Then he had to be equally sure that he could make a pond near
where this particular food grew. Last of all, he had to satisfy
himself that if he did make a pond and build a home, he would be
reasonably safe in it. And all these things he had done in his
playtime. Now he was ready to go to work, and when Paddy begins
work, he sticks to it until it is finished. He says that is the
only way to succeed, and you know and I know that he is right.

Now Paddy the Beaver can see at night just as Reddy Fox and Peter
Rabbit and Bobby Coon can, and he likes the night best, because
he feels safest then. But he can see in the daytime too, and when
he feels that he is perfectly safe and no one is watching, he
works then too. Of course, the first thing to do was to build a
dam across the Laughing Brook to make the pond he so much needed.
He chose a low, open place deep in the Green Forest, around the
edge of which grew many young aspen trees, the bark of which is
his favorite food. Through the middle of this open place flowed
the Laughing Brook. At the lower edge was just the place for a
dam. It would not have to be very long, and when it was finished
and the water was stopped in the Laughing Brook, it would just
have to flow over the low, open place and make a pond there.
Paddy's eyes twinkled when he first saw it. It was right then
that he made up his mind to stay in the Green Forest.

So now that he was ready to begin his dam he went up the Laughing
Brook to a place where alders and willows grew, and there he
began work; that work was the cutting of a great number of trees
by means of his big front teeth which were given him for just
this purpose. And as he worked, Paddy was happy, for one can
never be truly happy who does no work.