builder of the dam, here they were becoming the best of friends, all
because Paddy the Beaver had said the right thing in the right way.

"But you haven't told me yet what you made those holes in my dam for,
Cousin Jerry," said Paddy the Beaver finally.

Jerry didn't know just what to say. He was so pleased with his big
new cousin that he didn't want to hurt his feelings by telling him
that he didn't think that dam had any business to be across the
Laughing Brook, and at the same time he wanted Paddy to know how he
had spoiled the Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool. At last he made
up his mind to tell the whole story.



CHAPTER XXIII: Paddy The Beaver Does A Kind Deed

Paddy the Beaver listened to all that his small cousin, Jerry Muskrat,
had to tell him about the trouble which Paddy's dam had
caused in the Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool.

"You see, we who live in the Smiling Pool love it dearly, and we
don't want to have to leave it, but if the water cannot run down the
Laughing Brook, there can be no Smiling Pool, and so we will have to
move off to the Big River," concluded Jerry Muskrat. "That is why I
tried to spoil your dam."

There was a twinkle in the eyes of Paddy the Beaver as he replied:
"Well, now that you have found out that you can't do that, because I
am bigger than you and can stop you, what are you going to do about it?"