Chapter IV: Part 4

"I should say so!" cried Grandpa Whackum. "Of course I never had it done to me, but lots of my friends have, and they never lived after it. So look out for hunters and dogs. And when a hunter hasn't a gun he may have a trap."

"What's a trap?" asked Noodle.

"A trap," answered Grandpa Whackum, "is something made of steel, with strong springs. Hunters put them near our houses, or where we have to walk along near the dam that holds in the waters of our pond. They cover up their traps, and if you are not careful you may step into one.

"As soon as you do, snap! it goes shut, catching you by the leg. And, unless you can pull your leg out you're caught. Then along comes the hunter, and--well, the next part isn't nice to talk about, so we'll skip that," said Grandpa Whackum. "Anyhow, you want to keep away from traps, and today I'll give you a lesson in how to do it."

Well, Toodle and Noodle thought it wouldn't be so bad after all, to have a lesson on Saturday, when there was no school, so they followed after Grandpa Whackum.

The old beaver gentleman led Toodle and Noodle off through the woods, and along the edge of the beaver pond. He walked on ahead in order to be the first one to see the traps.

"For you know," he said to Toodle and Noodle, "you may step into a trap before you see it. They may be hidden under leaves or even under water. You can't be too careful."

So Grandpa Whackum went on with Toodle and Noodle, giving them a lesson on the way. All of a sudden he stopped short.

"There!" he cried, pointing to a pile of leaves. "There's a trap. The hunter thought he hid it, but I saw it."

He led Toodle and Noodle close up, and there they saw the trap. The sharp steel jaws were open, all ready to spring shut in case any one stepped ever so lightly on the part called the trigger. You know how a toy gun shoots. Well, a trap goes off just like that.

So Grandpa Whackum told the boy beavers all about traps, the different kinds, and how they were baited and set. And he found some more traps, and let the boys look at them--but not too close, you know.

"Oh, I hope I never get caught in a trap," said Noodle.

"What can we do if we are ever caught in one?" asked Toodle.

"Bang your tail on the ground for help, and, if any of us hear you, we'll come," said Grandpa Whackum. "But if you do get caught--well--I don't like to talk about it. Let's go get some lollypops."

So they went, and Toodle and Noodle were more glad than ever that they had had a lesson in traps, even on Saturday.

"Now you may go off and play--lessons are over," said Grandpa Whackum with a smile, and Toodle and Noodle ran off to meet some of their friends.

"I wonder if I can ever find a trap?" thought Noodle, as he was playing ball with Sammie Littletail, Bully, the frog, and others of his friends. "I guess I'll go look, when this game is finished," he said.

So, when the ball game was over, Noodle started off to find a trap. He asked his brother Toodle to come with him, but Toodle said he wanted to play tag with Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel boys. So Noodle went off by himself.

As he was walking through the woods, looking on all sides for a trap, the way Grandpa Whackum had taught him to do, the little beaver boy saw the kind old bear who had helped Toodle pull the log into the water.

"Hello, Toodle," said the bear.

"If you please," said Noodle, "I'm not Toodle; I'm his brother."

"Oh, excuse me," said the bear, and he was just going back in the forest to sleep some more, when Noodle saw that the kind bear was about to step into a big bear trap that was right behind him. The bear hadn't seen it.

"Look out!" cried the beaver boy. "A trap! A trap!"

"Mercy me!" exclaimed the bear, and he stepped to one side just in time. "Say, that certainly is a trap," he went on. "Some hunter is after me. But I'll fool him." So the bear sprung the trap shut with a piece of wood, and left it there to show the hunter that some bears were smart. "And I'm glad you told me of the trap," said the bear to the beaver boy. "Otherwise, I might have been caught."

Then Noodle went on a little farther, looking for beaver traps, and all of a sudden he heard a snap, and something caught him by the paw, and there he was, held fast. He had found another trap, but before he had seen it he was caught in it!

"Oh, dear!" he cried, and he pulled and tugged, trying to get loose, but he couldn't. Oh, how badly he felt. After all his Grandpa's lessons to be caught this way. Wasn't it too bad?

"Oh, what shall I do?" he cried. "Soon the hunter may come along and take off my fur. Oh, I know. I'll whack my tail on the ground the way Grandpa told me to. Maybe some one will come to save me."

Noodle's tail wasn't fast in the trap, so he could bang it on the ground. And he had only hit two or three times before the kind bear came rushing up.

"Hello! What's this? In trouble, eh?" said the kind bear. "Well, well! I must help you, since you were so kind to me." So the bear, with his strong paws, easily opened the beaver trap, which was small, and not like a big bear trap. Then Noodle was loose, though his paw hurt him very much.

So he thanked the good bear, and hurried home to tell Grandpa Whackum, and all the other beavers how he had found a trap, and how the bear had helped him out of it.

And now I know you must be tired and sleepy, and want to go to bed. So I'll say good-by, and next, if the frying pan doesn't fall on the gas stove and scare the milk bottle, so all the cream turns sour, I'll tell you about Toodle saving Bully, the frog.

STORY XIX

TOODLE SAVES BULLY

Toodle Flat-tail, the little beaver boy, was coming home from school all alone. The reason of this was that his brother, Noodle, and all his other friends had gone on ahead, not waiting for Toodle.

