addy the beaver lives in the great woods far from the dwelling-place of man. often and often had tommy wished that paddy lived in the green forest near his home that he might make his acquaintance; for he had read many wonderful things about paddy, and they were hard to believe.
“if i could see ’em for myself, just see ’em with my own eyes i could believe; but so many things are written that are not true that a feller doesn’t know what to believe and what not to. a feller ought to see things to know that they are so,” said tommy, as he strolled down towards the big gray stone that overlooked the green meadows.
“’course it’s easy enough to believe that beavers build houses. muskrats do that. i know all about muskrats, and i s’pose a beaver’s house is about the same thing as a muskrat’s, only bigger and better; but how any animal can cut down a big tree, or build a dam, or dig a regular canal is more than i can understand without seeing for myself. i wish——”
tommy didn’t finish his wish. i suspect he was going to wish that he could go into the great woods and hunt for paddy the beaver. but he didn’t finish his wish, because just then a new thought popped into his head. you know how it is with thoughts. they just pop out from nowhere in the queerest way. it was so now with tommy. he suddenly thought of the wishing-stone, the great gray stone just ahead of him, and he wondered, if he should sit down on it, if he could wish himself into a beaver. always before, when he had wished himself into an animal or a bird, it was one of those with which he was familiar and had seen. this case was different. there were no beavers anywhere near where tommy lived, and so he was a little doubtful. if he could wish himself into a beaver, why, he could wish himself into anything—a lion, or an elephant, or anything else—and learn about all the animals, no matter where they lived!
“gee!” exclaimed tommy, and there was a queer little catch in his breath,[35] because, you know, it was such a big idea. he stood still and slowly rubbed the bare toes of one foot up and down the other bare brown leg. “gee!” he exclaimed again, and stared very hard at the wishing-stone. “’twon’t do any harm to try it, anyway,” he added.
so he walked over to the wishing-stone and sat down. with his chin in his hands and his elbows on his knees he stared over at the green forest and tried to imagine that it was the great woods, where the only human beings ever seen were hunters, or trappers, or lumbermen, and where bears, and deer, and moose, and wolves lived, and where beavers built their homes, and made their ponds, and lived their lives far from the homes of men. as he stared, the green forest seemed to change to[36] the great woods. “i wish,” said he, slowly and dreamily, “i wish that i were a beaver.”
he was no longer sitting on the wishing-stone. he was a young beaver with a waterproof fur coat, a broad flat tail and great chisel-like teeth in the front of his jaws, his tools. his home was in the heart of the great woods, where a broad, shallow brook sparkled and dimpled, and the sun, breaking through the tree-tops, kissed its ripples. in places it flowed swiftly, dancing and singing over stones and pebbles. again it lingered in deep dark cool holes where the trout lay. farther on, it loafed lazily through wild meadows where the deer delighted to come. but where tommy was, it rested in little ponds, quiet, peaceful, in a dreamy stillness,[37] where the very spirit of peace and happiness and contentment seemed to brood.
on one side of one of these little ponds was the house, a great house of sticks bound together with mud and turf, the house in which tommy lived with others of his family. it was quite the finest beaver-house in all that region. but tommy didn’t think anything about that. it was summer now, the season of play, of having a good time without thought of work. it was the season of visiting and of exploration. in company with some of his relatives he made long journeys up and down the brook, and even across to other brooks on some of which were other beaver colonies and on some of which were no signs that beavers ever had worked there.
but when summer began to wane, tommy found that life was not all a lazy holiday and that he was expected to work. the home settlement was rather crowded. there was danger that the food supply would not be sufficient for so many hungry beavers.
so it was decided to establish a new settlement on one of the brooks which they had visited in their summer journey, and tommy was one of a little company which, under the leadership of a wise old beaver, started forth on a still night to found the new colony. he led the way straight to one of the brooks on the banks of which grew many aspen trees, for you must know that the favorite food of beavers is the bark of aspens and poplars. it was very clear that this wise old leader had taken note during the summer of those trees and of the brook itself, for the very night of their arrival he chose a certain place in the brook and announced that there they would build their dam.
