"'Why,' thought he, 'if I make a pond at the place nearest to my food
trees, I can carry the water to the trees instead of the trees to the
water; and that will be easier and ever so much safer as well.'

"So Mr. Beaver built a dam at just the right place, while all the
other little people laughed at him and made fun of him for working so
hard. Just as he had thought it would do, the dam made a pond, and the
pond grew bigger and bigger, until it reached the very place where his
food trees grew. Mr. Beaver built him a big, comfortable house out in
the pond, and then he went to work as hard as ever he could to cut
down trees and then cut them up into the right sized pieces to store
away in his big food pile for the winter.

"Now cutting down trees is hard work. Yes, Siree, cutting down trees
is the hardest kind of hard work. Mr. Beaver had to sit up on his hind
legs to do it, and his legs grew very, very tired. In those days he
had a tail very much like the tail of Jerry Muskrat. It was very
useful when he was swimming, but it was of no use at all at any other
time. Sometimes he tried to brace himself with it--when he was
sitting up to cut trees, and found it of no help. But he didn't
complain; he just kept right on working, and only stopped to rest when
his legs ached so that he had to.

"He was working just as usual one day when Old Mother Nature came
along to see how he was getting on. She saw the new dam and the new
pond, and she asked Mr. Beaver who had made them. He told her that he
had and explained why. Old Mother Nature was greatly pleased, but she
didn't say so. She just passed the time of day with him and then sat
down to watch him cut a tree. She saw him try to brace himself with
his useless tail, and she saw him stop to rest his tired legs.

"'That looks to me like pretty hard work,' said Old Mother Nature.

"'So it is,' replied Mr. Beaver, stretching first one leg and then
another. 'But things worth having are worth working for,' and with
that he began cutting again.

"'You ought to have something to sit on,' said Old Mother Nature, her
eyes twinkling.

"Mr. Beaver grinned. 'It would be very nice,' he confessed, 'but I
never waste time wishing for things I haven't got and can't get,' and
went right on cutting.

"The next morning when he awoke, he had the greatest surprise of his
life. He had a new tail! It was broad and thick and flat. It wasn't
like any tail he had ever seen or heard of. At first h