No, Toodle didn't have to stay in--don't think it! He hadn't whispered, or chewed gum in school, or anything like that. Still he didn't get out when the others did because, you see, he happened to lose a penny out of his pocket, and he stayed to find it--find the penny, not the pocket, you understand, for the pocket was still fast in his little spotted trousers.

The penny which Toodle lost was one Grandpa Whackum, the oldest beaver of them all had given him with which to buy a birch bark lollypop. Toodle had not had time to buy the candy on a stick before school, and so kept his penny in his pocket all that afternoon, while he said his lessons.

And, every once in a while, he would put his paw in his pocket to see if his money were safe. And it was--all except the last time.

Toodle was just feeling of his penny when Professor Rat, who kept school, called out:

"Toodle Flat-tail, please stand up and spell me the word 'fox!'"

Well, if you will kindly believe me, Toodle was so excited when he heard that word "fox," thinking, for all I know, that maybe a fox was trying to get in a window, that he jumped up quickly, pulled his paw out of his pocket, and, alas! the penny came with it. Away rolled the money, over the schoolroom floor, rattle-te-bang! and down a crack it went.

"Oh, dear!" cried Toodle, and all the other animal children laughed.

"Never mind," said Professor Rat, kindly. "You did not mean to do it, Toodle. Now you may recite your lesson, and after school you may stay in and look for your penny."

So that is why the little beaver boy had to stay in to find his penny. His brother Noodle said he'd stay and help him hunt for it, but Toodle said:

"No, you had better go along home and tell mamma that I will be a little late. Then she won't worry."

You see it's too bad to make mammas worry, and if ever we can do anything to stop that it's a good thing. Toodle knew that.

So, as I said, he stayed in after school to hunt for his penny, when all the other pupils went home. And when Professor Rat had finished cleaning off the blackboard, he helped Toodle look for the lost money.

And, all of a sudden, as they were looking for it, and when the kind old rat gentleman teacher was partly under a desk, Toodle cried:

"Oh, I see it!"

"Where?" asked Professor Rat, and he jumped up so quickly that his head bumped on the underside of the desk, and jiggled the ink bottle, and the ink ran all over his collar, and made it all striped black and white like a zebra in the circus.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" cried Toodle, when he saw what had happened.

"Oh, never mind," spoke Professor Rat, wiping the ink out of his left ear with the end of his tail. "Where did you see your penny, Toodle?"

"It rolled down a crack," said the little beaver boy. "I can see it, but I can't get it."

"Then we will call Jillie Longtail, the little mouse girl, to get it for you," said Professor Rat. Jillie Longtail lived near the school, and she was at her house helping her mamma get supper. She soon came over, and, being very small, she could get into little cracks. She quickly slipped into this one and brought up Toodle's lost penny.

"Oh, thank you, so much!" said the little beaver boy. "I'll give you some of my lollypop."

Off Toodle hurried to the candy store that was kept by an old gentleman duck who lived in a molasses barrel, and the little beaver boy bought the nicest birch bark flavored lollypop he could see. Then he went back to Jillie's house to give her a bite. And by this time it was getting rather late, so Toodle thought he had better hurry home.

As he was walking along he heard a rustling in the bushes and, before he could run away, out jumped a bad old fox, who cried:

"Give me that lollypop!" And he was going to take it away from poor Toodle, when, all of a sudden, a big, deep, bass voice cried:

"Here! You let my friend Toodle alone! Don't you dare take his candy, or I'll bite you!"

And that fox was so frightened that he ran away, taking his tail with him, and he never touched Toodle or the lollypop either. The little beaver boy wondered who it was that had saved him, when, out from behind a stump came Bully, the frog boy, laughing as hard as he could.

"Did you hear me?" asked Bully. "Did you hear me scare him?"

"I surely did," said Toodle. "I'm much obliged to you. How did you do it?"

"Why, I have a bad cold," said Bully, "and my voice is very deep and hoarse, just like an automobile horn. I guess when that bad fox heard it he thought maybe I was a giant, and so he ran away."

"I'm glad he did," said Toodle, "for he might have bitten me. Here, Bully, have a bit of my lollypop. It will be good for your sore throat."

So Toodle broke off, with a stone, a bit of his nice lollypop, and gave Bully some. And Bully liked it very much. He said it made him feel better.

Well, the frog boy and the beaver boy walked on through the woods together, talking of many things, such as how to keep out of traps, and how to get away from hunters and dogs, and all like that. Pretty soon, they came to the beaver pond, where Toodle's house was built.

"Come on," cried Toodle. "Let's see who can swim across this pond, Bully."

Into the water sprang the frog and the beaver boy, and they were swimming away, first one and then the other being ahead, when all of a sudden, Bully saw something red in the water.

"Oh, here is a cinnamon lollypop," cried Bully. "Wait until I get it."

"Maybe it's a trap," said Toodle, careful like.

"No, I'm sure it's a lollypop," spoke Bully, who, like all frogs, liked very much anything that was red. Up Bully swam to it, and as quick as a wink, he bit it, intending to carry it away with him. But a second later he cried:

"Oh, dear! I'm caught. You're right, Toodle! It was a trap!"

And, what do you think? That red thing was a piece of red flannel, and it was fast to a hook that a boy had thus baited, and put into the water, hoping to catch a frog. And he had caught Bully. Oh, dear!

