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A frog croaked noisily outside the
beaver’s lodge. The loch, surrounded by reeds and cattails, was still,
aside from a few small ripples caused by the gentle breeze. "I can’t
sleep," complained Digger. "That frog has been croaking for hours. Flap,
go out there and make it stop."
"Why should I do that? You do it
yourself. I’m comfortable right now and don’t want to go outside," Flap
replied.
"I’ll do it," sighed Castor. He
slipped through the hole into the icy water and swam over to the frog. "Do
you mind keeping it down? We’re trying to sleep in there," he said,
pointing to the lodge of sticks and mud. The frog croaked and leapt away.
"Good riddance."
The sun was shining high in the sky.
"Hey, chaps, come outside for a while. It’s a lovely day. The cattails are
golden brown and the grass is ever so pretty," Castor suggested.
Digger and Flap came swimming out
and climbed on top of the lodge next to Castor. "You’re right, it’s a
lovely day. Perhaps today’s a good day to make repairs on the lodge. I
noticed a small leak this morning," Digger announced.
"Sounds good to me. Let’s go and get
some wood. I saw a bunch of new saplings over on the other side of the
loch the other day," Flap said.
The three beavers swam away to find
the wood. "Here we are," Castor said. "I’ll gnaw this tree down. You two
go and find us some twigs."
He had just finished with the tree
when Flap and Digger came running towards him. "It’s an eagle!" Digger
shouted. "He’s after a meal and I don’t want it to be me."
"Quiet chaps. Don’t make a sound. He
might not see us. We’re safe hiding in these reeds," Castor urged.
Just then a frog began to croak.
CROAK! CROAK! CROAK!
"Not you again," Castor shouted,
seeing the same frog that had been outside their lodge that morning.
The eagle, hearing the frog, glided
closer to the ground. "Quick, back into the water," Digger cried. The
three beavers slipped into the cold loch.
"What about the tree? We need the
wood," Flap reminded them.
"We’ll have to get it later. I’m not
going out there with that huge bird flying around," Digger said. The
beavers swam back to the lodge, went inside and stayed in there the rest
of the day.
When morning came, rays of sunlight
shone through a hole in the lodge. "See, we do have a leak. We’d better do
those repairs today, no matter what, or soon the whole lodge will
collapse," Flap said.
"We’ll have to go to another place
for wood. It’s not safe over on the other side of the loch. It’s much too
close to the hills and the eagle," Castor added.
The beavers climbed out of the water
and headed into the woods. An otter and a mouse were standing in the
grass, looking into the trees. "What are you looking at?" Flap asked.
CROAK! CROAK! CROAK!
"Not that frog again," Castor said.
The frog hopped out of the reeds and
stood next to the mouse.
"We’re watching a squirrel. It can
fly," the mouse squealed.
"Nonsense. Squirrels can’t fly,"
Digger said.
"This one can. Just watch," the
otter said.
They stared up at the trees. Just
then a gray squirrel leapt from a high branch and flew threw the air,
landing next to the other animals. "You can fly," Digger said.
"What are you chaps doing in the
woods?" the squirrel asked.
"We have to find some wood. Our
lodge is falling apart. I don’t suppose you want to help us find some
twigs and wood for repairs, do you?" Flap asked.
"We’ll help," the others said.
CROAK! CROAK! CROAK!
The frog, the otter, the mouse, and
the flying squirrel all gathered twigs while the beavers gnawed down a few
trees. They carried them to the lodge and helped patch it up with mud.
They had just finished when the eagle came flying above. "Yikes!" shouted
the mouse. "The eagle will eat all of us!"
"No he won’t. Come into the lodge
and stay for a while," Flap invited.
It was a bit crowded, but the three
beavers and all their new friends fit inside the lodge. They stayed in
there all day and didn’t leave until they knew it was safe. "From now on,
chaps, if you’re out and about and the eagle comes, you have a safe place
with us," Castor told his new friends. That night the three beavers slept
safely and quietly in their repaired lodge.
CROAK! CROAK! CROAK! They didn’t
even complain when the frog croaked because at least they knew the eagle
wasn’t about. |
