going. You see, it was mostly a tangle of sticks. +Happy Jack Squirrel or Chatterer the Red Squirrel or Striped Chipmunk +would have skipped across it without the least trouble. But Peter Rabbit +has no sharp little claws with which to cling to logs and sticks, and +right away he was in a peck of trouble. He slipped down between the +sticks, scrambled out, slipped again, and then, trying to make a long +jump, he lost his balance and--tumbled heels over head into the water! + +Poor Peter Rabbit! He gave himself up for lost this time. He could swim, +but at best he is a poor swimmer and doesn't like the water. He couldn't +dive and keep out of sight like Jerry Muskrat or Billy Mink. All he +could do was to paddle as fast as his legs would go. The water had gone +up his nose and down his throat so that he choked, and all the time he +felt sure that Bowser the Hound would plunge in after him and catch him. +And if he shouldn't, why Farmer Brown's Boy would simply wait for him to +come ashore and then catch him. + +But Farmer Brown's boy didn't do anything of the kind. No, Sir, he +didn't. Instead he shouted to Bowser and called him away. Bowser didn't +want to come, but he long ago learned to obey, and very slowly he walked +over to where his master was sitting. + +"You know it wouldn't be fair, old fellow, to try to catch Peter now. It +wouldn't be fair at all, and we never want to do anything unfair, do +we?" said he. Perhaps Bowser didn't agree, but he wagged his tail as if +he did, and sat down beside his master to watch Peter swim. + +It seemed to Peter as if he never, never would reach the shore, +though really it was only a very little distance that he had to +swim. When he did scramble out, he was a sorry looking Rabbit. +He didn't waste any time, but started for home as fast as he could +go, lipperty--lipperty--lip. And Farmer Brown's boy and Bowser the +Hound just laughed and didn't try to catch him at all. + +"Well, I never!" exclaimed Sammy Jay, who had seen it all from the +top of a pine-tree. "Well, I never! I guess Farmer Brown's boy isn't +so bad, after all." + +[Illustration] + + + + +IX + +PADDY PLANS A HOUSE + + +Paddy the Beaver sat on his dam, and his eyes shone with happiness as he +looked out over the shining water of the pond he had made. All around +the edge of it grew the tall trees of the Green Forest. It was very +beautiful and very still and very lonesome. That is, it would have +seemed lonesome to almost any one but Paddy the Beaver. But Paddy never +is lonesome. You see, he finds company in the trees and flowers and all +the little plants. + +It was still, very, very still. Over on one side was a beautiful rosy +glow in the water. It was the reflection from jolly, round, red Mr. Sun. +Paddy couldn't see him because of the tall trees, but he knew exactly +what Mr. Sun was doing. He was going to bed behind the Purple Hills. +Pretty soon the little stars would come out and twinkle down at him. He +loves the little stars and always watches for the first one. + +Yes, Paddy the Beaver was very happy. He would have been perfectly +happy but for one thing: Farmer Brown's boy had found his dam and pond +that very afternoon, and Paddy wasn't quite sure what Farmer Brown's boy +might do. He had kept himself snugly hidden while Farmer Brown's boy was +there, and he felt quite sure that Farmer Brown's boy didn't know who +had built the dam. But for this very reason he might, he just _might_, +try to find out all about it, and that would mean that Paddy would have +to be always on the watch. + +"But what's the use of worrying over troubles that haven't come yet, and +may never come? Time enough to worry when they do come," said Paddy to +himself, which shows that Paddy has a great deal of wisdom in his little +brown head. "The thing for me to do now is to get ready for winter, and +that means a great deal of work," he continued. "Let me see, I've got to +build a house, a big, stout, warm house, where I will be warm and safe +when my pond is frozen over. And I've got to lay in a supply of food, +enough to last me until gentle Sister South Wind comes to prepare the +way for lovely Mistress Spring. My, my, I can't afford to be sitting +here dreaming, when there is such a lot to be done!" + +With that Paddy slipped into the water and swam all around his new pond +to make sure of just the best place to build his house. Now placing +one's house in just the right place is a very important matter. Some +people are dreadfully careless about this. Jimmy Skunk, for instance, +often makes the mistake of digging his house (you know Jimmy makes his +house underground) right where every one who happens along that way will +see it. Perhaps that is because Jimmy is so independent that he doesn't +care who knows where he lives. + +But Paddy the Beaver never is careless. He always chooses just the very +best place. He makes sure that it is best before he begins. So now, +although he was quite positive just where his house should be, he swam +around the pond to make doubly sure. Then, when he was quite satisfied, +he swam over to the place he had chosen. It was where the water was +quite deep. + +"There mustn't be the least chance that the ice will ever get thick +enough to close up my doorway," said he, "and I'm sure it never will +here. I must make the foundations strong and the walls thick. I must +have plenty of mud to plaster with, and inside, up above the water, I +must have the snuggest, warmest room where I can sleep in comfort. This +is the place to build it, and it is high time I was at work." + +With that Paddy swam over to the place where he had cut the trees for +his dam, and his heart was light, for he had long ago learned that the +surest way to be happy is to be busy. + + + + +X + +PADDY STARTS HIS HOUSE + + +Jerry Muskrat was very much interested when he found that Paddy the +Beaver, who, you know, is his cousin, was building a house. Jerry is a +house-builder himself, and down deep in his heart he very much doubted +if Paddy could build as good a house as he could. His house was down in +the Smiling Pool, and Jerry thought it a very wonderful house indeed, +and was very proud of it. It was built of mud and sod and little alder +and willow twigs and bulrushes. Jerry had spent one winter in it, and he +had decided to spend another there after he had fixed it up a little. +So, as long as he didn't have to build a brand new house, he could +afford the time to watch his cousin Paddy. Perhaps he hoped that Paddy +would ask his advice. + +But Paddy did nothing of the kind. He had seen Jerry Muskrat's house, +and he had smiled. But he had taken great pains not to let Jerry