After her run Winkie began to feel a bit thirsty, as most wild animals do when they journey fast through the woods or fields. The wily little woodchuck looked about for some water to drink. Winkie could smell water as you smell cookies baking in your mother’s oven, and it did not take the ground-hog girl long to reach a little stream. She was thirstily drinking when, all of a sudden, she heard a noise.
She stopped drinking, and looked across the little brook. There she saw, sitting on the opposite bank, a brown animal, not very much different from herself, except as to the tail. This animal had a broad, flat tail, marked in scales like those of a fish, while the tail of Winkie was round and covered with fur. And, as she looked, somehow or other Winkie did not feel that this strange animal would harm her.
“Who are you?” asked Winkie.
“I am Toto,” was the answer.
“You aren’t a woodchuck, I know,” said Winkie. “Are you a muskrat?”
“No. But I can swim under water,” answered Toto. “I am the bustling beaver, if you please. And who are you?”
“Oh, I am Winkie, the wily woodchuck, and I’m lost!” came the answer. “Why do they call you a bustling beaver? Have you seen any of my family?”
“My! You are very fond of asking questions!” laughed Toto. “But I will do my best to answer you. I am a beaver, because I was born a beaver, that’s all I can tell you about that.
“But the reason I am called ‘bustling’ is because I am such a fast worker. I bustle about, digging canals, making dams, cutting down trees, and all such work as that. And I’ll soon have to run along and help build a new dam we beavers are putting across the brook.”
“What’s a dam?” asked Winkie.