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 Mr. Coyote and hurried on to tell everyone else, and the
very last one they met was Sammy Jay.