see +that smile. He wouldn't have hurt Jerry's feelings for the world. He is +too polite and good-natured to do anything like that. So Jerry sat on +the end of an old log and watched Paddy work. The first thing to build +was the foundation. This was of mud and grass with sticks worked into it +to hold it together. Paddy dug the mud from the bottom of his new pond. +And because the pond was new, there was a great deal of grassy sod +there, which was just what Paddy needed. It was very convenient. + +Jerry watched a little while and then, because Jerry is a worker +himself, he just had to get busy and help. Rather timidly he told his +big cousin that he would like to have a share in building the new house. + +"All right," replied Paddy, "that will be fine. You can bring mud while +I am getting the sticks and grass." + +So Jerry dived down to the bottom of the pond and dug up mud and piled +it on the foundation and was happy. The little stars looked down and +twinkled merrily as they watched the two workers. So the foundation grew +and grew down under the water. Jerry was very much surprised at the size +of it. It was ever and ever so much bigger than the foundation for his +own house. You see, he had forgotten how much bigger Paddy is. + +Each night Jerry and Paddy worked, resting during the daytime. +Occasionally Bobby Coon or Reddy Fox or Unc' Billy Possum or Jimmy Skunk +would come to the edge of the pond to see what was going on. Peter +Rabbit came every night. But they couldn't see much because, you know, +Paddy and Jerry were working under water. + +But at last Peter was rewarded. There, just above the water, was a +splendid platform of mud and grass and sticks. A great many sticks were +carefully laid as soon as the platform was above the water, for Paddy +was very particular about this. You see, it was to be the floor for the +splendid room he was planning to build. When it suited him, he began to +pile mud in the very middle. + +Jerry puzzled and puzzled over this. Where was Paddy's room going to +be, if he piled up the mud that way? But he didn't like to ask +questions, so he kept right on helping. Paddy would dive down to the +bottom and then come up with double handfuls of mud, which he held +against his chest. He would scramble out onto the platform and waddle +over to the pile in the middle, where he would put the mud and pat it +down. Then back to the bottom for more mud. + +And so the mud pile grew and grew, until it was quite two feet high. +"Now," said Paddy, "I'll build the walls, and I guess you can't help me +much with those. I'm going to begin them to-morrow night. Perhaps you +will like to see me do it, Cousin Jerry." + +"I certainly will," replied Jerry, still puzzling over that pile of mud +in the middle. + + + + +XI + +PETER RABBIT AND JERRY MUSKRAT ARE PUZZLED + + +Jerry Muskrat was more and more sure that his big cousin, Paddy the +Beaver, didn't know quite so much as he might about house-building. +Jerry would have liked to offer some suggestions, but he didn't quite +dare. You see, he was very anxious not to displease his big cousin. But +he felt that he simply had got to speak his mind to some one, so he swam +across to where he had seen Peter Rabbit almost every night since Paddy +began to build. Sure enough, Peter was there, sitting up very straight +and staring with big round eyes at the platform of mud and sticks out in +the water where Paddy the Beaver was at work. + +[Illustration: "Why it's a house you stupid. It's Paddy's new house," +replied Jerry. _Page 57_.] + +"Well, Peter, what do you think of it?" asked Jerry. + +"What is it?" asked Peter innocently. "Is it another dam?" + +Jerry threw back his head and laughed and laughed. + +Peter looked at him suspiciously. "I don't see anything to laugh at," +said he. + +"Why, it's a house, you stupid. It's Paddy's new house," replied Jerry, +wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes. + +"I'm not stupid!" retorted Peter. "How was I to know that that pile of +mud and sticks is meant for a house? It certainly doesn't look it. Where +is the door?" + +"To tell you the truth, I don't think it is much of a house myself," +replied Jerry. "It has got a door, all right. In fact, it has got three. +You can't see them because they are under water, and there is a passage +from each right up through that platform of mud and sticks, which is the +foundation of the house. It really is a very fine foundation, Peter; it +really is. But what I can't understand is what Paddy is thinking of by +building that great pile of mud right in the middle. When he gets his +walls built, where will his bedroom be? There won't be any room at all. +It won't be a house at all--just a big useless pile of sticks and mud." + +Peter scratched his head and then pulled his whiskers thoughtfully as he +gazed out at the pile in the water where Paddy the Beaver was at work. + +"It does look foolish, that's a fact," said he. "Why don't you point +out to him the mistake he is making, Jerry? You have built such a +splendid house yourself that you ought to be able to help Paddy and show +him his mistakes." + +Jerry had smiled a very self-satisfied smile when Peter mentioned his +fine house, but he shook his head at the suggestion that he should give +Paddy advice. + +"I--I don't just like to," he confessed. "You know, he might not like it +and--and it doesn't seem as if it would be quite polite." + +Peter sniffed. "That wouldn't trouble me any if he were my cousin," +said he. + +Jerry shook his head. "No, I don't believe it would," he replied, "but +it does trouble me and--and--well, I think I'll wait awhile." + +Now all this time Paddy had been hard at work. He was bringing the +longest branches which he had cut from the trees out of which he had +built his dam, and a lot of slender willow and alder poles. He pushed +these ahead of him as he swam. When he reached the foundation of his +house, he would lean them against the pile of mud in the middle with +their big ends resting on the foundation. So he worked all the way +around until by and by the mud pile in the middle couldn't be seen. It +was completely covered with sticks, and they were cunningly fastened +together at the tops. + + + + +XII + +JERRY MUSKRAT LEARNS SOMETHING + + If you think you know it all + You are riding for a fall. + Use your ears and use your eyes, + But hold your tongue and you'll be wise. + + +Jerry Muskrat will tell you that is as true as true can be. + +Jerry knows. He found it out for himself. Now he is very careful what +he says about other people or what they are doing. But he wasn't so +careful when his cousin, Paddy the Beaver, was building his