"You said I had warned Paddy that you were trying to catch him
and that was why you failed to find him at work at night, and all
the time you had warned him yourself!" screamed Sammy. "I used to
think that you were smart, but I know better now. Paddy is twice
as smart as you are.
"Mr. Coyote is every so sly;
Mr. Coyote is clever and spry;
If you believe all you hear.
Mr. Coyote is naught of the kind;
Mr. Coyote is stupid and blind;
He can't catch a flea on his ear."
Paddy the Beaver laughed till the tears came at Sammy's foolish
verse, but it made Old Man Coyote angrier than ever. He was angry
with Paddy for escaping from him, and he was angry with Sammy,
terribly angry, and the worst of it was he couldn't catch either
one, for one was at home in the water and the other was at home
in the air and he couldn't follow in either place. Finally he saw
it was of no use to stay there to be laughed at, so, muttering
and grumbling, he started for the Green Meadows.
As soon as he was out of sight Paddy turned to Sammy Jay.
"Mr. Jay," said he, knowing how it pleased Sammy to be called
mister. "Mr. Jay, you have done me a mighty good turn today, and
I am not going to forget it. You can call me what you please and
scream at me all you please, but you won't get any satisfaction
out of it, because I simply won't get angry. I will say to
myself, 'Mr. Jay saved my life the other day,' and then I won't
mind your tongue."
Now this made Sammy feel very proud and very happy. You know it
is very seldom that he hears anything nice said of him. He flew
down on the stump of one of the trees Paddy had cut. "Let's be
friends," said he.
"With all my heart!" replied Paddy.
CHAPTER XX Sammy Jay Offers To Help Paddy.
Paddy sat looking thoughtfully at the aspen trees he would have
to cut to complete his store of food for the winter. All those
near the edge of his pond had been cut. The others were scattered
about some little distance away. "I don't know," said Paddy out
loud. "I don't know."
"What don't you know?" asked Sammy Jay, who, now that he and
Paddy had become friends, was very much interested in what Paddy
was doing.
"Why," replied Paddy, "I don't know just how I am going to get
those trees. Now that Old Man Coyote is watching for me, it isn't
safe for me to go very far from my pond. I suppose I could dig a
canal up to some of the nearest trees and then float them down to
the pond, but it is hard to work and keep watch for enemies at
the same time. I guess I'll have to be content with some of these
alders growing close to the water, but he bark of aspens is so
much better that I--I wish I could get them."
"What's a canal?" asked Sammy abruptly.
"A canal? Why a canal is a kind of ditch in which water can run,"
replied Paddy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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