“THAT’S BILLY BEAVER,” EXPLAINED REYNARD REDFOX, YAWNING. “HE IS CALLING FOR US TO GET UP.”
“That is Billy Beaver,” again explained Reynard Redfox, yawning. “He is calling for us to get up. We have just an hour in which to eat our breakfasts.”
“Who gets breakfast for us?” asked Tiny, feeling much out of place in the strange new land.
“Each one gets his own breakfast, of course,” replied Reynard, much amused. “We all require different kinds of food; and Miss Hare does not care how or where we get it, if we keep from injuring one another.”
“Katie Goose, who is very cleanly, takes a swim in the creek, and hunts for seeds along the bank; Sammy Rabbit, a relative of Miss Hare, hunts for grain; and Winkie Weasel chases insects and catches frogs. Since I have become civilized, I am particularly fond of grapes, although I am never so happy as when strawberry season comes round.
“Shifty Woodchuck has less trouble in searching for his breakfast than any other pupil, for he goes to a field of red clover or wild buckwheat, and many a time he eats until he is not in good condition to study. Shifty is a sleepy little animal. He spends the winter in a nest of dried grasses that he builds in a hole in the ground. When the cold weather comes, he will get sleepy and will lay aside his studies to prepare for a long rest. Maybe he will sleep all winter, for no other animal sleeps so long or so soundly as the woodchuck.”
It took Tiny but a few moments to smooth down his silken fur and to brush out his bushy tail. With a shrill cry of delight, he sprang from his new home and ran out into the bracing, frosty air. He sped over the willow brush that surrounded the village of quaint beaver houses, and soon found himself in an oak tree where there were plenty of ripe acorns, moist with dew.
Hardly had he finished his breakfast when again he heard the tail of the beaver pounding heavily. He hastened back to the cluster of beaver houses with their round domes. Little animals of all kinds were bustling about on their way to the various recitation rooms. Billy Beaver, the janitor, told Tiny that he should go into the auditorium, which was the largest building of all. There he found Miss Hare, sitting behind a rough, wooden table. She wore a gray robe and a pair of large earrings. Her spectacles were so heavy that her eyes seemed very large; but he at once decided that she must be a kind teacher, as her voice was soft and gentle.
