Produced by Phil McLaury, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks

and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

[Illustration: Mr. Frog Had Been Hiding Among the Lily-pads]

THE TALE OF BROWNIE BEAVER

BY

ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

I A QUEER PLACE TO LIVE

II HOW TO FELL A TREE

III STICKS AND MUD

IV THE FRESHET

V BROWNIE SAVES THE DAM

VI A HAPPY THOUGHT

VII A NEWFANGLED NEWSPAPER

VIII MR. CROW IS UPSET

IX THE SIGN ON THE TREE

X A HOLIDAY

XI BAD NEWS

XII GRANDADDY BEAVER THINKS

XIII A LUCKY FIND

XIV WAS IT A GUN?

XV JASPER JAY'S STORY

XVI LOOKING PLEASANT

XVII BROWNIE ESCAPES

XVIII MR. FROG'S QUESTION

XIX THE NEW SUIT

I

A QUEER PLACE TO LIVE

The village near one end of Pleasant Valley where Farmer Green oftenwent to sell butter and eggs was not the only village to be seen fromBlue Mountain. There was another which Farmer Green seldom visited,because it lay beyond the mountain and was a long distance from hishouse. Though he owned the land where it stood, those that lived therethought they had every right to stay there as long as they pleased,without being disturbed.

It was in this village that Brownie Beaver and his neighbors lived. Itwas a different sort of town, too, from the one where Farmer Greenwent each week. Over beyond Blue Mountain all the houses were built ina pond. And all their doors were under water. But nobody minded thatbecause—like Brownie Beaver—everybody that dwelt there was a fineswimmer.

Years and years before Brownie's time his forefathers had come there,and finding that there were many trees in the neighborhood with thesort of bark they liked to eat—such as poplars, willows and boxelders—they had decided that it was a good place to live. There was asmall stream, too, which was really the beginning of Swift River. Andby damming it those old settlers made a pond in which they could buildtheir houses.

They had ideas of their own as to what a house should be like—andvery good ideas they were—though you, perhaps, might not care forthem at all. They wanted their houses to be surrounded by water,because they thought they were safer when built in that manner. Andthey always insisted that a door leading into a house should be farbeneath the surface of the water, for they believed that that made ahouse safer too.

To you such an idea may seem very strange. But if you were chased byan enemy you might be glad to be able to swim under water, down to thebottom of a pond, and slip inside a door which led to a winding hall,which in its turn led upwards into your house.

Of course, your enemy might be able to swim as well as you. But maybehe would think twice—or even three times—before he went prowlingthrough your crooked hall. For if you had enormous, strong, sharpteeth—with which you could gnaw right through a tree—he would notcare to have you seize him as he poked his head around a corner in adark passage of a strange house.

It was in a house of that kind that Brownie Beaver lived. And he builtit himself, because he

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