If Brownie Beaver and his friends had neglected their
dam, they would have waked up some day and found that
their pond was empty; and without any water to hide
their doorways they would have been safe no longer.
They would have had no place, either, to store their
winter’s food. For they were in the habit
of cutting down trees and saving the bark and branches
too, in order to have plenty to eat when cold weather
came and the ice closed their pond.
Some of their food they carried into their houses
through a straight hall which was made for that very
purpose. And some of the branches they fastened
under water, near the dam. It was just like putting
green things into a refrigerator, so they will keep.
Now you see why Brownie Beaver would no more have
thought of building his house on dry land than you
would think of building one in a pond. Everybody
likes his own way best. And it never once occurred
to Brownie Beaver that his way was the least bit strange.
Perhaps it was because his family had always lived
in that fashion.
HOW TO FELL A TREE
Brownie Beaver could do many things that other forest-people
(except his own relations) were not able to do at
all. For instance, cutting down a tree was something
that nobody but one of the Beaver family would think
of attempting. But as for Brownie Beaver—if
he ever saw a tree that he wanted to cut down he set
to work at once, without even going home to get any
tools. And the reason for that was that he always
had his tools with him. For strange as it may
seem, he used his teeth to do all his wood-cutting.
The first thing to be done when you set out to fell
a tree with your teeth is to strip off the bark around
the bottom of the trunk, so that a white band encircles
it. At least, that was the way Brownie Beaver
always began. And no doubt he knew what he was
about.
After he had removed the band of bark Brownie began
to gnaw away chips of wood, where the white showed.
And as he gnawed, he slowly sidled round and round
the tree, until at last only the heart of the tree
was left to keep the tree from toppling over.
Then Brownie Beaver would stop his gnawing and look
all about, to pick out a place where he wanted the
tree to fall. And as soon as Brownie had made
up his mind about that, he quickly gnawed a few more
chips out of the heart of the tree on the side toward
the spot where he intended it to come toppling down
upon the ground.
Brownie Beaver would not have to gnaw long before
the tree would begin to lean. All the time it
leaned more and more. And the further over it
sagged, the faster it tipped. Luckily, Brownie
Beaver always knew just the right moment to jump out
of the way before the tree fell.
If you had ever seen him you might have thought he
was frightened, because he never failed to run away
and hide as the tree crashed down with a sound almost
like thunder.