Poor Bully squirmed and twisted, and tried to get loose from the hook, but he could not. It had fastened itself in his mouth when he bit on the red flannel that he thought was a cinnamon lollypop.

"Oh, what shall I do?" cried Bully.

"Hold on! I'll save you!" shouted Toodle, swimming as fast as he could toward Bully. The boy, up on the bank of the pond, where he had his pole and hook and line, was trying to pull Bully out of the water. But Toodle took a tight hold of the frog in his paws and then with his big tail, Toodle splashed a whole lot of water in that boy's face, as he sat near the edge of the beaver pond.

"Oh, dear!" cried the boy, surprised like. "It's raining! I guess I'd better go home before I get wet!" You see, he never knew it was Toodle who had splashed him, for he could not see the little beaver chap.

So the boy ran home to his mamma, leaving his pole there. Of course poor Bully was still fast to the hook, but when the boy was gone he and Toodle swam out on the bank, and then Toodle hurried off and got Dr. Possum, who soon took the hook out of Bully's mouth.

Of course it hurt some, just as when you have a tooth pulled, but it's better to have a hook or an aching tooth, out of your mouth than in. And Bully was very much obliged to Toodle for saving him, and he said he'd never bite on anything red again, unless he was sure what it was.

Then Toodle gave Bully some more lollypop, and the two friends got home just in time for their suppers and that's all there is to this story.

But in the next one, if the potato masher doesn't fall on the doll's toes so she can't go roller skating with the sewing machine, I'll tell you about Crackie Flat-tail going to school.

STORY XX

CRACKIE GOES TO SCHOOL

"Come on, boys, wake up!" called Grandpa Whackum, the old beaver gentleman, to Toodle and Noodle, the two beaver boys, at their home in the pond one morning. "Be lively, now! I guess you forget what morning this is."

"Ha! Is it Christmas?" asked Noodle, as he rubbed his sleepy eyes with his paw.

"Or Fourth of July?" asked Toodle, flopping his big, broad tail up and down to see if any mosquitoes had bitten him in the night. But none had, I'm glad to say.

"No, it isn't Fourth of July or Christmas," answered Grandpa Whackum, looking out on the beaver dam that held the waters of the pond from running away. The old gentleman beaver wanted to see if, in the dam, there were any holes that needed mending.

"Today is when your little sister, Crackie, starts for school," went on Grandpa Whackum. He was called that, you know, because he used to whack his tail on the ground to tell when there was danger coming, so the other beavers could go and hide away.

And the little beaver girl was called Crackie because she was always dropping dishes and things and cracking them. She didn't mean to, of course, and lately she didn't drop nearly so many as she used to at first.

"My goodness!" cried Toodle, hopping out of bed. "And so Crackie is to go to school today?"

"Yes; and you and Noodle are to take her," said Grandpa Whackum. "So hurry down to breakfast. You don't want to be late for school the first day Crackie goes, you know."

"No, indeed," said Noodle. "Come on, Toodle, we'll have a race to see who gets dressed first."

So the beaver boys raced at putting on their rubber clothes, which they could wear in the water without getting wet, for beavers are very fond of swimming, you know, and live in the water half the time.

"May I wear my red dress and brown hair ribbons?" asked Crackie of her mamma at the breakfast table.

"I guess so," said Mrs. Flat-tail, who felt a little sorry because her only daughter was growing up big enough to go to school.

Well, pretty soon, in a little while, not so very long, Toodle and Noodle and Crackie were all ready for school. Off they started, after kissing their mamma and Grandpa Whackum good-by. Into the water they jumped, and away they swam.

The school was in an old boat, as I have told you, and often this boat would float away, making it so hard for the animal children to find it that they were sometimes late. But this time Professor Rat, the school teacher, had tied the boat fast to an old stump, so it was easily found, and no one was late.

Toodle and Noodle took their little sister inside the school.

"Ah, ha!" said Professor Rat, kindly. "A new little pupil! Well, Crackie, we are glad to see you. We hope you will like it here. I think first I will put you in the kindergarten class. Later on, when you learn more, you may sit with Toodle and Noodle and Sammie and Susie Littletail and the others."

So Crackie went in the kindergarten class and had a little chair all to herself. Her teacher was a nice lady bug, who could play a tin piano solo so tickily-ickly-like that you would always want to dance. And sometimes she let her pupils march around the room while she played.

Well, after a bit, Crackie looked around, and over on one side of the room she saw her brothers, Toodle and Noodle.

"Say, Toodle!" cried Crackie, right out loud in school, "I'm hungry. Can't I have some of that ginger-bread cake mamma gave you to put in your pocket?"

"Oh, hush, Crackie, dear!" cried Toodle, but all the other animal children laughed to hear Crackie call out loud that way in school.

"But I am hungry!" said Crackie, and tears came into her eyes. You see she had never been to school before, and she did not quite know how to act. "I'm very hungry!" the little beaver girl went on. "Can't you give me something to eat, Noodle, dear?"

Noodle got red behind his ears to think that his sister acted so in school. Professor Rat looked up over his glasses.

"You must not talk in school, Crackie, dear," he said gently. "The others can't study if you talk."

"But I am hungry," went on Crackie. "Maybe if I had something to eat I wouldn't talk. You could try it, Mr. Rat."

Everybody laughed at that--it sounded so funny--and Mr. Rat tried not to smile as he said:

"No, Crackie, we're not allowed to eat in school. You must please be quiet."

