So, sitting down on his tail again, Toodle gnawed the top off the log. Then he thought surely he could pull it to the water. But though he strained and tugged and pushed and pulled with all his might, still he couldn't do it.
"I guess, after all, I'll have to get grandpa to help me," he said. "But I don't want to. I'll try once more."
My! how hard Toodle tried. And just as he was going to give up, and call his brother to help him, out of the bushes jumped a big black bear.
"Oh, dear!" cried Toodle. "Now I am a goner! This bear will get me surely!" and he was so frightened that he couldn't jump into the water and swim away; this little beaver boy couldn't. He just sat there shivering and sort of hiding down behind the log, hoping the bear hadn't seen him. But the bear had, and the bear said:
"Ah, ha! There you are!"
"Ye—yes," stammered Toodle. "Are you going to—going to eat me—all up?"
"Why, no, indeed!" laughed the bear in a jolly voice. "I just came to help you, Toodle. I have been watching you trying to roll that big log into the water. It is too much for you, so I'll help. Let me get hold of it."
