The young Otter thought he was very unlucky. He said so. He couldn’t see that there was anything lucky about it. Then Little Joe explained.
“That trap,” said he, “has got you only by one toe. It might have you by the whole foot. If it had you by the whole foot, and that is the way the trapper meant that it should catch you, there would be very little hope for you. As it is, if you pull hard enough, you may lose your toe, but that will be all.”
“But I don’t want to lose my toe!” wailed the young Otter.
“All right,” replied Little Joe. “If you had rather lose your life than your toe, there is nothing I can do about it. You can get free if you really want to, but the price of freedom will be that toe.”
CHAPTER XXIX
THE YOUNG OTTER PAYS THE PRICE
If life and freedom be the cost,
What matter if a toe is lost?
Little Joe Otter.
Have you ever tried to make up your mind to have an aching tooth pulled? If you have, you remember what hard work it was and how you kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off. It was the same way with the young Otter caught in a steel trap by one toe. His father, Little Joe Otter, had told him that there was only one way in which he could gain freedom, and that was by losing that toe. He had told him that he would have to lose that toe or lose his life.
But the young Otter didn’t want to lose his toe. He said so over and over. He just couldn’t make up his mind to it. It seemed to him a dreadful thing to lose a toe.