The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver

by Thornton W. Burgess

  So Jerry dived down to the bottom of the pond and dug up mud andpiled it on the foundation and was happy. The little stars lookeddown and twinkled merrily as they watched the two workers. So thefoundation grew and grew down under the water. Jerry was verymuch surprised at the size of it. It was ever and ever so muchbigger than the foundation for his own house. You see, he hadforgotten 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 orJimmy Skunk would come to the edge of the pond to see what wasgoing on. Peter Rabbit came every night. But they couldn't seemuch because, you know, Paddy and Jerry were working under water.

  But at last Peter was rewarded. There, just above the water, wasa splendid platform of mud and grass and sticks. A great manysticks were carefully laid as soon as the platform was above thewater, for Paddy was very particular about this. You see, it wasto 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 goingto be, if he piled up the mud that way? But he didn't like to askquestions, so he kept right on helping. Paddy would dive down tothe bottom and then come up with double handfuls of mud, which heheld against his chest. He would scramble out onto the platformand waddle over to the pile in the middle, where he would put themud and pat it down. Then back to the bottom for more.

  And so the mud pile grew and grew, until it was quite two feethigh.

  "Now," said Paddy, "I'll build the walls, and I guess you can'thelp me much with those. I'm going to begin them tomorrow night.Perhaps you will like to see me do it, Cousin Jerry."

  "I certainly will," replied Jerry, still puzzling over that pileof mud in the middle.

  CHAPTER XI Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat Are Puzzled.

  Jerry Muskrat was more and more sure that his big cousin, Paddythe Beaver, didn't know quite so much as he might abouthouse-building. Jerry would have liked to offer some suggestions,but he didn't quite dare. You see, he was very anxious not todisplease his big cousin. But he felt that he simply had got tospeak his mind to someone, so he swam across to where he had seenPeter Rabbit almost every night since Paddy began to build. Sureenough, Peter was there, sitting up very straight and staringwith big round eyes at the platform of mud and sticks out in thewater where Paddy the Beaver was at work.

  "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 laughat," said he.

  "Why, it's a house, you stupid. It's Paddy's new house," repliedJerry, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes.

  "I'm not stupid!" retorted Peter. "How was I to know that thatpile of mud and sticks is meant for a house? It certainly doesn'tlook it. Where is the door?"

  "To tell you the truth, I don't think it is much of a housemyself," replied Jerry. "It has got a door, all right. In fact ithas got three. You can't see them because they are under water,and there is a passage from each right up through that platformof mud and sticks, which is the foundation of the house. Itreally is a very fine foundation, Peter; it really is. But whatI can't understand is what Paddy is thinking of by building thatgreat pile of mud right in the middle. When he gets his wallsbuilt, 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 andmud.

  Peter scratched his head and then pulled his whiskers thoughtfullyas he gazed out at the pile in the water where Paddy the Beaverwas at work.

  "It does look foolish, that's a fact," said he. "Why don't youpoint out to him the mistake he is making, Jerry? You have builtsuch a splendid house yourself that you ought to be able to helpPaddy and show him his mistakes."

  Jerry had smiled a very self-satisfied smile when Peter mentionedhis fine house, but he shook his head at the suggestion that heshould give Paddy advice.

  "I--I don't just like to," he confessed. "You know, he might notlike 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 mycousin," 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 waitawhile."

  Now all this time Paddy had been hard at work. He was bringingthe longest branches which he had cut from the trees out of whichhe had built his dam, and a lot of slender willow and alderpoles. He pushed these ahead of him as he swam. When he reachedthe foundation of his house, he would lean them against the pileof mud in the middle with their big ends resting on thefoundation. So he worked all the way around until by and by themud pile in the middle couldn't be seen. It was completelycovered with sticks, and they were cunningly fastened together atthe tops.

  CHAPTER 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. Jerryknows. He found it out for himself. Now he is very careful whathe says about other people or what they are doing. But he wasn'tso careful when his cousin, Paddy the Beaver, was building hishouse. No, Sir, Jerry wasn't so careful then. He though he knewmore about building a house than Paddy did. He was sure of itwhen he watched Paddy heap up a great pile of mud right in themiddle where his room ought to be, and then build a wall ofsticks around it. He said as much to Peter Rabbit.

  Now it is never safe to say anything to Peter Rabbit that youdon't care to have others know. Peter has a great deal of respectfor Jerry Muskrat's opinion on house-building. You see, he verymuch admires Jerry's snug house in the Smiling Pool. It really isa very fine house, and Jerry may be excused for being proud ofit. But that doesn't excuse Jerry for thinking that he knows allthere is to know about house-building. Of course Peter toldeveryone he met that Paddy the Beaver was making a foolishmistake in building his house, and that Jerry Muskrat, who oughtto know, said so.

