They would have had no place, either, to store their winter's food.
For they were in the habit of cutting down trees and saving the bark
and branches too, in order to have plenty to eat when cold weather
came and the ice closed their pond.

Some of their food they carried into their houses through a straight
hall which was made for that very purpose. And some of the branches
they fastened under water, near the dam. It was just like putting
green things into a refrigerator, so they will keep.

Now you see why Brownie Beaver would no more have thought of building
his house on dry land than you would think of building one in a pond.
Everybody likes his own way best. And it never once occurred to
Brownie Beaver that his way was the least bit strange.

Perhaps it was because his family had always lived in that fashion.




II

HOW TO FELL A TREE


Brownie Beaver could do many things that other forest-people (except
his own relations) were not able to do at all. For instance, cutting
down a tree was something that nobody but one of the Beaver family
would think of attempting. But as for Brownie Beaver--if he ever saw a