house. No, +Sir, Jerry wasn't so careful then. He thought he knew more about +building a house than Paddy did. He was sure of it when he watched +Paddy heap up a great pile of mud right in the middle where his room +ought to be, and then build a wall of sticks around it. He said as much +to Peter Rabbit. + +Now it is never safe to say anything to Peter Rabbit that you don't +care to have others know. Peter has a great deal of respect for Jerry +Muskrat's opinion on house-building. You see, he very much admires +Jerry's snug house in the Smiling Pool. It really is a very fine house, +and Jerry may be excused for being proud of it. But that doesn't +excuse Jerry for thinking that he knows all there is to know about +house-building. Of course Peter told every one he met that Paddy the +Beaver was making a foolish mistake in building his house, and that +Jerry Muskrat, who ought to know, said so. + +So whenever they got the chance, the little people of the Green Forest +and the Green Meadows would steal up to the shore of Paddy's new pond +and chuckle as they looked out at the great pile of sticks and mud which +Paddy had built for a house, but in which he had forgotten to make a +room. At least they supposed that he had forgotten this very important +thing. He must have, for there wasn't any room. It was a great joke. +They laughed a lot about it, and they lost a great deal of the respect +for Paddy which they had had since he built his wonderful dam. + +Jerry and Peter sat in the moonlight talking it over. Paddy had stopped +bringing sticks for his wall. He had dived down out of sight, and he was +gone a long time. Suddenly Jerry noticed that the water had grown very, +very muddy all around Paddy's new house. He wrinkled his brows trying to +think what Paddy could be doing. Presently Paddy came up for air. Then +he went down again, and the water grew muddier than ever. This went on +for a long time. Every little while Paddy would come up for air and a +few minutes of rest. Then down he would go, and the water would grow +muddier and muddier. + +At last Jerry could stand it no longer. He just had to see what was +going on. He slipped into the water and swam over to where the water was +muddiest. Just as he got there up came Paddy. + +"Hello, Cousin Jerry!" said he. "I was just going to invite you over to +see what you think of my house inside. Just follow me." + +Paddy dived, and Jerry dived after him. He followed Paddy in at one of +the three doorways under water and up a smooth hall right into the +biggest, nicest bedroom Jerry had ever seen in all his life. He just +gasped in sheer surprise. He couldn't do anything else. He couldn't find +his tongue to say a word. Here he was in this splendid great room up +above the water, and he had been so sure that there wasn't any room at +all! He just didn't know what to make of it. + +Paddy's eyes twinkled. "Well," said he, "what do you think of it?" + +"I--I--think it is splendid, just perfectly splendid! But I don't +understand it at all, Cousin Paddy. I--I--Where is that great pile of +mud I helped you build in the middle?" Jerry looked as foolish as he +felt when he asked this. + +"Why, I've dug it all away. That's what made the water so muddy," +replied Paddy. + +"But what did you build it for in the first place?" Jerry persisted. + +"Because I had to have something to rest my sticks against while I was +building my walls, of course," replied Paddy. "When I got the tops +fastened together for a roof, they didn't need a support any longer, and +then I dug it away to make this room. I couldn't have built such a big +room any other way. I see you don't know very much about house-building, +Cousin Jerry." + +"I--I'm afraid I don't," confessed Jerry sadly. + + + + +XIII + +THE QUEER STOREHOUSE + + +Everybody knew that Paddy the Beaver was laying up a supply of food for +the winter, and everybody thought it was queer food. That is, everybody +but Prickly Porky the Porcupine thought so. Prickly Porky likes the same +kind of food, but he never lays up a supply. He just goes out and gets +it when he wants it, winter or summer. What kind of food was it? Why, +bark, to be sure. Yes, Sir, it was just bark--the bark of certain kinds +of trees. + +Now Prickly Porky can climb the trees and eat the bark right there, but +Paddy the Beaver cannot climb, and if he should just eat the bark that +he can reach from the ground it would take such a lot of trees to keep +him filled up that he would soon spoil the Green Forest. You know, when +the bark is taken off a tree all the way around, the tree dies. That is +because all the things that a tree draws out of the ground to make it +grow and keep it alive are carried up from the roots in the sap, and the +sap cannot go up the tree trunks and into the branches when the bark is +taken off, because it is up the inside of the bark that it travels. So +when the bark is taken from a tree all the way around the trunk, the +tree just starves to death. + +Now Paddy the Beaver loves the Green Forest as dearly as you and I do, +and perhaps even a little more dearly. You see, it is his home. Besides, +Paddy never is wasteful. So he cuts down a tree so that he can get all +the bark instead of killing a whole lot of trees for a very little bark, +as he might do if he were lazy. There isn't a lazy bone in him--not one. +The bark he likes best is from the aspen. When he cannot get that, he +will eat the bark from the poplar, the alder, the willow, and even the +birch. But he likes the aspen so much better that he will work very hard +to get it. Perhaps it tastes better because he does have to work so hard +for it. + +There were some aspen-trees growing right on the edge of the pond Paddy +had made in the Green Forest. These he cut just as he had cut the trees +for his dam. As soon as a tree was down, he would cut it into short +lengths, and with these swim out to where the water was deep, close to +his new house. He took them one by one and carried the first ones to the +bottom, where he pushed them into the mud just enough to hold them. +Then, as fast as he brought more, he piled them on the first ones. And +so the pile grew and grew. + +Jerry Muskrat, Peter Rabbit, Bobby Coon, and the other little people of +the Green Forest watched him with the greatest interest and curiosity. +They couldn't quite make out what he was doing. It was almost as if he +were building the foundation for another house. + +"What's he doing, Jerry?" demanded Peter, when he could keep still +no longer. + +"I don't exactly know," replied Jerry. "He said that he was going to +lay in a supply of food for the winter, just as I told you, and I +suppose