  So whenever they got the chance, the little people of the GreenForest and Green Meadows would steal up to the shore of Paddy'snew pond and chuckle as they looked out at the great pile ofsticks and mud which Paddy had built for a house, but in which hehad forgotten to make a room. At least they supposed that he hadforgotten this very important thing. He must have, for therewasn't any room. It was a great joke. They laughed a lot aboutit, and they lost a great deal of the respect for Paddy whichthey had had since he built his wonderful dam.

  Jerry and Peter sat in the moonlight talking it over. Paddy hadstopped bringing sticks for his wall. He had dived down out ofsight, and he was gone a long time. Suddenly Jerry noticed thatthe water had grown very, very muddy all around Paddy's newhouse. He wrinkled his brows trying to think what Paddy could bedoing. Presently Paddy came up for air. Then he went down again,and the water grew muddier than ever. This went on for a longtime. Every little while Paddy would come up for air and a fewminutes of rest. Then down he would go, and the water would growmuddier and muddier.

  At last Jerry could stand it no longer. He just had to see whatwas going on. He slipped into the water and swam over to wherethe water was muddiest. Just as he got there up came Paddy.

  "Hello, Cousin Jerry!" said he. "I was just going to invite youover to see what you think of my house inside. Just follow me."

  Paddy dived, and Jerry dived after him. He followed Paddy in atone of the three doorways under water and up a smooth hall rightinto the biggest, nicest bedroom Jerry had ever seen in all hislife. He just gasped in sheer surprise. He couldn't do anythingelse. He couldn't find his tongue to say a word. Here he was inthis splendid great room up above the water, and he had been sosure that there wasn't any room at all! He just didn't know whatto make of it.

  Paddy's eyes twinkled. "Well," said he, "what do y
ou think ofit?"

  "I--I--think it is splendid, just perfectly splendid! But I don'tunderstand it at all, Cousin Paddy. I--I--Where is that greatpile of mud I helped you build in the middle?" Jerry looked asfoolish 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 asked.

  "Because I had to have something solid to rest my sticks againstwhile I was building my walls, of course," replied Paddy. When Igot the tops fastened together for a roof, they didn't need asupport any longer, and then I dug it away to make this room. Icouldn't have built such a big room any other way. I see youdon't know very much about house-building, Cousin Jerry."

  "I--I'm afraid I don't," confessed Jerry sadly.

  CHAPTER XIII The Queer Storehouse.

  Everybody knew that Paddy the Beaver was laying up a supply offood 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 asupply. He just goes out and gets it when he wants it, winter orsummer. 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 rightthere, but Paddy the Beaver cannot climb, and if he would justeat the bark that he can reach from the ground, it would takesuch a lot of trees to keep him filled up that he would soonspoil the Green Forest. You know, when the bark is taken off atree all the way around, the tree dies. That is because all thethings that a tree draws out of the ground to make it grow andkeep it alive are carried up from the roots in the sap, and thesap cannot go up the tree trunks and into the branches when thebark is taken off, because it is up the inside of the bark thatit travels. So when the bark is taken from a tree all the wayaround the trunk, the tree just starves to death.

  Now Paddy the Beaver loves the Green Forest as dearly as you andI do, and perhaps even a little more dearly. You see, it is hishome. Besides, Paddy never is wasteful. So he cuts down a tree sothat he can get all the bark instead of killing a whole lot oftrees 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 bestis from the aspen. When he cannot get that, he will eat the barkfrom the poplar, the alder, the willow, and even the birch. Buthe likes the aspen so much better that he will work very hard toget it. Perhaps it tastes better because he does have to work sohard for it.

  There were some aspen trees growing right on the edge of the pondPaddy had made in the Green Forest. These he cut just as he hadcut the trees for his dam. As soon as a tree was down, he wouldcut it into short lengths, and with these swim out to where thewater was deep, close to his new house. He took them one by oneand carried the first ones to the bottom, where he pushed theminto the mud just enough to hold them. Then, as fast as hebrought more, he piled them on the first ones. And so the pilegrew and grew.

  Jerry Muskrat, Peter Rabbit, Bobby Coon, and the other littlepeople of the Green Forest watched him with the greatest interestand curiosity. They couldn't quite make out what he was doing. Itwas almost as if he were building the foundation for anotherhouse.

  "What's he doing, Jerry?" demanded Peter, when he could keepstill no longer.

  "I don't exactly know," replied Jerry. "He said that he was goingto 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 quiteunderstand what he is taking it all out into the pond for. Ibelieve I'll go ask him."

  "Do, and then come tell us," begged Peter, who was growing socurious that he couldn't sit still.

  So Jerry swam out to where Paddy was so busy. "Is this your foodsupply, Cousin Paddy?" he asked.

  "Yes," replied Paddy, crawling up on the side of his house torest. "Yes, this is my food supply. Isn't it splendid?"

  "I guess it is," replied Jerry, trying to be polite, "though Ilike lily roots and clams better. But what are you going to dowith it? Where is your storehouse?"

