what a bad temper he has."

Sammy Jay glared down at Peter. Then he glared at Paddy. And all the
time he still shrieked "Thief!" as hard as ever he could. Paddy kept
right on working, paying no attention to Sammy. This made Sammy more
angry than ever. He kept coming nearer and nearer until at last he
was in the very tree that Paddy happened to be cutting. Paddy's
eyes twinkled.

"I'm no thief!" he exclaimed suddenly.

"You are! You are! Thief! Thief!" shrieked Sammy. "You're stealing
our trees!"

"They're not your trees," retorted Paddy. "They belong to the Green
Forest, and the Green Forest belongs to all who love it, and we all have
a perfect right to take what we need from it. I need these trees, and
I've just as much right to take them as you have to take the fat acorns
that drop in the fall."

"No such thing!" screamed Sammy. You know he can't talk without
screaming, and the more excited he gets, the louder he screams. "No such
thing! Acorns are food. They are meant to eat. I have to have them to
live. But you are cutting down whole trees. You are spoiling the Green
Forest. You don't belong here. Nobody invited you, and nobody wants you.
You're a thief!"

Then up spoke Jerry Muskrat, who, you know, is cousin to Paddy
the Beaver.

"Don't you mind him," said he, pointing at Sammy Jay. "Nobody does.
He's the greatest trouble-maker in the Green Forest or on the Green
Meadows. He would steal from his own relatives. Don't mind what he
says, Cousin Paddy."

Now all this time Paddy had been working away just as if no one was
around. Just as Jerry stopped speaking, Paddy thumped the ground with
his tail, which is his way of warning people to watch out, and suddenly
scurried away as fast as he could run. Sammy Jay was so surprised that
he couldn't find his tongue for a minute, and he didn't notice anything
peculiar about that tree. Then suddenly he felt himself falling. With a
frightened scream, he spread his wings to fly, but branches of the tree
swept him down with them right into the Laughing Brook.

You see while Sammy had been speaking his mind, Paddy the Beaver had cut
down the very tree in which he was sitting.

Sammy wasn't hurt, but he was wet and muddy and terribly
frightened,--the most miserable looking Jay that ever was seen.
It was too much for all 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