that is what he is doing. But I don't quite understand what he +is taking it all out into the pond for. I believe I'll go ask him." + +"Do, and then come tell us," begged Peter, who was growing so curious +that he couldn't sit still. + +So Jerry swam out to where Paddy was so busy. "Is this your food supply, +Cousin Paddy?" he asked. + +"Yes," replied Paddy, crawling up on the side of his house to rest. +"Yes, this is my food supply. Isn't it splendid?" + +"I guess it is," replied Jerry, trying to be polite, "though I like +lily-roots and clams better. But what are you going to do with it? Where +is your storehouse?" + +"This pond is my storehouse," replied Paddy. "I will make a great pile +right here close to my house, and the water will keep it nice and fresh +all winter. When the pond is frozen over, all I will have to do is to +slip out of one of my doorways down there on the bottom, swim over here +and get a stick, and fill my stomach. Isn't it handy?" + +[Illustration] + + + + +XIV + +A FOOTPRINT IN THE MUD + + +Very early one morning Paddy the Beaver heard Sammy Jay making a +terrible fuss over in the aspen-trees on the edge of the pond Paddy +had made in the Green Forest. Paddy couldn't see because he was inside +his house, and it has no window, but he could hear. He wrinkled up his +brows thoughtfully. + +"Seems to me that Sammy is very much excited this morning," said he, +talking to himself, a way he has because he is so much alone. "When he +screams like that, Sammy is usually trying to do two things at +once--make trouble for somebody and keep somebody else out of trouble; +and when you come to think of it, that's rather a funny way of doing. It +shows that he isn't all bad, and at the same time he is a long way from +being all good. Now, I should say from the sounds that Sammy has +discovered Reddy Fox trying to steal up on some one over where my +aspen-trees are growing. Reddy is afraid of me, but I suspect that he +knows that Peter Rabbit has been hanging around here a lot lately, +watching me work, and he thinks perhaps he can catch Peter. I shall have +to whisper in one of Peter's long ears and tell him to watch out." + +After a while he heard Sammy Jay's voice growing fainter and fainter in +the Green Forest. Finally he couldn't hear it at all. "Whoever was there +has gone away, and Sammy has followed just to torment them," thought +Paddy. He was very busy making a bed. He is very particular about his +bed, is Paddy the Beaver. He makes it of fine splinters of wood which he +splits off with those wonderful great cutting teeth of his. This makes +the driest kind of a bed. It requires a great deal of patience and work, +but patience is one of the first things a little Beaver learns, and +honest work well done is one of the greatest pleasures in the world, as +Paddy long ago found out for himself. So he kept at work on his bed for +some time after all was still outside. + +At last Paddy decided that he would go over to his aspen-trees and look +them over to decide which ones he would cut the next night. He slid down +one of his long halls, out the doorway at the bottom of the pond, and +then swam up to the surface, where he floated for a few minutes with +just his head out of water. And all the time his eyes and nose and ears +were busy looking, smelling, and listening for any sign of danger. +Everything was still. Sure that he was quite safe, Paddy swam across to +the place where the aspen-trees grew, and waddled out on the shore. + +Paddy looked this way and looked that way. He looked up in the tree +tops, and he looked off up the hill, but most of all he looked at the +ground. Yes, Sir, Paddy just studied the ground. You see, he hadn't +forgotten the fuss Sammy Jay had been making there, and he was trying to +find out what it was all about. At first he didn't see anything unusual, +but by and by he happened to notice a little wet place, and right in the +middle of it was something that made Paddy's eyes open wide. It was a +footprint! Some one had carelessly stepped in the mud. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Paddy, and the hair on his back lifted ever so little, +and for a minute he had a prickly feeling all over. The footprint was +very much like that of Reddy Fox, only it was larger. + +"Ha!" said Paddy again, "that certainly is the footprint of Old Man +Coyote! I see I have got to watch out more sharply than I had thought +for. All right, Mr. Coyote; now that I know you are about, you'll have +to be smarter than I think you are to catch me. You certainly will be +back here to-night looking for me, so I think I'll do my cutting right +now in the daytime." + + + + +XV + +SAMMY JAY MAKES PADDY A CALL + + +Paddy the Beaver was hard at work. He had just cut down a good-sized +aspen-tree and now he was gnawing it into short lengths to put in his +food pile in the pond. As he worked, Paddy was doing a lot of thinking +about the footprint of Old Man Coyote in a little patch of mud, for he +knew that meant that Old Man Coyote had discovered his pond, and would +be hanging around, hoping to catch Paddy off his guard. Paddy knew it +just as well as if Old Man Coyote had told him so. That was why he was +at work cutting his food supply in the daytime. Usually he works at +night, and he knew that Old Man Coyote knew it. + +"He'll try to catch me then," thought Paddy, "so I'll do my working on +land now and fool him." + +The tree he was cutting began to sway and crack. Paddy cut out one +more big chip, then hurried away to a safe place while the tree fell +with a crash. + +"Thief! thief! thief!" screamed a voice just back of Paddy. + +"Hello, Sammy Jay! I see you don't feel any better than usual this +morning," said Paddy. "Don't you want to sit up in this tree while I +cut it down?" + +Sammy grew black in the face with anger, for he knew that Paddy was +laughing at him. You remember how only a few days before he had been so +intent on calling Paddy bad names that he actually hadn't noticed that +Paddy was cutting the very tree in which he was sitting, and so when it +fell he had had a terrible fright. + +"You think you are very smart, Mr. Beaver, but you'll think differently +one of these fine days!" screamed Sammy. "If you knew what I know, you +wouldn't be so well satisfied with yourself." + +"What do you know?" asked Paddy, pretending to be very much alarmed. + +"I'm not going to tell you what I know," retorted Sammy Jay. "You'll +find out soon enough. And when you do find out, you'll never steal +another tree from our Green Forest. Somebody is going to catch you, +and it isn't Farmer Brown's boy either!" + +Paddy pretended to be terribly