“isn’t it a great deal of work to build a dam?” asked tommy, who knew nothing about dam-building, the dam at his old home having been built long before his time.
“it is. yes, indeed, it certainly is,” replied an old beaver. “you’ll find it so before we get this dam built.”
“then what’s the use of building it?” asked tommy. “i don’t see the use of a dam here anyway. there are places where the banks are steep enough and the water deep enough for splendid[40] holes in which to live. then all we’ve got to do is to go cut a tree when we are hungry. i’m sure i, for one, would much rather swim around and have a good time.”
the other looked at him out of eyes that twinkled, and yet in a way to make tommy feel uncomfortable. “you are young,” said he, “and the prattle of young tongues is heedless. what would you do for food in winter when the brook is frozen? the young think only of to-day and the good times of to-day, and forget to prepare for the future. when you have learned to work, you will find that there is in life no pleasure so great as the pleasure of work well done. now suppose you let us see what those teeth of yours are good for, and help cut these alders and[41] haul them over to the place where the dam is to be.”
tommy had no reply ready, and so he set to work cutting young alders and willows as the rest were doing. these were floated or dragged down to the place chosen for the dam, where the water was very shallow, and were laid side by side with the big ends pointing up stream. turf, and stones, and mud were piled on the brushy ends to keep them in place. so the foundations of the dam were laid from bank to bank. then more poles were laid on top and more turf and mud. short sticks were wedged in between and helped to hold the long sticks in place. tommy grew tired of working, but no one else stopped and he was ashamed to.
one of his companions cut a big poplar and others helped him trim off the branches. this was for food; and when the branches and trunk had been stripped of bark, they were floated down to the new dam and worked into it, the trunk being cut into lengths which could be managed easily. thus nothing went to waste.
so all through the stilly night they worked, and, when the day broke, they sought the deep water and certain holes under the banks wherein to rest. but before he left the dam, the wise old leader examined the work all over to make sure that it was right.
when the first shadows crept forth late the next afternoon, the old leader was the first back on the work. one by one the others joined him, and another night of labor had begun. some cut trees and saplings, some hauled them to the dam, and some dug up turf and mud and piled it on the dam. there was no talking. everybody was too busy to talk.
most of tommy’s companions had helped build dams before and knew just what to do. tommy asked no questions, but did as the others did. slowly the dam grew higher, and tommy noticed that the brook was spreading out into a pool; for the water came down faster than it could work its way through that pile of poles and brush. twigs, and leaves, and grass floated down from the places higher up where the beavers were at work, and, when these reached the dam, they were carried in amongst the sticks by the water and lodged there,[44] helping to fill up the holes and hold the water back.
as night after night the dam grew higher and the pool behind it grew broader and deeper, tommy began to take pride in his work. he no longer thought of play but was as eager as the others to complete the dam. the stars looked down from the soft sky and twinkled as they saw the busy workers.
at last the dam was completed, for the time being at least. very thoroughly the wise old leader went all over it, inspecting it from end to end; and when he was satisfied, he led his band to one side of the little pond formed by the dam, and there he chose a site for the house wherein they would spend the winter.
first a platform of sticks, and mud, and turf was built until it was a few inches above the water. then began the raising of the walls, a mass of brush and turf until the walls were three feet thick and so solid that jack frost would find it quite useless to try to get inside. the roof was in the shape of a rough dome and at the top was comparatively thin; here little or no mud was used, so that there were tiny air-holes, for, like all other warm-blooded animals, a beaver must breathe.
within, was a comfortable room of which the platform was the floor. from this, two burrows, or tunnels, led down on the deep-water side, one of these being on a gradual incline, that food sticks might the easier be dragged in. the entrances to both were at the very bottom of the pond, where there would be[46] no danger of them being closed by ice when the pond should freeze in winter. these were the only entrances, so that no foe could reach them unless he were able to swim under water, and there were no such swimmers whom they had cause to fear.
