STORY I

TOODLE AND NOODLE FLAT-TAIL

Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, when every one was younger than he is now, but when the sun shone just as brightly and the wind blew just as sweetly, there lived in a curious little house, built right in the middle of a pond of water, a family of animals called beavers. They looked something like Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the muskrat lady who took care of Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, only these beavers were larger than Nurse Jane, and they had long, broad, flat tails, which they could fold up under themselves and sit on, just like a stool. That's why I have named them "Flat-tail," and I'm going to tell you some stories about these beavers, who are really very wonderful animals. They are covered with soft fur.

In the Flat-tail family there was, of course, Mamma and Papa Flat-tail, and there was also dear old Grandpa Whackum. Grandpa had such a funny name, not because he was fond of whacking the little beavers, but because, when there was any danger, the old gentleman beaver would whack or pound his broad, flat tail on the ground two or three times.

That made a sound like a drum, and whenever the other beavers heard it they would rush for the pond, dive down in it, swim to the front door of their house, the door being under water, and, once inside, they would be safe. So that is why the oldest beaver of them all was called Grandpa Whackum.

Well, then, to begin on the story—

Oh, dear me! I beg your pardon. I'm forgetting the most important part. Toodle and Noodle Flat-tail, to be sure! Toodle and Noodle were the two small boy beavers of the family, and without them and the funny things they did, and dangers they got into, and out of again, there would be very few stories to tell. Toodle wore a spotted suit of clothes, and Noodle one that was striped. Now you can tell who is which.

Now, then, to start all over again.

Toodle Flat-tail, the little boy-beaver, came out of the under-water door of his home one day, dived down under the pond, holding his breath so the water would not get in his nose, and swam to shore. Then he sat up on his broad, flat tail and looked back toward his house.

"I wonder where Noodle is?" spoke Toodle, as he turned his head from side to side. "He said he'd come right out and play. What can be keeping him?"

But Noodle, the brother of Toodle, was not in sight.

There were other beaver children, and some grown-up ones, to be seen about the pond. Some were putting mud-plaster on their houses, others were cutting down trees with their four strong, orange-colored front teeth, and the nice green bark of these trees would be eaten by the beavers during the long, cold winter. But Noodle Flat-tail was not with the others.

"I guess he must be playing a trick on me," said Toodle, as he picked up a piece of a birch twig in his front paw and began chewing the soft bark. A beaver's front paw, you know, is almost like a monkey's, and he can hold things in it almost as well as you can in your hand. His hind feet, though, are made for swimming and are webbed like a duck's.

All of a sudden Toodle felt some one pushing him from behind, and before he knew what had happened he went kerflop! off the little hill on which he was sitting, into the water.

"Wow!" cried Toodle. "Who did that, I wonder? If it was a bad fox, or a lynx, or some animal that wants to eat me, I'd better stay under water, or go back home."

But Toodle Flat-tail was a brave little chap and he wanted to see who it was that had pushed him into the water. So he swam around a little, and then he carefully stuck his nose up, and then his eyes, and then, sitting in the same place where he had been sitting, he saw his brother Noodle. Noodle was laughing as hard as he could laugh.

"Oh, ho! So it was you who pushed me in, eh?" cried Toodle. "Well, I'll fix you for that!"

Out of the water he came with a rush and raced after Noodle. But Noodle waddled away and soon the two little beaver boys were having a regular game of tag.

Finally Toodle caught Noodle and pushed him into the water. But do you s'pose Noodle minded that? Not a bit of it, for he was more at home in the water than on land. In fact beavers have to go quite slowly on land, and they walk with a waddle like a duck, but in the water they can swim so fast that scarcely anything can catch them.

Toodle and Noodle splashed each other about in the pond, throwing water all over themselves, wrestling, playing tag and hide-and-go-seek, and when they were tired they climbed out on the bank and rested.

They looked at the other beavers working away. Some of the older ones were mending a hole in the dam. The beaver dam, you know, is just like a time when it rains and the gutter in front of your house fills with water. Then if your mamma lets you, you take some sticks and stones and mud, and pile it in the gutter so the water can't run down. This is called a dam, and it holds back the water, making it deeper back of the dam and shallow in front.

Beavers do the same thing. They build a dam across a little brook, so as to make a deep pond, for beavers have to have deep water to live in, and build their houses in; and in this pond, back of the dam, they also keep their food for the winter, big pieces of trees with soft bark on. The beaver dam is made of tree trunks and branches, sticks, mud, grass, stones—in fact, anything the beavers can get. When the dam breaks all the beavers work together to mend it.

So Toodle and Noodle watched their papa and mamma and the other big beaver folk mending the hole in the dam. A bad bear had clawed the hole there, hoping that all the water would run out of the pond so he could catch and eat the beavers. But the bear's plan did not work, I'm glad to say.

"I hope I didn't hurt you when I crawled up behind you and pushed you in the water," said Noodle to his brother most politely.

"Oh, no," said Toodle. "I liked it. First, though, I thought it was a fox after me."

"Ho! If it had been a fox!" exclaimed Noodle, "I guess you would have heard Grandpa Whackum pounding on the ground with his big tail to tell us there was danger."

"Yes, I guess we would," said Toodle. "Oh, Noodle!" he cried suddenly, "let's go over where those nice, juicy aspen trees grow, and get some bark off them. I'm just hungry for an aspen-bark ice cream cone."

"But papa said we weren't to go there without him," objected Noodle. "You know he said there was an old wolf not far from there, and he might get us."

"Oh, I don't believe there is any danger just now," said Toodle. "It's daylight. Besides, Grandpa Whackum can see that far and he'll bang with his tail if there's any danger. Come on!"

So the two little beaver boys went over to where some aspen and willow trees grew, though it was not just exactly right. They swam through the water and then came out and waddled over the land. Soon they were in the grove of trees.

"You take a willow tree and I'll take an aspen," said Toodle, "and after we each cut off a nice piece with the juicy bark on we'll take them home and divide them."

So, sitting up on their big tails, which were like stools to them, the little beaver boys began to gnaw away. A beaver's gnawing teeth are as good to cut with as a carpenter's chisel. There are four gnawing teeth, and the funny part of it is that they are colored yellow, like an orange.

Well, Toodle and Noodle were gnawing away, and they had almost cut down two little trees when, all of a sudden they heard:

"Whack! Whack! Thud! Thud!"

"Hark! What's that?" cried Toodle.

"It's Grandpa Whackum, telling us there's danger!" shouted Noodle. "Run, Toodle! Run!"

Away they ran for the water, and only just in time, for the bad old wolf sprang after them. But he did not get either of them, for Toodle and Noodle slipped into the water just in time and swam safely home.

From where he was working Grandpa Whackum had seen the wolf stealing up on the two little chaps and had warned them. So the wolf didn't have a beaver dinner that day, and Papa Flat-tail made Toodle and Noodle stay in the house the rest of the afternoon for not minding him.

But they were not always like that, and so in the next story, if the stove poker doesn't take the teakettle out to the moving picture show, I'll tell you about Toodle Flat-tail cutting down a tree.