frightened. "Oh, who is it? Please tell +me, Mr. Jay," he begged. + +Now to be called Mr. Jay made Sammy feel very important. Nearly +everybody else called him Sammy. He swelled himself out trying to look +as important as he felt, and his eyes snapped with pleasure. He was +actually making Paddy the Beaver afraid. At least he thought he was. + +"No, Sir, I won't tell you," he replied. "I wouldn't be you for a great +deal though! Somebody who is smarter than you are is going to catch you, +and when he gets through with you, there won't be anything left but a +few bones. No, Sir, nothing but a few bones!" + +"Oh, Mr. Jay, this is terrible news! Whatever am I to do?" cried Paddy, +all the time keeping right on at work cutting another tree. + +"There's nothing you can do," replied Sammy, grinning wickedly at +Paddy's fright. "There's nothing you can do unless you go right straight +back to the North where you came from. You think you are very smart +but--" + +Sammy didn't finish. Crack! Over fell the tree Paddy had been cutting +and the top of it fell straight into the alder in which Sammy was +sitting. "Oh! Oh! Help!" shrieked Sammy, spreading his wings and flying +away just in time. + +Paddy sat down and laughed until his sides ached. "Come make me another +call some day, Sammy!" he said. "And when you do, please bring some real +news. I know all about Old Man Coyote. You can tell him for me that when +he is planning to catch people he should be careful not to leave +footprints to give himself away." + +Sammy didn't reply. He just sneaked off through the Green Forest, +looking quite as foolish as he felt. + + + + +XVI + +OLD MAN COYOTE IS VERY CRAFTY + + Coyote has a crafty brain; + His wits are sharp his ends to gain. + + +There is nothing in the world more true than that. Old Man Coyote has +the craftiest brain of all the little people of the Green Forest or the +Green Meadows. Sharp as are the wits of old Granny Fox, they are not +quite as sharp as the wits of Old Man Coyote. If you want to fool him, +you will have to get up very early in the morning, and then it is more +than likely that you will be the one fooled, not he. There is very +little going on around him that he doesn't know about. But once in a +while something escapes him. The coming of Paddy the Beaver to the Green +Forest was one of these things. He didn't know a thing about Paddy until +Paddy had finished his dam and his house, and was cutting his supply of +food for the winter. + +You see, it was this way: When the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother +West Wind first heard what was going on in the Green Forest and hurried +around over the Green Meadows and through the Green Forest to spread the +news, as is their way, they took the greatest pains not to even hint it +to Old Man Coyote because they were afraid that he would make trouble +and perhaps drive Paddy away. The place that Paddy had chosen to build +his dam was so deep in the Green Forest that Old Man Coyote seldom went +that way. So it was that he knew nothing about Paddy, and Paddy knew +nothing about him for some time. + +But after a while Old Man Coyote noticed that the little people of +the Green Meadows were not about as much as usual. They seemed to have +a secret of some kind. He mentioned the matter to his friend, Digger +the Badger. + +Digger had been so intent on his own affairs that he hadn't noticed +anything unusual, but when Old Man Coyote mentioned the matter he +remembered that Blacky the Crow headed straight for the Green Forest +every morning. Several times he had seen Sammy Jay flying in the same +direction as if in a great hurry to get somewhere. + +Old Man Coyote grinned. "That's all I need to know, friend Digger," +said he. "When Blacky the Crow and Sammy Jay visit a place more than +once, something interesting is going on there. I think I'll take a +stroll up through the Green Forest and have a look around." + +With that, off Old Man Coyote started. But he was too sly and crafty to +go straight to the Green Forest. He pretended to hunt around over the +Green Meadows just as he usually did, all the time working nearer and +nearer to the Green Forest. When he reached the edge of it, he slipped +in among the trees, and when he felt sure that no one was likely to see +him, he began to run this way and that way with his nose to the ground. + +"Ha!" he exclaimed presently, "Reddy Fox has been this way lately." + +Pretty soon he found another trail. "So," said he, "Peter Rabbit has +been over here a good deal of late, and his trail goes in the same +direction as that of Reddy Fox. I guess all I have to do now is to +follow Peter's trail, and it will lead me to what I want to find out." + +So Old Man Coyote followed Peter's trail, and he presently came to the +pond of Paddy the Beaver. "Ha!" said he, as he looked out and saw +Paddy's new house. "So there is a newcomer to the Green Forest! I have +always heard that Beaver is very good eating. My stomach begins to feel +empty this very minute." His mouth began to water, and a fierce, hungry +look shone in his yellow eyes. + +It was just then that Sammy Jay saw him and began to scream at the top +of his lungs so that Paddy the Beaver over in his house heard him. Old +Man Coyote knew that it was of no use to stay longer with Sammy Jay +about, so he took a hasty look at the pond and found where Paddy came +ashore to cut his food. Then, shaking his fist at Sammy Jay, he started +straight back for the Green Meadows. "I'll just pay a visit here in the +night," said he, "and give Mr. Beaver a surprise while he is at work." + +But with all his craft, Old Man Coyote didn't notice that he had left a +footprint in the mud. + +[Illustration] + + + + +XVII + +OLD MAN COYOTE IS DISAPPOINTED + + +Old Man Coyote lay stretched out in his favorite napping place on the +Green Meadows. He was thinking of what he had found out up in the Green +Forest that morning--that Paddy the Beaver was living there. Old Man +Coyote's thoughts seemed very pleasant to himself, though really they +were very dreadful thoughts. You see, he was thinking how easy it was +going to be to catch Paddy the Beaver, and what a splendid meal he would +make. He licked his chops at the thought. + +"He doesn't know I know he's here," thought Old Man Coyote. "In fact, I +don't believe he even knows that I am anywhere around. Of course, he +won't be watching for me. He cuts his trees at night, so all I will have +to do is to hide right close by where he is at work, and he'll walk +right into my mouth. Sammy Jay knows I was up there this morning, but +Sammy sleeps at night, so he will not give the alarm. My, my, how good +that