There was great rejoicing in the little village in the pond when
Brownie Beaver returned with the good news that there would be no more
hunting and fishing. And when old Grandaddy Beaver said that everybody
ought to take a holiday to celebrate the occasion, all the villagers
said it was a fine idea.

So they stopped working, for once, and began to plan the celebration.
They thought that there ought to be swimming races and tree-felling
contests. And Brownie Beaver said that after the holiday was over he
would suggest that someone be chosen to go down and thank Farmer Green
for putting the notice on the tree.

The whole village agreed to Brownie's proposal and they voted to see
who should be sent. Brownie Beaver himself passed his hat around to
take up the votes. And it was quickly found that every vote was for
Brownie Beaver. He had even voted for himself. But no one seemed to
care about that.

Then the swimming races began. There was a race under water, a race
with heads out of water--and another in which each person who took
part had to stay beneath the surface as long as he could.

That last race caused some trouble. A young scamp called Slippery Sam
won it. And many people thought that he had swum up inside his house,
where he could get air, without being seen. But no one could prove it;
so he won the race, just the same.

Next came the tree-felling contest. There were six, including Brownie
Beaver, that took part in it. Grandaddy Beaver had picked out six