Johnny Chuck and Striped were the only ones who were not on hand at the pond of Paddy the deep in the Green Forest at sun-up the next morning. Johnny and Striped Chipmunk were afraid to go so far from home. To the surprise of everybody, Prickly Porky was there.  
“He must have traveled all night to get here he is such a slow-poke,” said Peter Rabbit to his cousin, Jumper the Hare.
 
Peter wasn't far from the truth. But how ever he got there, there he was, reaching for lily pads from an old log which lay half in the water, and appearing very well satisfied with life. You know there is nothing like a good meal of things you like, to make everything seem just as it should.
 
Old Mother Nature seated herself on one end of Paddy's dam and called the school to order. Just as she did so a brown head popped out of the water close by and a pair of anxious eyes looked up at Old Mother Nature.
 
“It is quite all right, Paddy,” said she softly. “These little folks are trying to gain a little knowledge of themselves and other folks, and we are going to have this morning's lesson right here because it is to be about you.”
 
Paddy the Beaver no longer looked anxious. There was a sparkle in his eyes. “May I stay?” he asked eagerly. “If there is a chance to learn anything I don't want to miss it.”
 
Before Old Mother Nature could reply Peter Rabbit up. “But the lesson is to be about you and your family. Do you expect to learn anything about yourself?” he demanded, and as if he thought that a great joke.
 
“It seems to me that some one named Peter learned a great deal about his own family when he first came to school to me,” said Old Mother Nature. Peter had grace enough to hang his head and look ashamed. “Of course you may stay, Paddy. In fact, I want you to. There are some things I shall want you to explain. That is why we are holding school over here this morning. Just come up here on your dam where we can all get a good look at you.”
 
Paddy the Beaver climbed out on his dam. It was the first time Happy Squirrel ever had seen him out of water, and Happy Jack gave a little of surprise. “I had no idea he is so big!” he exclaimed.
 
“He is the biggest of all the in this country, and one of the biggest in all the Great World. Also he is the smartest member of the whole order,” said Old Mother Nature.
 
“He doesn't look it,” said Chatterer the Squirrel with a jerk of his tail.
 
“Which means, I suppose, that you haven't the least doubt that you are quite as smart as he,” said Old Mother Nature quietly, and Chatterer looked both guilty and a little bit ashamed. “I'll admit that you are smart, Chatterer, but often it is in a wrong way. Paddy is smart in the very best way. He is a lumberman, builder and engineer. A lot of my little people are workers, but they are destructive workers. The busier they are, the more they destroy. Paddy the Beaver is a worker. That means that he is a builder instead of a destroyer.”
 
“How about all those trees he cuts down? If that isn't destroying, I don't know what is!” said Chatterer, and with each word jerked his tail as if somehow his tongue and tail were connected.
 
“So it is,” replied Old Mother Nature good-naturedly. “But just think of the number of trees you destroy.”
 
“I never have destroyed a tree in my life!” declared Chatterer indignantly.
 
“Yes, you have,” retorted Old Mother Nature.
 
“I never have!” contradicted Chatterer, quite forgetting to whom he was speaking.
 
But Old Mother Nature overlooked this. “I don't suppose you ever ate a or a fat hickory nut or a sweet beechnut,” said she softly.
 
“Of course,” retorted Chatterer sharply. “I've eaten ever and ever and ever so many of them. What of it?”
 
In the heart of each one was a little tree, explained Old Mother Nature. “But for you very many of those little trees would have sprung up and some day would have made big trees. So you see for every tree Paddy has destroyed you probably have destroyed a hundred. You eat the nuts that you may live. Paddy cuts down the trees that he may live, for the bark of those trees is his food. Like Prickly Porky he lives chiefly on bark. But, unlike Prickly Porky, he doesn't destroy a tree for the bark alone. He wastes nothing. He makes use of every bit of that tree. He does something for the Green Forest in return for the trees he takes.”
 
Chatterer looked at Happy Jack and blinked in a puzzled way. Happy Jack looked at Peter Rabbit and blinked. Peter looked at Jumper the Hare and blinked. Jumper looked at Prickly Porky and blinked. Then all looked at Paddy the Beaver and finally at Old Mother Nature, and all blinked. Old Mother Nature chuckled.
 
“Don't you think the Green Forest is more beautiful because of this little pond?” she asked. Everybody nodded. “Of course,” she continued. “But there wouldn't be any little pond here were it not for Paddy and the trees he has cut. He destroyed the trees in order to make the pond. That is what I meant when I called him a constructive worker. Now I want you all to take a good look at Paddy. Then he will show us just how as a lumberman he cuts trees, as a builder he constructs houses and dams, and as an engineer he digs canals.”
 
As Paddy sat there on his dam, he looked rather like a giant member of the Rat family, though his head was more like that of a Squirrel than a Rat. His body was very thick and heavy, and in color he was dark brown, than above. there on the dam his back was rounded. All together, he was a very clumsy-looking fellow.
 
Peter Rabbit appeared to be interested in just one thing, Paddy's tail. He couldn't keep his eyes off it.
 
Old Mother Nature noticed this. “Well, Peter,” said she, “what have you on your mind now?”
 
“That tail,” replied Peter. “That's the queerest tail I've ever seen. I should think it would be heavy and dreadfully in the way.”
 
Old Mother Nature laughed. “If you ask him Paddy will tell you that that tail is the handiest tail in the Green Forest,” said she. “There isn't another like it in all the Great World, and if you'll be patient you will see just how handy it is.”
 
It was a queer-looking tail. It was broad and thick and flat, oval in shape, and covered with scales instead of hair. Just then Jumper the Hare made a discovery. “Why!” he exclaimed, “Paddy has feet like Honker the Goose!”
 
“Only my feet,” said Paddy. “They have webs between the toes just as Honker's have. That is for swimming. But there are no webs between my fingers.” He held up a hand for all to see. Sure enough, the fingers were free.
 
“Now that everybody has had a good look at you, Paddy,” said Old Mother Nature, “suppose you swim over to where you have been cutting trees. We will join you there, and then you can show us just how you work.”
 
Paddy slipped into the water, where for a second or two he floated with just his head above the surface. Then he quickly raised his broad, heavy tail and brought it down on the water with a slap that sounded like the crack of a terrible gun. It was so loud and unexpected that every one save Old Mother Nature and Prickly Porky jumped with fright. Peter Rabbit happened to be right on the edge of the dam and, because he jumped before he had time to think, he jumped right into the water with a splash. Now Peter doesn't like the water, as you know, and he out just as fast as ever he could. How the others did laugh at him.
 
“............