Beaver will taste!" He licked his chops once more, then yawned and +closed his eyes for a nap. + +Old Man Coyote waited until jolly, round, red Mr. Sun had gone to bed +behind the Purple Hills, and the Black Shadows had crept out across the +Green Meadows. Then, keeping in the blackest of them, and looking very +much like a shadow himself, he slipped into the Green Forest. It was +dark in there, and he made straight for Paddy's new pond, trotting along +swiftly without making a sound. When he was near the aspen-trees which +he knew Paddy was planning to cut, he crept forward very slowly and +carefully. Everything was still as still could be. + +"Good!" thought Old Man Coyote. "I am here first, and now all I need do +is to hide and wait for Paddy to come ashore." + +So he stretched himself flat behind some brush close beside the little +path Paddy had made up from the edge of the water and waited. It was +very still, so still that it seemed almost as if he could hear his heart +beat. He could see the little stars twinkling in the sky and their own +reflections twinkling back at them from the water of Paddy's pond. Old +Man Coyote waited and waited. He is very patient when there is something +to gain by it. For such a splendid dinner as Paddy the Beaver would make +he felt that he could well afford to be patient. So he waited and +waited, and everything was as still as if no living thing but the trees +were there. Even the trees seemed to be asleep. + +At last, after a long, long time, he heard just the faintest splash. He +pricked up his ears and peeped out on the pond with the hungriest look +in his yellow eyes. There was a little line of silver coming straight +towards him. He knew that it was made by Paddy the Beaver swimming. +Nearer and nearer it drew. Old Man Coyote chuckled way down deep inside, +without making a sound. He could see Paddy's head now, and Paddy was +coming straight in, as if he hadn't a fear in the world. + +Almost to the edge of the pond swam Paddy. Then he stopped. In a few +minutes he began to swim again, but this time it was back in the +direction of his house, and he seemed to be carrying something. It was +one of the little food logs he had cut that day, and he was taking it +out to his storehouse. Then back he came for another. And so he kept on, +never once coming ashore. Old Man Coyote waited until Paddy had carried +the last log to his storehouse and then, with a loud whack on the water +with his broad tail, had dived and disappeared in his house. + +Then Old Man Coyote arose and started elsewhere to look for his dinner, +and in his heart was bitter disappointment. + + + + +XVIII + +OLD MAN COYOTE TRIES ANOTHER PLAN + + +For three nights Old Man Coyote had stolen up through the Green Forest +with the coming of the Black Shadows and had hidden among the +aspen-trees where Paddy the Beaver cut his food, and for three nights +Paddy had failed to come ashore. Each night he had seemed to have enough +food logs in the water to keep him busy without cutting more. Old Man +Coyote lay there, and the hungry look in his eyes changed to one of +doubt and then to suspicion. Could it be that Paddy the Beaver was +smarter than he thought? It began to look very much as if Paddy knew +perfectly well that he was hiding there each night. Yes, Sir, that's the +way it looked. For three nights Paddy hadn't cut a single tree, and yet +each night he had plenty of food logs ready to take to his storehouse in +the pond. + +"That means that he comes ashore in the daytime and cuts his trees," +thought Old Man Coyote as, tired and with black anger in his heart, he +trotted home the third night. "He couldn't have found out about me +himself; he isn't smart enough. It must be that some one has told him. +And nobody knows that I have been over there but Sammy Jay. It must be +he who has been the tattletale. I think I'll visit Paddy by daylight +to-morrow, and then we'll see!" + +Now the trouble with some smart people is that they are never able to +believe that others may be as smart as they. Old Man Coyote didn't know +that the first time he had visited Paddy's pond he had left behind him a +footprint in a little patch of soft mud. If he had known it, he wouldn't +have believed that Paddy would be smart enough to guess what that +footprint meant. So Old Man Coyote laid all the blame at the door of +Sammy Jay, and that very morning, when Sammy came flying over the Green +Meadows, Old Man Coyote accused him of being a tattletale and threatened +the most dreadful things to Sammy if ever he caught him. + +Now Sammy had flown down to the Green Meadows to tell Old Man Coyote +how Paddy was doing all his work on land in the daytime. But when Old +Man Coyote began to call him a tattletale and accuse him of having +warned Paddy, and to threaten dreadful things, he straightway forgot all +his anger at Paddy and turned it all on Old Man Coyote. He called him +everything he could think of, and this was a great deal, for Sammy has a +wicked tongue. When he hadn't any breath left, he flew over to the Green +Forest, and there he hid where he could watch all that was going on. + +That afternoon Old Man Coyote tried his new plan. He slipped into the +Green Forest, looking this way and that way to be sure that no one saw +him. Then very, very softly, he crept up through the Green Forest +towards the pond of Paddy the Beaver. As he drew near, he heard a crash, +and it made him smile. He knew what it meant. It meant that Paddy was at +work cutting down trees. With his stomach almost on the ground, he crept +forward little by little, little by little, taking the greatest care not +to rustle so much as a leaf. Presently he reached a place where he could +see the aspen-trees, and there sure enough was Paddy, sitting up on his +hind legs and hard at work cutting another tree. + +Old Man Coyote lay down for a few minutes to watch. Then he wriggled +a little nearer. Slowly and carefully he drew his legs under him and +made ready for a rush. Paddy the Beaver was his at last! At just +that very minute a harsh scream rang out right over his head "Thief! +thief! thief!" + +It was Sammy Jay, who had silently followed him all the way. Paddy the +Beaver didn't stop to even look around. He knew what that scream meant, +and he scrambled down his little path to the water as he never had +scrambled before. And as he dived with a great splash, Old Man Coyote +landed with a great jump on the very edge of the pond. + + + + +XIX + +PADDY AND SAMMY JAY BECOME FRIENDS + + +Paddy the Beaver floated in his pond and grinned in the most provoking +way at Old Man Coyote, who had so nearly caught him. Old Man Coyote +fairly