"School is a funny place," said Crackie, still speaking out loud. "You can't talk and you can't eat. What can you do?"

"Really, my dear," said Professor Rat, "you must keep quiet. I'm afraid you're not old enough to come to school."

So Crackie kept quiet for a little while and played with her kindergarten blocks and cut some funny things out of paper. But at last she could not stand it any longer. She cried out:

"Isn't it time to eat yet, Toodle?"

Well, it was so quiet just then, with no one saying anything, or reciting, that Crackie's voice sounded very loudly, and every one laughed.

"Crackie," said Professor Rat, and he had to speak sharply, "you really must keep quiet, or else go home."

"Then please let me go home," said Crackie. "I don't have to keep so quiet there and I can get something to eat. Toodle, Noodle, please take me home," and she got up out of her seat, and walked over to her brothers.

"Oh, Crackie!" cried the lady bug teacher, sadly like.

"You mustn't do that," said Professor Rat, and really he didn't know what to do himself. He had never had any one like Crackie in school before. And, really, she didn't mean to be bad. She just didn't know any better. It was her first day, you see.

"I want to talk, I'm hungry, I want to go home," said Crackie, as if that was all there was to it. She didn't see why she couldn't do just as she had been used to doing at home.

"Come on, Toodle and Noodle," she called. "School is no fun. I'm going home!"

Well, of course that upset everything. All the boy and girl animals laughed, and they couldn't study. The lady bug teacher, and Professor Rat himself, did not know what to do with Crackie. Mr. Rat was just thinking that perhaps he had better send one of her brothers home with Crackie when the little beaver girl, who was standing next to the window, cried out:

"Oh, the alligator! The bad, old skillery alligator! He is coming right in at the side door!"

And that was so. Crackie had gotten up just in time to see the alligator, and, only for her, maybe the bad creature would have gotten into the school before any one could stop him.

"Ha!" cried Professor Rat. "The skillery-scalery alligator, eh? I'll fix him! I'm glad you told me, Crackie."

Then the rat gentleman took two blackboard erasers in his paws. He clapped them together--the erasers, I mean--making a noise like a gun, and a lot of chalk dust that was on the erasers flew out, making it look just like smoke from a cannon, and when the 'gator saw this, and when he heard the bang-bang noise, he cried out:

"Wow! I guess I made a mistake. This must be where hunters or soldiers live. This is no place for me!" And away he went, taking his double-jointed tail with him.

"Crackie," said Professor Rat, "you saved us all from the alligator by seeing him in time for me to scare him away. I guess, after all, it's a good thing you came to school, even if you did talk."

"And may I have something to eat?" asked the little beaver girl. "If I may I don't want to go home."

"Give her some of that ginger-bread cake," said Mr. Rat to Toodle. "I guess it won't hurt to let her eat in school, and she is so little, and she was so brave."

So Crackie ate some cake, and she felt better, and all the other animal children wished they had some. Then they had more lessons, and soon school was out, and, after all, Crackie was glad she came.

So, on the next page, if the peanut man doesn't take away our refrigerator to roast his chestnuts on at the moving picture show, I'll tell you about Toodle's roller skates.

STORY XXI

TOODLE AND HIS ROLLER SKATES

"Mamma," said Toodle Flat-tail, the little beaver boy one afternoon as he came in from school, and looked around in the ice box to see if there was any cake left over from dinner, "would you do me a favor, mamma?"

"Well, Toodle," said Mrs. Flat-tail, wiping some flour off the end of her nose with her paw, for she was making a raisin pudding for supper, "well, Toodle, it depends on what the favor is."

"Oh, ma," went on Toodle, making his tail go up and down like a palm leaf fan on Christmas eve, "I do want a pair of roller skates awful bad."

"Roller skates!" cried Mrs. Flat-tail, raising both her paws in the air, she was so surprised like. "Why, you know they cost a lot of money, Toodle, and your father hasn't any too much. You know winter is coming on, and there will be lots of things to buy. Besides, there will soon be snow and ice all over the ground, and ice skates would be better than rollers, I should think. Grandpa Whackum can show you how to make ice skates out of a flat bone."

"I'd rather have roller skates, ma," said Toodle. "It won't be winter for quite a while yet, and I could have lots of fun. I saw one of the Bushytail squirrel boys with a pair coming from school, and he went along like anything--so fast!

"Say, ma, if I had a pair of roller skates I could go to the store for you twice as quick when you wanted anything. Mayn't I have a pair--please?"

"Now, Toodle, said Mrs. Flat-tail. Don't tease, that's a good boy. You know if you had a pair Noodle would want some also, and so would Crackie. And three pairs of roller skates--my gracious goodness me sakes alive! Why your papa would be the poorest beaver in all this pond if he had to buy three pairs of roller skates with winter coming on. I'm afraid you can't get them."

"Oh dear!" said Toodle, with a sigh. "Oh dear!"

He felt so badly that he didn't want to eat much of the nice green willow bark sandwiches they had for supper, and Grandpa Whackum said:

"What's the matter with that boy? Is he sick?"

"He wants roller skates," said Mrs. Flat-tail.

"If he has a pair I want some, too," said Noodle.

"That's how I thought it would be," said Mrs. Flat-tail, with a look at her husband.

