Paddy the Beaver listened to all that his small cousin, Jerry Muskrat, had to tell him about the trouble which Paddy's dam had caused in the Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool.  
“You see, we who live in the Smiling Pool love it dearly, and we don't want to have to leave it, but if the water cannot run down the Laughing Brook, there can be no Smiling Pool, and so we will have to move off to the Big River,” concluded Jerry Muskrat. “That is why I tried to spoil your dam.”
 
There was a twinkle in the eyes of Paddy the Beaver as he replied: “Well, now that you have found out that you can't do that, because I am bigger than you and can stop you, what are you going to do about it?”
 
“I don't know,” said Jerry Muskrat sadly. “I don't see what we can do about it. Of course you are big and strong and can do just as you please, but it doesn't seem right that we who have lived here so long should have to move and go away from all that we love so just because you, a stranger, happen to want to live here. I tell you what!” Jerry's eyes sparkled as a brand new thought came to him. “Couldn't you come down and live in the Smiling Pool with us? I'm sure there is room enough!”
 
Paddy the Beaver shook his head. “No,” said he, and Jerry's heart sank. “No, I can't do that because down there there isn't any of the kind of food I eat. Besides, I wouldn't feel at all safe in the Smiling Pool. You see, I always live in the woods. No, I couldn't possibly come down to live in the Smiling Pool. But I'm truly sorry that I have made you so much worry, Cousin Jerry, and I'm going to prove it to you. Now you sit right here until I come back.”
 
Before Jerry realized what he was going to do, Paddy the Beaver dived into the pond, and as he disappeared, his broad tail hit the water such a slap that it made Jerry jump. Then there began a great disturbance down under water. In a few minutes up bobbed a stick, and then another and another, and the water grew so muddy that Jerry couldn't see what was going............