danced with anger on the bank. He had felt so sure of Paddy +that time that it was hard work to believe that Paddy had really gotten +away from him. He bared his long cruel teeth, and he looked very fierce +and ugly. + +"Come on in; the water's fine!" called Paddy. + +Now, of course, this wasn't a nice thing for Paddy to do, for it only +made Old Man Coyote all the angrier. You see, Paddy knew perfectly well +that he was absolutely safe, and he just couldn't resist the temptation +to say some unkind things. He had had to be on the watch for days lest +he should be caught, and so he hadn't been able to work quite so well as +he could have done with nothing to fear, and he still had a lot of +preparations to make for winter. So he told Old Man Coyote just what he +thought of him, and that he wasn't as smart as he thought he was or he +never would have left a footprint in the mud to give him away. + +When Sammy Jay, who was listening and chuckling as he listened, heard +that, he flew down where he would be just out of reach of Old Man +Coyote, and then he just turned that tongue of his loose, and you know +that some people say that Sammy's tongue is hung in the middle and wags +at both ends. Of course, this isn't really so, but when he gets to +abusing people it seems as if it must be true. He called Old Man Coyote +every bad name he could think of. He called him a sneak, a thief, a +coward, a bully, and a lot of other things. + +"You said I had warned Paddy that you were trying to catch him and that +was why you failed to find him at work at night, and all the time you +had warned him yourself!" screamed Sammy. "I used to think that you were +smart, but I know better now. Paddy is twice as smart as you are." + + "Mr. Coyote is ever so sly; + Mr. Coyote is clever and spry; + If you believe all you hear. + Mr. Coyote is naught of the kind; + Mr. Coyote is stupid and blind; + He can't catch a flea on his ear." + +Paddy the Beaver laughed till the tears came at Sammy's foolish verse, +but it made Old Man Coyote angrier than ever. He was angry with Paddy +for escaping from him, and he was angry with Sammy, terribly angry, and +the worst of it was he couldn't catch either one, for one was at home in +the water and the other was at home in the air and he couldn't follow in +either place. Finally he saw it was of no use to stay there to be +laughed at, so, muttering and grumbling, he started for the Green +Meadows. + +As soon as he was out of sight Paddy turned to Sammy Jay. + +"Mr. Jay," said he, knowing how it pleased Sammy to be called mister, +"Mr. Jay, you have done me a mighty good turn to-day, and I am not going +to forget it. You can call me what you please and scream at me all you +please, but you won't get any satisfaction out of it, because I simply +won't get angry. I will say to myself, 'Mr. Jay saved my life the other +day,' and then I won't mind your tongue." + +Now this made Sammy feel very proud and very happy. You know it is very +seldom that he hears anything nice said of him. He flew down on the +stump of one of the trees Paddy had cut. "Let's be friends," said he. + +"With all my heart!" replied Paddy. + +[Illustration] + + + + +XX + +SAMMY JAY OFFERS TO HELP PADDY + + +Paddy sat looking thoughtfully at the aspen-trees he would have to cut +to complete his store of food for the winter. All those near the edge of +his pond had been cut. The others were scattered about some little +distance away. "I don't know," said Paddy out loud. "I don't know." + +"What don't you know?" asked Sammy Jay, who, now that he and Paddy had +become friends, was very much interested in what Paddy was doing. + +"Why," replied Paddy, "I don't know just how I am going to get those +trees. Now that Old Man Coyote is watching for me, it isn't safe for +me to go very far from my pond. I suppose I could dig a canal up to +some of the nearest trees and then float them down to the pond, but +it is hard to work and keep sharp watch for enemies at the same time. +I guess I'll have to be content with some of these alders growing +close to the water, but the bark of aspens is so much better that +I--I wish I could get them." + +"What's a canal?" asked Sammy abruptly. + +"A canal? Why, a canal is a kind of ditch in which water can run," +replied Paddy. + +Sammy nodded. "I've seen Farmer Brown dig one over on the Green Meadows, +but it looked like a great deal of work. I didn't suppose that any one +else could do it. Do you really mean that you can dig a canal, Paddy?" + +"Of course I mean it," replied Paddy, in a surprised tone of voice. "I +have helped dig lots of canals. You ought to see some of them back where +I came from." + +"I'd like to," replied Sammy. "I think it is perfectly wonderful. I +don't see how you do it." + +"It's easy enough when you know how," replied Paddy. "If I dared to, I'd +show you." + +Sammy had a sudden idea. It almost made him gasp. "I tell you what, you +work and I'll keep watch!" he cried. "You know my eyes are very sharp." + +"Will you?" cried Paddy eagerly. "That would be perfectly splendid. You +have the sharpest eyes of any one whom I know, and I would feel +perfectly safe with you on watch. But I don't want to put you to all +that trouble, Mr. Jay." + +"Of course I will," replied Sammy, "and it won't be any trouble at all. +I'll just love to do it." You see, it made Sammy feel very proud to have +Paddy say that he had such sharp eyes. "When will you begin?" + +"Right away, if you will just take a look around and see that it is +perfectly safe for me to come out on land." + +Sammy didn't wait to hear more. He spread his beautiful blue wings and +started off over the Green Forest straight for the Green Meadows. Paddy +watched him go with a puzzled and disappointed air. "That's funny," +thought he. "I thought he really meant it, and now off he goes without +even saying good-by." + +In a little while back came Sammy, all out of breath. "It's all right," +he panted. "You can go to work just as soon as you please." + +Paddy looked more puzzled than ever. "How do you know?" he asked. "I +haven't seen you looking around." + +"I did better than that," replied Sammy. "If Old Man Coyote had been +hiding somewhere in the Green Forest, it might have taken me some time +to find him. But he isn't. You see, I flew straight over to his home in +the Green Meadows to see if he is there, and he is. He's taking a +sun-bath and looking as cross as two sticks. I don't think he'll be back +here this morning, but I'll keep a sharp watch while you work." + +Paddy made Sammy a low bow. "You certainly are smart, Mr. Jay," said +he. "I wouldn't have thought of going over to Old Man Coyote's home