  "This pond is my storehouse," replied Paddy. "I will make a greatpile right here close to my house, and the water will keep itnice and fresh all winter. When the pond is frozen over, all Iwill have to do is to slip out of one of my doorways down thereon the bottom, swim over here and get a stick, and fill mystomach. Isn't it handy?"

  CHAPTER XIV A Footprint in the Mud.

  Very early one morning Paddy the Beaver heard Sammy Jay making aterrible fuss over in the aspen trees on the edge of the pondPaddy had made in the Green Forest. Paddy couldn't see because hewas inside his house, and it has no window, but he could hear. Hewrinkled up his brows thoughtfully.

  "Seems to me that Sammy is very much excited this morning," saidhe, a way he has because he is so much alone. "When he screamslike that, Sammy is usually trying to do two things at once--maketrouble for somebody and keep somebody else out of trouble; andwhen 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 longway from being all good. Now, I should say from the sounds thatSammy has discovered Reddy Fox trying to steal up on someone overwhere my aspen trees are growing. Reddy is afraid of me, but Isuspect that he knows that Peter Rabbit has been hanging aroundhere a lot lately, watching me work, and he thinks perhaps he canwatch Peter. I shall have to whisper in one of Peter's long earsand tell him to watch out."

  After a while he heard Sammy Jay's voice growing fainter andfainter in the Green Forest. Finally he couldn't hear it at all."Whoever was here has gone away, and Sammy has followed just totorment them," thought Paddy. He was very busy making a bed. Heis very particular about his bed, is Paddy the Beaver. He makesit of fine splinters of wood which he splits off with thosewonderful great cutting teeth of his. This makes the driest kindof a bed. It requires a great deal of patience and work, butpatience is one of the first things a little Beaver learns, andhonest work well done is one of the greatest pleasures in theworld, as Paddy long ago found out for himself. So he kept atwork on his bed for some time after all was still outside.

  At last Paddy decided that he would go over to his aspen treesand look them over to decide which ones he would cut the nextnight. He slid down one of his long halls, out the doorway at thebottom on the pond, and then swam up to the surface, where hefloated for a few minutes with just his head out of water. Andall the time his eyes and nose and ears were busy looking,smelling, and listening for any sign of danger. Everything wasstill. Sure that he was quite safe, Paddy swam across to theplace where the aspen trees grew, and waddled out on the shore.

  Paddy looked this way and looked that way. He looked up in thetreetops, and he looked off up the hill, but most of all helooked at the ground. Yes, Sir, Paddy just studied the ground.You see, he hadn't forgotten the fuss Sammy Jay had been makingthere, and he was trying to find out what it was all about. Atfirst he didn't see anything unusual, but by and by he happenedto notice a little wet place, and right in the middle of it wassomething that made Paddy's eyes open wide. It was a footprint!Someone had carelessly stepped in the mud.

  "Ha!" exclaimed Paddy, and the hair on his back lifted ever solittle, and for a minute he had a prickly feeling all over. Thefootprint was very much like that of Reddy Fox, only it waslarger.

  "Ha!" said Paddy again. "That certainly is the foot print of OldMan Coyote! I see I have got to watch out more sharply than I hadthought for. All right, Mr. Coyote; now that I know you areabout, you'll have to be smarter than I think you are to catchme. You certainly will be back here tonight looking for me, so Ithink I'll do my cutting right now in the daytime."

  CHAPTER 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 toput in his food pile in the pond. As he worked, Paddy was doing alot of thinking about the footprint of Old Man Coyote in a littlepatch of mud, for he knew that meant that Old Man Coyote haddiscovered his po
nd, and would be hanging around, hoping to catchPaddy off his guard. Paddy knew it just as well as if Old ManCoyote had told him so. That was why he was at work cutting his foodsupply in the daytime. Usually he works at night, and he knewthat Old Man Coyote knew it.

  "He'll try to catch me then," thought Paddy, "so I'll do my workingon land now and fool him."

  The tree he was cutting began to sway and crack. Paddy cut outOne more big chip, then hurried away to a safe place while thetree 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 usualthis morning," said Paddy. "Don't you want to sit up in this treewhile I cut it down?"

  Sammy grew black in the face with anger, for he knew that Paddywas laughing at him. You remember how only a few days before hehad been so intent on calling Paddy bad names that he actuallyhadn't noticed that Paddy was cutting the very tree in which hewas sitting, and so when it fell he had had a terrible fright.

  "You think you are very smart, Mr. Beaver, but you'll thinkdifferently one of these fine days!" screamed Sammy. "If you knewwhat I know, you wouldn't be so well satisfied with yourself."

  "What do you know?" asked Paddy, pretending to be very muchalarmed.

  "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'llnever steal another tree from our Green Forest. Somebody is goingto catch you, and it isn't Farmer Brown's boy either!"

  Paddy pretended to be terribly frightened. "Oh, who is it? Pleasetell me, Mr. Jay," he begged.