Produced by Sigal Alon, Jacqueline Jeremy, La Monte H.P.
Yarroll, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
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[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.