to +see if he was there. I'll feel perfectly safe with you on guard. Now +I'll get to work." + + + + +XXI + +PADDY AND SAMMY JAY WORK TOGETHER + + +Jerry Muskrat had been home at the Smiling Pool for several days. But +he couldn't stay there long. Oh, my, no! He just had to get back to see +what his big cousin, Paddy the Beaver, was doing. So as soon as he was +sure that everything was all right at the Smiling Pool he hurried back +up the Laughing Brook to Paddy's pond, deep in the Green Forest. As soon +as he was in sight of it, he looked eagerly for Paddy. At first he +didn't see him. Then he stopped and gazed over at the place where Paddy +had been cutting aspen-trees for food. Something was going on there, +something queer. He couldn't make it out. + +Just then Sammy Jay came flying over. + +"What's Paddy doing?" Jerry asked. + +Sammy Jay dropped down to the top of an alder-tree and fluffed out all +his feathers in a very important way. "Oh," said he, "Paddy and I are +building something!" + +"You! Paddy and you! Ha, ha! Paddy and you building something!" +Jerry laughed. + +"Yes, me!" snapped Sammy angrily. "That's what I said; Paddy and I are +building something." + +Jerry had begun to swim across the pond by this time, and Sammy was +flying across. "Why don't you tell the truth, Sammy, and say that Paddy +is building something and you are making him all the trouble you can?" +called Jerry. + +Sammy's eyes snapped angrily, and he darted down at Jerry's little brown +head. "It isn't true!" he shrieked. "You ask Paddy if I'm not helping!" + +Jerry ducked under water to escape Sammy's sharp bill. When he came up +again, Sammy was over in the little grove of aspen-trees where Paddy was +at work. Then Jerry discovered something. What was it? Why a little +water-path led right up to the aspen-trees, and there, at the end of the +little water-path, was Paddy the Beaver hard at work. He was digging and +piling the earth on one side very neatly. In fact, he was making the +water-path longer. Jerry swam right up the little water-path to where +Paddy was working. "Good morning, Cousin Paddy," said he. "What are you +doing?" + +"Oh," replied Paddy, "Sammy Jay and I are building a canal." + +Sammy Jay looked down at Jerry in triumph, and Jerry looked at Paddy as +if he thought that he was joking. + +"Sammy Jay? What's Sammy Jay got to do about it?" demanded Jerry. + +"A whole lot," replied Paddy. "You see, he keeps watch while I work. If +he didn't, I couldn't work, and there wouldn't be any canal. Old Man +Coyote has been trying to catch me, and I wouldn't dare work on shore if +it wasn't that I am sure that the sharpest eyes in the Green Forest are +watching for danger." + +Sammy Jay looked very much pleased indeed and very proud. "So you see it +takes both of us to make this canal; I dig while Sammy watches. So we +are building it together," concluded Paddy with a twinkle in his eyes. + +"I see," said Jerry slowly. Then he turned to Sammy Jay. "I beg your +pardon, Sammy," said he. "I do, indeed." + +"That's all right," replied Sammy airily. "What do you think of +our canal?" + +"I think it is wonderful," replied Jerry. + +And indeed it was a very fine canal, straight, wide, and deep enough +for Paddy to swim in and float his logs out to the pond. Yes, indeed, it +was a very fine canal. + + + + +XXII + +PADDY FINISHES HIS HARVEST + + "Sharp his tongue and sharp his eyes-- + Sammy guards against surprise. + If 'twere not for Sammy Jay + I could do no work to-day." + + +When Sammy overheard Paddy the Beaver say that to Jerry Muskrat, it +made him swell up all over with pure pride. You see, Sammy is so used to +hearing bad things about himself that to hear something nice like that +pleased him immensely. He straightway forgot all the mean things he had +said to Paddy when he first saw him--how he had called him a thief +because he had cut the aspen-trees he needed. He forgot all this. He +forgot how Paddy had made him the laughing-stock of the Green Forest and +the Green Meadows by cutting down the very tree in which he had been +sitting. He forgot everything but that Paddy had trusted him to keep +watch and now was saying nice things about him. He made up his mind that +he would deserve all the nice things that Paddy could say, and he +thought that Paddy was the finest fellow in the world. + +Jerry Muskrat looked doubtful. He didn't trust Sammy, and he took +care not to go far from the water when he heard that Old Man Coyote +had been hanging around. But Paddy worked away just as if he hadn't +a fear in the world. + +"The way to make people want to be trusted is to trust them," said he +to himself. "If I show Sammy Jay that I don't really trust him, he will +think it is of no use to try and will give it up. But if I do trust him, +and he knows that I do, he'll be the best watchman in the Green Forest." + +And this shows that Paddy the Beaver has a great deal of wisdom, for it +was just as he thought. Sammy was on hand bright and early every +morning. He made sure that Old Man Coyote was nowhere in the Green +Forest, and then he settled himself comfortably in the top of a tall +pine-tree where he could see all that was going on while Paddy the +Beaver worked. + +Paddy had finished his canal, and a beautiful canal it was, leading +straight from his pond up to the aspen-trees. As soon as he had finished +it, he began to cut the trees. As soon as one was down he would cut it +into short lengths and roll them into the canal. Then he would float +them out to his pond and over to his storehouse. He took the larger +branches, on which there was sweet, tender bark, in the same way, for +Paddy is never wasteful. + +After a while he went over to his storehouse, which, you know, was +nothing but a great pile of aspen-logs and branches in his pond close by +his house. He studied it very carefully. Then he swam back and climbed +up on the bank of his canal. + +"Mr. Jay," said he, "I think our work is about finished." + +"What!" cried Sammy, "Aren't you going to cut the rest of those +aspen-trees?" + +"No," replied Paddy. "Enough is always enough, and I've got enough to +last me all winter. I want those trees for next year. Now I am fixed for +the winter. I think I'll take it easy for a while." + +Sammy looked disappointed. You see he had just begun to learn that the +greatest pleasure in the world comes from doing things for other people. +For the first time since he could remember some one wanted him around +and it gave him such a good feeling down deep inside! + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Paddy Beaver, by +Thornton W. 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