The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver

by Thornton W. Burgess

  THE ADVENTURES OF PADDY THE BEAVER

  Thornton W. Burgess

  1917

  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.

  CHAPTER 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 atbuilding the dam which was to make the pond he so much desireddeep in the Green Forest. Of course it wasn't quite true, thatabout working all night and all day. Nobody could do that, youknow, and keep it up. Everybody has to rest and sleep. Yes, andeverybody has to play a little to be at their best. So it wasn'tquite true that Paddy worked all day after working all night. Butit was true that Paddy had no time to play. He had too much todo. He had had his playtime during the long summer, and now hehad to get ready for the long, cold winter.

  Now, of all the little workers in the Green Forest, on the GreenMeadows, and in the Smiling Pool, none can compare with Paddy theBeaver, not even his cousin, Jerry Muskrat. Happy Jack Squirreland Striped Chipmunk store up food for the long, cold months whenrough Brother North Wind and Jack Frost rule, and Jerry Muskratbuilds a fine house wherein to keep warm and comfortable, but allthis is as nothing to the work of Paddy the Beaver.

  As I said before, Paddy had had a long playtime through thesummer. He had wandered up and down the Laughing Brook. He hadfollowed it way up to the place where it started. And all thetime he had been studying and studying to make sure that hewanted to stay in the Green Forest. In the first place, he had tobe 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 nearwhere this particular food grew. Last of all, he had to satisfyhimself that if he did make a pond and build a home, he would bereasonably safe in it. And all these things he had done in hisplaytime. Now he was ready to go to work, and when Paddy beginswork, he sticks to it until it is finished. He says that is theonly 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 PeterRabbit and Bobby Coon can, and he likes the night best, becausehe feels safest then. But he can see in the daytime too, and whenhe feels that he is perfectly safe and no one is watching, heworks then too. Of course, the first thing to do was to build adam across the Laughing Brook to make the pond he so much needed.He chose a low, open place deep in the Green Forest, around theedge of which grew many young aspen trees, the bark of which ishis favorite food. Through the middle of this open place flowedthe Laughing Brook. At the lower edge was just the place for adam. It would not have to be very long, and when it was finishedand the water was stopped in the Laughing Brook, it would justhave to flow over the low, open place and make a pond there.Paddy's eyes twinkled when he first saw it. It was right thenthat 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 LaughingBrook to a place where alders and willows grew, and there hebegan work; that work was the cutting of a great number of treesby means of his big front teeth which were given him for justthis purpose. And as he worked, Paddy was happy, for one cannever be truly happy who does no work.

  CHAPTER II Paddy Plans a Pond.

  Paddy the Beaver was busy cutting down trees for the dam he hadplanned to build. Up in the woods of the North from which he hadcome to the Green Forest, he had learned all about tree-cuttingand dam-building and canal-digging and house-building. Paddy'sfather and mother had been very wise in the Beaver world, andPaddy had been quick to learn. So now he knew just what to do andthe best way of doing it. You know, a great many people wastetime and labor doing things the wrong way, so that they have tobe done over again. They forget to be sure they are right, and sothey go ahead until they find they are wrong, and all their workgoes for nothing.

  But Paddy the Beaver isn't this kind. Paddy would never haveleaped into the spring with the steep sides without looking, asGrandfather Frog did. So now he carefully picked out the trees tocut. He could not afford to waste time cutting down a tree thatwasn't going to be just what he wanted when it was down. When hewas sure that the tree was right, he looked up at the top to findout whether, when he had cut it, it would fall clear of othertrees. He had learned to do that when he was quite young andheedless. He remembered just how he had felt when, after workinghard, oh, so hard, to cut a big tree, he had warned all hisfriends to get out of the way so that they would not be hurt whenit fell, and then it hadn't fallen at all because the top hadcaught in another tree. He was so mortified that he didn't getover it for a long time.

  So now he made sure that a tree was going to fall clear and justwhere he wanted it. Then he sat up on his hind legs, and with hisgreat broad tail for a brace, began to make the chips fly. Youknow Paddy has the most wonderful teeth for cutting. They arelong and broad and sharp. He would begin by making a deep bite,and then another just a little way below. Then he would pry outthe little piece of wood between. When he had cut very deep onone side so that the tree would fall that way, he would workaround to the other side. Just as soon as the tree began to leanand he was sure that it was going to fall, he would scamper awayso as to be out of danger. He loved to see those tall trees leanforward slowly, then faster and faster, till they struck theground with a crash.

  Just as soon as they were down, he would trim off the branchesuntil the trees where just long poles. This was easy work, for hecould take off a good-sized branch with one bite. On many he lefttheir bushy tops. When he had trimmed them to suit him and hadcut them into the right lengths, he would tug and pull them downto the place where he meant to build his dam.