when the house was finished, tommy thought that their labors would be at an end; and he was almost sorry, for he had learned to love work. but no sooner was the house completed than all the beavers went lumbering. yes, sir, that is just what they did. they went lumbering just as men do, only they cut the trees for food instead of for boards.
they began at the edge of a little grove of aspens to which the pond now nearly extended. sitting on his haunches with his broad tail for a seat or a prop, as his fancy pleased, each little woodsman grasped the tree with his hands and bit into the trunk, a bite above and a bite below, and then with his teeth pried out the chip between the two bites, exactly as a man with an ax would cut. it was slow hard work cutting out a chip at a time in this way, but sooner or later the tree would begin to sway. a bite or two more, and it would begin to topple over.
then the little workman would thud the ground sharply with his tail to warn his neighbors to get out of the way, and he himself would scamper to a place of safety while the tree came crashing down. tommy dearly loved to see and hear those trees come crashing to the ground.
no sooner was a tree down than they trimmed off the branches and cut the trunk into short lengths. these logs they rolled into the water, where, with the larger branches, they were floated out to deep water close by the house and there sunk to the bottom. what for? tommy didn’t have to be told. this was the beginning of their food-pile for the winter.
so the days slipped away and the great food-pile grew in the pond. with such busy workers it did not take long to cut all the trees close by the pond. the farther away from the water they got, the greater the labor of dragging and rolling the logs, and also the greater danger from lurking enemies. in the water they felt wholly safe, but on land they had to be always on the watch for wolves, and bears, and lynxes.
when they had reached the limit of safety, the wise old leader called a halt to tree cutting and set them all to digging. and what do you think it was they were digging? why, a canal! it was easier and safer to lead the water from the pond to the place where the trees grew than to get the logs over land to the pond. so they dug a ditch, or canal, about two and a half feet wide and a foot and a half deep, piling the mud up on the banks, until at last it reached the place where they could cut the trees, and roll the logs into the canal, and so float them out to the pond. then the cutting began again.
tommy was happy. never had he been more happy. there was something wonderfully satisfying in just looking at the results of their labor and in feeling that he had had a part in it all. yet his life was not all labor without excitement. indeed, it was far from it. had tommy the beaver been able to remember what as tommy the boy he had read, he would have felt that he was just like those hardy pioneers who built their homes in the wilderness.
always, in that great still wilderness, death with padded feet and cruel teeth and hungry eyes sought to steal upon the beavers. so always as they worked, especially when on the land, they were prepared to rush for safety at the first warning. never for a minute did they cease to keep guard, testing every breath of air with wonderfully sensitive noses, and listening with hardly less wonderful ears. on nose and ears the safety of a beaver almost wholly depends, his eyes being rather weak.
once tommy stopped in his labor of cutting a big tree so that he might rest for a minute or two. on the very edge of the little clearing they had made, the moonlight fell on an old weather-gray log. tommy stared at it a moment, then resumed his work. a few minutes later he chanced to look at it again. somehow it seemed nearer than before. he stared long and hard, but it lay as motionless as a log should. once more he resumed his work, but hardly had he done so when there was the warning thud of a neighbor’s tail. instantly tommy scrambled for the water; and even as he did so, he caught a glimpse of that gray old log coming to life and[52] leaping toward him. the instant he reached the water, he dived.
“what was it?” he whispered tremulously when, in the safety of the house, he touched noses with one of his neighbors.
“tufty the lynx,” was the reply. “i smelled him and gave the warning. i guess it was lucky for you that i did.”
