WHEN LITTLE BEAR VISITED THE BEA VERS 63



them plastered, but we do all that work with our hands.
We are always busy, and now you know what it means
to be 'busy as a beaver.' Well, Baby Bear, you must
be hungry, so let us go in to supper."
  Baby Bear did n't like his supper as well as he did his
dinner, because all Mother Beaver had prepared was
bark of trees, willow bark particularly.
  "Bedtime, Baby Bear. Come, Baby Bear," called
Sally Beaver at sunset.
  "Oh, but I am going to sit up all night, Sally Beaver,
and see Father Beaver build his new house!" cried Little
Bear.
  "But, Baby Bear, he won't build his new house until
frost comes!" exclaimed Sally Beaver. "He is getting
the materials ready now, and cutting down trees for us
to eat bark from in the winter. He is working on our
new house, of course, but the work he is doing now is
floating trees down the river. Cuddle down and go to
sleep, Baby Bear. You can come again in October and
see the new house."
  Tears rolled down Baby Bear's cheeks, but he cuddled
down beside the little Beaver children and tried to go
to sleep.
  "Swish, swish! Swish, swish!" sang the river close