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
steeling 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