"Well, I'm afraid no one can have roller skates this year," said the beaver gentleman. "This is going to be a hard winter. There aren't many trees left around here for food any more, and we'll have to bring them from a long way off. And the pond will soon be frozen over, too. Ice skates would be much better for you, Toodle, and you can make them yourself."

"I'll show you how," spoke Grandpa Whackum.

"I'd--I'd rather have roller skates," said the little beaver boy.

"Well, you had better study your school home work lesson now," said his papa, as he sat down to read the evening paper.

But Toodle did not feel much like studying. You know how it is yourself, when you want a rubber doll, or maybe a water-pistol, or a bicycle, or something that your papa or mamma can't let you have, for one reason or another. You keep thinking of that, and nothing else, and it seems as if you really must have it.

That's the way it was with Toodle. He thought of nothing much but roller skates. The next day in school when Professor Rat asked him how to spell horse, Toodle said:

"R-o-l-l-e-r--roller, s-k-a-t-e--skate--roller skates," and all the animal children laughed at him.

"Next," said the teacher, and poor Toodle had to go down to the foot of the class. Oh, how badly he felt.

But, coming home from school that afternoon, something happened to Toodle and, after that he didn't want roller skates at all any more. I'll tell you about it.

Toodle was walking along by himself. His brother Noodle and the other boys had asked him to come with them to play football, but Toodle was thinking so much about his roller skates that he didn't want to do anything else. So he would not go.

So he was walking along through the woods, feeling rather sad and miserable, and wishing his papa was a rich beaver, when, all of a sudden, Toodle saw a little bear on the path in front of him. The bear was such a small chap, not much bigger than Toodle himself, that the beaver boy wasn't a bit afraid.

Of course he looked around to see if the big papa or mamma bear was in sight, but they were not, and so when the baby bear said "Hello!" Toodle answered back, "Hello!" as bravely as anything.

"What are you doing out here?" asked Toodle of the baby bear.

"Oh just walking along," said the baby bear. "What are you doing here? You don't look very happy, my little beaver boy. Are you looking for anything?"

"Yes, I'm looking for a pair of roller skates," said Toodle. "Of course, I don't believe I'll find 'em out here, but I'm looking just the same."

Then a sharp, cunning look came over the face of that baby bear, and he said:

"Well, now, if this isn't the best luck! Say, beaver boy, come with me, and maybe my father will give you his roller skates. He's going to take a long winter sleep soon, and he won't need them. I'll ask him to let you take his."

"Will you really?" cried Toodle in delight. "That's fine! I'll come right along with you."

Now Toodle had been told never to believe what a bear--even a baby bear--said, or to go with one of them. But he was thinking so much about roller skates that he couldn't think of anything else. And so he forgot to be careful.

"Just come along to the den where I live," said the baby bear, "and maybe I'll get you some roller skates."

Toodle felt very happy to hear this, and walked along through the woods at the side of the brown baby bear. Pretty soon they came to the bear's den. At first Toodle was a little afraid when he saw the papa and mamma bear, but the baby bear waved his paws at them, and cried out:

"I've brought a nice fat beaver boy home with me. He wants some roller skates. I told him maybe he could have your old ones, papa, for you're going to take a long sleep."

"That's right," said Mr. Bear. "That's right."

Toodle thought it was funny for the baby bear to speak about how he had brought a fat beaver boy home.

"I wonder why he said I was fat," thought Toodle. Oh, if he had only known how bears like fat beavers just before they take a long winter sleep! Oh my, but just wait and see what happens.

"I'll go in and get the skates," said Mr. Bear. Then he said to his wife: "You stay out here with this nice fat beaver boy. Oh, isn't he fat!"

"I wonder why they're so glad I'm fat?" thought Toodle.

Well he sat down on his tail outside the bear's stone cave and waited. Mr. Bear and the little baby bear went inside.

Pretty soon, through an open window in the cave, Toodle heard voices speaking. They were the voices of the papa bear and the baby bear talking together.

"Didn't I do well to bring home a nice, fat beaver boy for our supper?" asked the baby bear. "I saw him in the woods, and when he said roller skates I could see that he wanted them very much. I knew you had an old pair, so I told him to come along."

"Yes," said Mr. Bear. "I'll make believe to give the skates to him, and then we'll ask him in the den to try them on, and then we can grab him, and----"

"Yum! Yum!" exclaimed the little bear, smacking his lips, and Toodle knew by that how hungry the little bear was.

"Ah, ha!" exclaimed the beaver boy. "So this is a trick, eh? The roller skates are only to fool me! Those bears want to get me in their den and then they'll eat me. I'm not going to stay here!" And with that he ran off toward a pond of water, where he knew he would be safe, for a bear can never catch a beaver in water.

"Here! Where are you going?" cried Mrs. Bear. "Come back for your roller skates, beaver boy!"

"I--I guess I don't want any," said Toodle, slyly-like, and with that he jumped into the water and swam safely home, though the big papa bear tried to catch him. But he didn't, I'm glad to say. So you see it was all a trick about the roller skates, and the baby bear tried to fool Toodle with them.

And when Toodle reached home he was all over the notion of wanting roller skates, which had nearly gotten him into a lot of trouble.

"Never believe what bears say--even a baby bear--unless they are good bears," said Grandpa Whackum when he heard what had happened, and Papa Flat-tail said the same thing. "And soon I'll show you how to make ice skates," said Grandpa Whackum.