  There he placed the poles side by side, not across the LaughingBrook like a bridge, but with the big ends pointing up theLaughing Brook, which was quite broad but shallow right there. Tokeep them from floating away, he rolled stones and piled mud onthe bushy ends. Clear across on both sides he laid those polesuntil the water began to rise. Then he dragged more poles andpiled them on top of these and wedged short sticks crosswisebetween them.

  And all the time the Laughing Brook was having harder and harderwork to run. Its merry laugh grew less merry and finally almoststopped, because, you see, the water could not get throughbetween all those poles and sticks fast enough. It was just aboutthat time that the little people of the Smiling Pool decided thatit was time to see just what Paddy was doing, and they started upthe Laughing Brook, leaving only Grandfather Frog and thetadpoles in the Smiling Pool, which for a little while wouldsmile no more.

  CHAPTER III Paddy Has Many Visitors.

  Paddy the Beaver knew pe
rfectly well that he would have visitorsjust as soon as he began to build his dam. He expected a lot ofthem. You see he knew that none of them ever had seen a Beaver atwork unless perhaps it was Prickly Porky the Porcupine, who alsohad come down from the North. So as he worked he kept his earsopen, and he smiled to himself as he heard a little rustle hereand then a little rustle there. He knew just what those littlerustles meant. Each one meant another visitor. Yes, Sir, eachrustle meant another visitor, and yet not one had shown himself.

  Paddy chuckled. "Seems to me that you are dreadfully afraid toshow yourselves," said he in a loud voice, just as if he weretalking to nobody in particular. Everything was still. Therewasn't so much as a rustle after Paddy spoke. He chuckled again.He could just feel ever so many eyes watching him, though hedidn't see a single pair. And he knew that the reason hisvisitors were hiding so carefully was because they were afraid ofhim. You see, Paddy was much bigger than most of the littlemeadow and forest people, and they didn't know what kind of atemper he might have. It is always safest to be very distrustfulof strangers. That is one of the very first things taught alllittle meadow and forest children.

  Of course, Paddy knew all about this. He had been brought up thatway. "Be sure, and then you'll never be sorry" had been one ofhis mother's favorite sayings, and he had always remembered it.Indeed, it had saved him a great deal of trouble. So now he wasperfectly willing to go right on working and let his hiddenvisitors watch him until they were sure that he meant them noharm. You see, he himself felt quite sure that none of them wasbig enough to do him any harm. Little Joe Otter was the only onehe had any doubts about, and he felt quite sure that Little Joewouldn't try to pick a quarrel. So he kept right on cuttingtrees, trimming off the branches, and hauling the trunks down tothe dam he was building. Some of them he floated down theLaughing Brook. This was easier.

  Now when the little people of the Smiling Pool, who were thefirst to find out that Paddy the Beaver had come to the GreenForest, had started up the Laughing Brook to see what he wasdoing, they had told the Merry Little Breezes where they weregoing. The Merry Little Breezes had been greatly excited. Theycouldn't understand how a stranger could have been living in theGreen Forest without their knowledge. You see, they quite forgotthat they very seldom wandered to the deepest part of the GreenForest. Of course they started at once, as fast as they could go,to tell all the other little people who live on or around theGreen Meadows, all but Old Man Coyote. For some reason theythought it best not to tell him. They were a little doubtfulabout Old Man Coyote. He was so big and strong and so sly andsmart that all his neighbors were afraid of him. Perhaps theMerry Little Breezes had this fact in mind, and knew that nonewould dare go to call on the stranger if they knew that Old ManCoyote was going too. Anyway, they simply passed the time of daywith Old Mr. Coyote and hurried on to tell everyone else, and thevery last one they met was Sammy Jay.

  CHAPTER IV Sammy Jay Speaks His Mind

  When Sammy Jay reached the place deep in the Green Forest WherePaddy the Beaver was so hard at work, he didn't hide as had thelittle four-footed people. You see, of course, he had no reasonto hide, because he felt perfectly safe. Paddy had just cut a bigtree, and it fell with a crash as Sammy came hurrying up. Sammywas so surprised that for a minute he couldn't find his tongue.He had not supposed that anybody but Farmer Brown or FarmerBrown's boy could cut down so large a tree as that, and it quitetook his breath away. But he got it again in a minute. He wasboiling with anger, anyway, to think that he should have been thelast to learn that Paddy had come down from the North to make hishome in the Green Forest, and here was a chance to speak hismind.

  "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 cousinwho lives up where I come from," said he.

  "Thief! thief! thief!" screamed Sammy, hopping up and down, he wasso angry.

  "Meaning yourself, I suppose," said Paddy. "I never did see anhonest Jay, and I don't suppose I ever will."

  "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Peter Rabbit, who had quite forgotten thathe was hiding.

  "Oh, how do you do, Mr. Rabbit? I'm very glad you have called onme this morning," said Paddy, just as if he hadn't known all thetime just where Peter was. "Mr. Jay seems to have gotten out ofthe wrong side of his bed this morning."

