The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver | Page 3

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