THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
For freedom who is there will say
There’s any price too much to pay?
_Little Joe Otter._
Have you ever been terribly frightened? Have you ever been so frightened
that you couldn’t even think? That is the way it was with the foolish
young Otter when he realized that he was caught in a trap. He was so
filled with terror that he didn’t even think about the pain in his foot.
There is nothing quite so awful as the helpless feeling that comes when
one is caught in a trap. Had that young Otter been seized by an enemy
twice his size he would have fought bravely to the last breath. But one
cannot fight a steel trap.
After awhile the young Otter was so tired out with struggling that he
had to be quiet to get his breath and to rest. He trembled all over.
Every time he heard the least little sound he was sure it was the
trapper coming to kill him. How he did wish he had heeded the warnings
of his father and mother!
For a long, long, long time he was held a prisoner by that dreadful
trap. From time to time he tried to cut the chain that held the trap,
but of course he tried in vain. His teeth, sharp as they were, didn’t
even scratch the steel of that chain. He wondered if his father and
mother would miss him and look for him. He wondered if they would ever
find out what had happened to him.
“If I could only get away from this thing, I never, never would disobey
again,” he sobbed. “No, Sir, I never, _never_ would disobey again. I do
wish father and mother would come. Perhaps if they came they could get
me free from this dreadful thing.”
It is said that if you wish long enough and hard enough for a thing you
may get your wish. Certainly the foolish young Otter wished long and
hard. And at last he did get his wish. His father, Little Joe Otter,
suddenly appeared. He was looking for that young Otter. He had worried
when that young Otter did not return and had started out to look for
him.
Little Joe didn’t scold that young Otter. Instead, he did the best he
could to comfort him. The first thing he did was to look to see how the
young Otter was held by that dreadful trap. He saw right away that he
was held only by one toe.
“You are lucky, very lucky,” declared Little Joe Otter.
The young Otter thought he was very unlucky. He said so. He couldn’t see
that there was anything lucky about it. Then Little Joe explained.
“That trap,” said he, “has got you only by one toe. It might have you by
the whole foot. If it had you by the whole foot, and that is the way the
trapper meant that it should catch you, there would be very little hope
for you. As it is, if you pull hard enough, you may lose your toe, but
that will be all.”
“But I don’t want to lose my toe!” wailed the young Otter.
“All right,” replied Little Joe. “If you had rather lose your life than
your toe, there is nothing I can do about it. You can get free if you
really want to, but the price of freedom will be that toe.”