  Peter laughed again. "He always does," said he. "If he didn't, hewouldn't be happy. You wouldn't think it to look at him, but heis happy right now. He doesn't know it, but he is. He always ishappy when he can show what a bad temper he has."

  Sammy Jay glared down at Peter. Then he glared at Paddy. And allthe time he still shrieked "Thief!" as hard as ever he could.Paddy kept right on working, paying no attention to Sammy. Thismade Sammy more angry than ever. He kept coming nearer and neareruntil at last he was in the very tree that Paddy happened to becutting. Paddy's eyes twinkled.

  "I'm no thief!" he exclaimed suddenly.

  "You are! You are! Thief! Thief!" shrieked Sammy. "You'resteeling our trees!"

  "They're not your trees," retorted Paddy. "They belong to theGreen 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. Ineed these trees, and I've just as much right to take them as youhave to take the fat acorns that drop in the fall."

  "No such thing!" screamed Sammy. You know he can't talk withoutscreaming, and the more excited he gets, the louder he screams."No such thing! Acorns are food. They are meant to eat. I have tohave them to live. But you are cutting down whole trees. You arespoiling the Green Forest. You don't belong here. Nobody invitedyou, and nobody wants you. You're a thief!"

  Then up spoke Jerry Muskrat who, you know, is cousin to Paddy theBeaver.

  "Don't you mind him," said he, pointing at Sammy Jay. "Nobodydoes. He's the greatest trouble-maker in the Green Forest or onthe Green Meadows. He would steal from his own relatives. Don'tmind what he says, Cousin Paddy."

  Now all this time Paddy had been working away just as if no onewas around. Just as Jerry stopped speaking, Paddy thumped theground with his tail, which is his way of warning people to watchout, and suddenly scurried away as fast as he could run. SammyJay was so surprised that he couldn't find his tongue for aminute, 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 himdown with them right into the Laughing Brook. You see, whileSammy had been speaking his mind, Paddy the Beaver had cut downthe very tree in which he was sitting.

  Sammy wasn't hurt, but he was wet and muddy and terriblyfrightened--the most miserable-looking Jay that ever was seen. Itwas too much for all the little people who were hiding. They justhad to laugh. Then they all came out to pay their respects toPaddy the Beaver.

  CHAPTER V Paddy Keeps His Promise.

  Paddy the Beaver kept right on working just as if he hadn't anyvisitors. You see, it is a big undertaking to build a dam. Andwhen that was done there was a house to build and a supply offood for the winter to cut and store. Oh, Paddy the Beaver had notime for idle gossip, you may be sure! So he kept right onbuilding his dam. It didn't look much like a dam at first, andsome of Paddy's visitors turned up their noses when they firstsaw it. They had heard stories of what a wonderful dam-builderPaddy was, and they had expected to see something like thesmooth, grass-covered bank with which Farmer Brown kept the BigRiver from running back on his low lands. Instead, all they sawwas a great pile of poles and sticks which looked like anythingbut a dam.

  "Pooh!" exclaimed Billy Mink, "I guess we needn't worry about theLaughing Brook and the Smiling Pool, if that is the best Paddycan do. Why, the water of the Laughing Brook will work throughthat in no time."

  Of course Paddy heard him, but he said nothing, just kept righton working.

  "Just look at the way he has laid those sticks!" continued BillyMink. "Seems as if anyone would know enough to lay them acrossthe Laughing Broo
k instead of just the other way. I could build abetter 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 theLaughing Brook is over its banks above Paddy's dam," repliedJerry, who had been studying the dam with a great deal ofinterest.

  Billy looked a wee bit foolish, for sure enough there was alittle pool just above the dam, and it was growing bigger.

  Sammy was terribly put out to think that anything should be goingon that he didn't know about first. You know he is very fond ofprying into the affairs of other people, and he loves dearly toboast that there is nothing going on in the Green Forest or onthe Green Meadows that he doesn't know about. So now his pridewas hurt, and he was in a terrible rage as he started after theMerry Little Breezes for the place deep in the Green Forest wherethey said Paddy the Beaver was at work. He didn't believe a wordof it, but he would see for himself.

  Paddy still kept at work, saying nothing. He was digging in frontof the dam now, and the mud and grass he dug up he stuffed inbetween the ends of the sticks and patted them down with hishands. He did this all along the front of the dam and on top ofit, too, wherever he thought it was needed. Of course this madeit harder for the water to work through, and the little pondabove the dam began to grow faster. It wasn't a great whilebefore it was nearly to the top of the dam, which at first wasvery low. Then Paddy brought more sticks. This was easier now,because he could float them down from where he was cutting. Hewould put them in place on the top of the dam, then hurry formore. Wherever it was needed, he would put in mud. He even rolleda few stones in to help hold the mass.