So that is the story of Toodle, and how he didn't get his roller skates after all, and it's a good thing he didn't, I guess. And in the next story, if the spelling book doesn't jump over the geography and spill the ink bottle out of the parlor window, I'll tell you about Noodle and the pop corn.

STORY XXII

NOODLE AND THE POPCORN

One day, when Noodle and Toodle and little Crackie Flat-tail, the beaver children were on their way to school, which, as I have told you, was in an old boat, kept by Professor Rat, the three little animal children saw Grandfather Goosey Gander, the old duck gentleman, going along with a bag over his shoulder.

"Ha! Where do you s'pose he's going with that bag?" asked Toodle of Noodle, as the beaver boys stopped on the path to watch.

"I don't know," said Noodle to Toodle. "Maybe he is pretending to be Santa Claus."

"It is too early--Christmas is too far off--for anyone to be practicing Santa Claus now," said Toodle. "And anyhow, Grandpa Goosey hasn't a red coat on, all trimmed with white, and he hasn't any white whiskers, so he can't be Santa Claus."

"That's so," said Noodle. "Let's ask him what he's got in that bag. He'll tell us, and if it's something good to eat maybe he'll give us some."

"You boys had better come on to school," said Crackie, "or else you may be late."

"Oh, this won't take a minute," said Noodle. "I'll run after Grandpa Goosey and ask him. You and Toodle can go on, Crackie, and tell Professor Rat that I'm coming."

So Toodle and Crackie, the two little beaver children, went on to school, holding their broad, flat tails up out of the mud. Their tails were so large that when they grew tired the beaver children could sit on them, just as you children sit on a stool.

Noodle ran after the old duck gentleman, who had kept wobbling along with the bag over his shoulder, and, when the little beaver boy got near enough, he saw that the bag was very heavy indeed, and that Grandpa Goosey had hard work to carry it.

"Good morning, Grandfather Goosey Gander," said Noodle politely. "Don't you want me to help you carry that bag?" You see, Noodle wanted to know what was in it, but he knew it wasn't just nice to ask at once. So he offered first to help the duck gentleman.

"Ha! Hum!" exclaimed Grandfather Goosey, with a sneeze that made his hat fall off. Noodle kindly picked it up for him.

"Excuse me," went on Grandfather Goosey, speaking through his yellow bill. "You see I have a bad cold in my head. I can't talk very well, and I can't hear very well. Jimmie Wibblewobble, my little grandson, dropped part of his ice cream cone down my back the other night, at the duck party, and that gave me a cold. Oh dear!" and poor Grandfather Goosey Gander sneezed again. This time his spectacles flew off, and bounced into the pond of water.

But, in a second, Noodle, who could swim better than a fish, jumped in and got them out.

"Thank you very kindly," said Grandfather Goosey Gander, as he put his glasses on his ears--I beg your pardon--I mean his nose.

"What was it you asked me, Noodle?--just before I sneezed--excuse me--here I go again--aker-choo-choo-choo!" and surely enough, the duck gentleman sneezed like a choo-choo engine. This time a penny jumped out of his pocket, he sneezed so hard, and when Noodle picked up the money, Grandfather Goosey said the little beaver boy could keep it for himself.

"I asked if I couldn't help you carry your bag, Grandfather Goosey," said Noodle, when the sneezing had ended. "It seems too heavy for you. Maybe there is gold in it," he added, for, through a hole in the bag, the little beaver boy saw something yellow, just like gold.

"Gold! Ha! ha! No, I wish it were," said Grandfather Goosey Gander. "Then I would be as rich as Uncle Wiggly Longears, the rabbit gentleman.

"No, Noodle, this isn't gold. It is yellow corn, that we ducks will eat this winter, just as you beavers will eat the bark of trees."

"Do you want me to help you carry it?" asked Noodle. Somehow or other he was just a little sorry that the bag didn't have in it some Santa Claus Christmas presents. But then there was time enough for them later, he thought.

"Oh, bless your tail, no!" said Grandpa Goosey Gander, with a laughing quack. "I shall manage it very well. But, since you were so kind as to offer to help, Noodle, I will give you an ear of corn. It isn't the yellow kind that we ducks eat, but a white kind.

"And if you shell off the kernels and put them in a popper or a pan over the fire the corn will pop, and you can put butter on it, and salt; or you can put sugar on it, just like down on the board walk at Asbury Grove. Here is your ear of pop corn."

"Oh, thank you very much," said the little beaver boy, as Grandpa Goosey gave him the extra white ear of pop corn. "I'll pop it tonight and give Toodle and Crackie some," said Noodle.

"Very good," spoke Grandpa Goosey, and then, slinging his bag over his shoulder he started for home, while Noodle went on to school. He left the ear of pop corn outside in a hollow stump, where no one could find it, for he did not want to take it in school with him.

"Well, what did Grandpa Goosey have in the bag?" asked Toodle of Noodle at recess that day.

"Corn," answered Noodle, "and he gave me some of my own to pop. We'll have a good time home tonight."

Well, when evening came in the Flat-tail house, and when the lessons were all done, Noodle brought out his ear of corn, and he and Toodle and Crackie shelled off the kernels. There was a fire on the open fire place, and when the logs had burned down to red, glowing coals, Noodle put the popper over them and shook it back and forth, just as Grandpa Goosey had told him to do, so the corn would not burn.

