tree that he wanted to cut down he set to work at once, without even
going home to get any tools. And the reason for that was that he
always had his tools with him. For strange as it may seem, he used his
teeth to do all his wood-cutting.

The first thing to be done when you set out to fell a tree with your
teeth is to strip off the bark around the bottom of the trunk, so that
a white band encircles it. At least, that was the way Brownie Beaver
always began. And no doubt he knew what he was about.

After he had removed the band of bark Brownie began to gnaw away chips
of wood, where the white showed. And as he gnawed, he slowly sidled
round and round the tree, until at last only the heart of the tree was
left to keep the tree from toppling over.

Then Brownie Beaver would stop his gnawing and look all about, to pick
out a place where he wanted the tree to fall. And as soon as Brownie
had made up his mind about that, he quickly gnawed a few more chips
out of the heart of the tree on the side toward the spot where he
intended it to come toppling down upon the ground.

Brownie Beaver would not have to gnaw long before the tree would begin
to lean. All the time it leaned more and more. And the further over it
sagged, the faster it tipped. Luckily, Brownie Beaver always knew just
the right moment to jump out of the way before the tree fell.

If you had ever seen him you might have thought he was frightened,
because he never failed to run away and hide as the tree crashed down
with a sound almost like thunder.