“i guess it was,” returned tommy, with a shiver.
another time, a huge black form sprang from the blacker shadows and caught one of the workers. it was a bear. sometimes there would be three or four alarms in a night. so tommy learned that the harvesting of the food supply was the most dangerous labor of all, for it took him farthest from the safety of the water.
at last this work was completed, and tommy wondered if now they were to rest and idle away their time. but he did not have to wonder long. the old leader was not yet content, but must have the pond deepened all along the foot of the dam and around the entrances to the house. so now they once more turned to digging, this time under water, bringing the mud up to put on the dam or the house, some working on one and some on the other.
the nights grew crisp and there was a hint of frost. it was then that they turned all their attention to the house, plastering it all over with mud save at the very top, where the air-holes were. so thick did they lay it on that only here and there did the end of a stick project. then came a night which made a thin sheet of ice over the pond and froze the mud-plaster of the house. the cold increased. the ice grew thicker and the walls of the house so hard that not even the powerful claws of a bear could tear them open. it was for this that that last coating of mud had been put on.
the nights of labor were over at last. there was nothing to do now but sleep on the soft beds of grass or of thin splinters of wood, for some had preferred to make beds of this latter material. for exercise they swam in the quiet waters under the ice. when they were hungry, they slipped down through the water tunnel and out into the pond, swam to the food-pile, got a stick, and took it back to the house, where they gnawed the bark off in comfort and at their ease, afterward carrying the bare stick down to the dam for use in making repairs.
once they discovered that the water was rapidly lowering. this meant a break in the dam. a trapper had cut a hole in it and cunningly placed a trap there. but the wise old leader knew all about traps, and the breach was repaired without harm to any one. sometimes a lynx or a wolf would come across the ice and prowl around the house, sniffing hungrily as the smell of beaver came out through the tiny air-holes in the roof. but the thick walls were like rock, and tommy and his companions never even knew of these hungry prowlers. peace, safety, and contentment reigned under the ice of the beaver-pond.
but at last there came a day when a great noise reverberated under the ice.[56] they knew not what it meant and lay shivering with fear. a long time they lay even after it had ceased. then one of the boldest went for a stick from the food-pile. he did not return. another went and he did not return. finally tommy went, for he was hungry. when he reached the food-pile, he found that it had been fenced in with stout poles driven down into the mud through holes cut in the ice. it was the cutting of these holes that had made the dreadful noise, though tommy didn’t know it.
around the food-pile he swam until at last he found an opening between the poles of the fence. he hesitated. then because he was very hungry, he entered. hardly was he inside when another pole was thrust down through a hole behind him, and he was a prisoner under the ice inside that hateful fence.
now a beaver must have air, and there was no air there and no way of getting any. up above on the ice an indian squatted. he knew just what was happening down below and he grinned. beside him lay the two beavers who had preceded tommy, drowned. now tommy was drowning. his lungs felt as if they would burst. dully he realized that this was the end. as long as he could, he held his breath and then—tommy came to himself with a frightened jump.
he was sitting on the old wishing-stone, and before him stretched the green meadows, joyous with happy life. he wasn’t a beaver at all, but he knew that he had been a beaver, that he had lived the life of paddy the beaver. he could remember every detail of it, and he shuddered as he thought of those last dreadful minutes at the food-pile when he had felt himself drowning helplessly. then the wonder of what he had learned grew upon him.
“why,” he exclaimed, “a beaver is an engineer, a lumberman, a dredger, a builder, and a mason! he’s wonderful. he’s the most wonderful animal in all the world!” his face clouded. “why can’t people leave him alone?” he exploded. “a man that will trap and kill one of those little chaps is worse than a lynx or a wolf. yes, sir, that’s what he is! those creatures kill to eat, but man kills just for the few dollars paddy’s fur coat will bring. when i grow up, i’m going to do something to stop trapping and killing. yes, sir, that’s what i’m going to do!”
tommy got up and stretched. then he started for home, and there was a thoughtful look on his freckled face. “gee!” he exclaimed, “i’ve learned a pile this time. i didn’t know there was so much pleasure in just work before. i guess i won’t complain any more over what i have to do. i—i’m mighty glad i was a beaver for a little while, just for that.”
and then, whistling, tommy headed straight for the wood-pile and his ax. he had work to do, and he was glad of it.