"Now, children," said Mrs. Flat-tail to them, "your papa and I are going over to call on Uncle Wiggily Longears for a few minutes. Grandpa Whackum is out to a moving picture show, and so you will be all alone. But I know you will be all right."

"Yes, mamma," said Toodle and Crackie.

Then Noodle shook the popper some more, while his papa and mamma went out. The corn was rather slow in popping, and the beaver children were just wondering whether Grandpa Goosey had not made a mistake, and given Noodle the wrong kind, when, all of a sudden, the front door quietly opened, and in came creeping softly--oh! so softly!--a bad old fox!

He wanted to get one of the beaver children, but neither Noodle nor Toodle nor Crackie heard the fox, as they were so busy watching for the corn to pop.

Nearer and nearer crept the fox, and the bad creature suddenly stuck out his paws and grabbed Crackie.

"Now, I have you!" cried the fox, and at that Noodle, who was shaking the popper, turned around to see what had happened. And when he saw that the fox had hold of his sister Crackie, Noodle was so surprised that he forgot to shake the popper. That made the corn get very hot, and it quickly began to pop all at once.

All of a sudden poppity-pop-pop! it went, just like a lot of firecrackers, and the popper was so full that the cover flew off, and the white pop corn was scattered all over the room.

It showered on the fox just like snow, and the bad creature was so frightened at hearing the popping noise, and at seeing the snow white kernels burst out, that he cried:

"Oh, wow! Double wow and some pepperhash. Oh, I am shot! I am caught in a snow storm! Excuse me!"

And with that he let go of Crackie, and out of the door he rushed, home to his den where he belonged. And so he didn't get Crackie after all, nor Toodle nor Noodle. And the beaver children weren't frightened any more, and they popped corn, and made some with butter on, and some with sugar, and their papa and mamma and Grandpa Whackum said it was just fine.

So that's the story of Noodle and his pop corn, that Grandpa Goosey Gander gave him, and I hope you liked it. And next, if the puppy dog doesn't pull off the baby's stockings to play tag with in the gold-fish tank, I'll tell you about Toodle and Noodle in trouble.

STORY XXIII

TOODLE AND NOODLE IN TROUBLE

Of course, they didn't mean to do it. Children, whether they are animals, like little beaver boys, or real boys and girls like yourselves, never do mean to get into trouble, I suppose, but, sometimes they do, just the same.

And now, if you'd like to hear it, and won't wiggle too much, I'll tell you how Toodle and Noodle, the two little beaver boys, made a lot of trouble, just because they didn't stop to think.

It was one cool day, when there was no school, because Professor Rat had to go to the dentist's to have his spectacles fixed, that this happened.

Toodle and Noodle, with their sister Crackie, had started for school, and on the way, as they often did, they met Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrels, and Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit children, and Buddy and Brighteyes, the guinea pigs, and many more of their friends.

And when they reached the school, which was in an old boat that floated around the pond, there was a sign on the door reading:

"No School Today. Come Tomorrow."

"Oh, joy!" cried Toodle.

"Oh, happiness!" said Noodle.

"Now we can have some fun," spoke Bully the frog. "Come on, boys, what shall we do?"

"Come over by our beaver pond and maybe we can have some fun there," suggested Toodle.

"Yes, you can coast down our mud slide into the water," added Noodle.

"Oh, I couldn't do that--rabbits are not supposed to do that," said Sammie Littletail.

"Well, come on, anyhow," urged Noodle. "We'll find some way to have fun."

So many of the animal boys went with Toodle and Noodle over to the beaver pond, where there was a dam, or a long, low wall of mud, stones, sticks and grass to keep the water from running away. It was just such a dam as you children build in the gutter on a rainy day, only the beaver dam was larger.

Most of the little girl animals--such as Susie Littletail, Dottie Trot, the pony girl; Kittie Kat, the little pussy girl--and, of course, Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble, the duck girls, went along with Crackie Flat-tail to the woods, to play with their dolls.

When Toodle and Noodle, and their boy friends, came running around the beaver pond--some of them, like Bully No-tail, the frog, swimming in it--the beaver lady said:

"My goodness, my sakes alive and some cherry potpie! What does this mean, Toodle--Noodle? Why are you home from school at this hour? It isn't out, is it?"

"There isn't any school, ma," said Toodle, putting away his books. "Professor Rat has the toothache in his spectacles. Oh, I'm so glad!"

"What!" cried Mrs. Flat-tail, "glad that any one is in pain?"

"Oh, no, ma," said Noodle, quickly. "Toodle meant that he was glad there was no school."

"That's it," said Toodle. "Come on, boys, let's have some fun. We'll go play around the dam, and I'll show you how we coast down the mud slide."

"Be very careful," said Mrs. Flat-tail. "There is a lot of water in the pond, on account of the big rain and the dam is not very strong. Don't do anything to break it, for that would make a lot of trouble. All the water would run out."

"We won't, ma," said Noodle, and really he meant it at the time he said it, of course.

Well, the boys who had come home with Toodle and Noodle began playing. They had lots of fun, and when the beaver boys slid down the slippery mud slide by sitting on their big tails, why, Sammie Littletail said it was as good as a circus, and wished he had a big tail such as all beavers have.

But of course when Toodle and Noodle slid down the mud slide that wasn't much fun for any one else, because the slide ran right into the water, into which Toodle and Noodle would go "ker-splash" every time they got to the bottom.

