The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver | Page 5

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