Toodle and Noodle Flat-tail: The Jolly Beaver Boys

by Howard Roger Garis

Now Toodle and Noodle liked the water very much, and they so enjoyed having Grandpa Whackum show them the best way to swim and dive and float, as well as stay under water without breathing for a long time—they liked this so much, I say, that they forgot about soon having to go to school.

My! how they splashed about in the pond, using their hind paws, which were something like a duck's feet. They fairly rushed through the water, and when they wanted to go very specially fast they used their broad, flat tail just like a propeller on a steamboat.

"That's the way to do it!" cried Grandpa Whackum, as he told the beaver boys what to do. "Turn around quickly in the water, and dive down when an alligator or a sea lion chases you," said the old gentleman beaver, showing them how.

So Toodle and Noodle practiced their swimming lesson, and then their grandpa said:

"Now, boys, come up on this old stump and do some diving. Jump right into the water; don't be afraid!"

Grandpa Whackum showed them how to do this, springing off his hind feet and going away down under water where no one could see him until he popped up again.

Toodle and Noodle did this after him, and, though at first they were not very good at it, soon they got so they could dive as nicely as could be.

"Now you are good swimmers," said the old gentleman beaver, "and you may have time to play. But be careful not to go too far away, over to the woods, or the bad wolf may get you."

Toodle and Noodle said they would be careful, and then they began playing tag, and hide your tail, and jump over your chewing gum, and all games like that. Finally they swam away up to one end of the beaver pond, and they were just going to climb out on land, and sit on their tails for a while, until they thought of a new game, or until some of their friends came home from school, when, all of a sudden, something happened.

No, it wasn't a rustling in the bushes, and no bad animal jumped out on them. Goodness knows that takes place often enough, as you well know. But it was something different this time.