"I'll tell you what we can do," said Noodle, after a bit. "We can all go up to the top of the mud slide, and roll stones down it. The one who sends his stone the longest distance wins the game."

"That will be fun," cried Toodle. "Let's all get stones and roll them down."

Now this is what Toodle and Noodle should not have done, for the mud slide was close to the big dam that held in the waters of the beaver pond. And when the stones rolled down the slide they might break a hole in the dam. But Toodle and Noodle didn't think.

Soon all the boys were rolling stones, and many of the rocks hit the dam, bouncing off, turning somersaults over it, and some of them landing on it.

"Now for a big stone," cried Noodle, as he climbed up the slide, with a large rock on his tail, which was like a sled, you see.

"Oh, I have a bigger one!" cried Toodle, and up he came with one, too.

If Grandpa Whackum, the oldest beaver of them all, had been there he never would have let the boys play such a game, and, really, Toodle and Noodle should have known better. But they didn't think.

All of a sudden Toodle and Noodle rolled their big stones down the slide, which was made slippery with water from the pond. Toodle's stone struck the dam near the middle and Noodle's over a little to one side.

And then something happened. The stones broke large holes in the dam, and through these holes the water began rushing out. The beaver pond began to get lower and lower.

"Oh, dear!" cried Noodle. "Look what we did!"

"Yes, I guess we'd better be getting home, boys," said Samuel Littletail. "The beavers will think we did that, Billie Bushytail."

"You're right!" cried the squirrel boy. Then he and all the others were going to leave Toodle and Noodle, when Bully, the frog, cried out:

"Oh, say! That isn't fair! When we are playing ball, and we break a window, we all help pay for it. Now that the dam is broken, though we didn't do it, we must help Toodle and Noodle fix it. Come on, boys."

The little beavers, who had felt sad when they saw all their friends going to leave them, were happy now. By this time the water was fast rushing out of the pond, through the holes the stones had made in the dam. And from their houses came rushing the grown-up beavers, wondering what had happened.

When they saw the trouble Toodle and Noodle had made they cried out:

"Oh, dear!"

For you know if the dam breaks and all the water in the pond runs out the beavers have to make another, or else they could not live in their houses. For their front doors have to be under water, you see, to keep out bad animals.

Just then up came Grandpa Whackum. He saw right away that something must be done.

"Quick, boys," he called to Toodle and Noodle and their boy friends. "Bring me mud and sticks and leaves and grass and stones and pieces of wood. We'll mend the dam!"

Those animal boys who were good swimmers jumped into the pond and brought to Grandpa Whackum the things the other animals gathered from the woods. Soon the old beaver gentleman had many willing helpers, and with his paws, which were like a monkey's hands, and his big tail he stopped up the holes in the dam. Toodle and Noodle helped also.

But, oh! what a lot of trouble they had made, though they did not mean to. Soon the dam was all fixed and the water was stopped from running out of the pond. Then Grandpa Whackum gave all the animal boys a penny for ice cream sandwiches and everybody was happy. Toodle and Noodle said they would never roll big stones down the mud slide again.

"Well, I hope there is school tomorrow," said Grandpa Whackum, with a sigh, as he sat down on his tail to rest.

So that's how Toodle and Noodle made trouble, though not meaning to, and on the next page, if the jam doesn't fall on the toy balloon and make it so sticky that it can't go out in the baby carriage with the rubber doll, I'll tell you about Toodle and the chestnuts.

STORY XXIV

TOODLE AND THE CHESTNUTS

"Oh, but I'm glad there's no school today!" cried Billie Bushytail, the squirrel boy, as he made a noise like a popcorn ball and ran up one side of a tree and down the other.

"So am I!" cried his brother Johnnie, who was trying to see how long he could stand on his head without sneezing.

"Why are you so glad?" asked Toodle Flat-tail, the little beaver boy. "It's Saturday and you know there's never any school that day."

"I know there isn't," spoke Johnnie, "but then, you see, on account of there being none yesterday, when Professor Rat had the toothache in his spectacles, I thought maybe he'd make us come this morning."

"I didn't hear the bell ring, so I'm sure there's no school," said Toodle. "And if it's just the same to you, Billie and Johnnie, I wish you wouldn't speak about yesterday. I want to forget all about how Noodle and I rolled the big stones down the mud slide and broke the dam, making a lot of trouble for Grandpa Whackum."

"All right, we won't speak any more about it," said Johnnie, pleasantly. "But I'll tell you why I'm so glad there's no school today. It's because Billie and I are going after chestnuts."

"Chestnuts!" exclaimed Toodle, the beaver boy, looking at his tail to be sure there were no stickery bramble briars on it. "Where are they?"

"Oh, they grow on a tree like hickory nuts," said Johnnie, "only they come all wrapped up in a big burr, with sharp points on, and we have to wait for the frost to open the burr before we can get the nuts out."

"And when we do get them! Oh, yum-yum!" cried Billie. "How good they are--even better than ice cream!"

"Oh, now I know what you mean," said Toodle. "I have seen chestnuts, but I always thought they came roasted, and grew on a wagon that an Italian gentleman pushed around the street, on two wheels. So chestnuts grow on trees, eh?"

"To be sure," said Billie, "and if you like you may come with Johnnie and me when we gather some today."