Thornton W. Burgess

“ Joe Otter, yet if there wasn’t a Mrs. Joe how was it that Grandfather Frog and Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat, all three, had seemed to see two little brown heads where the Laughing Brook comes into the Smiling Pool. For a while they talked it over between themselves. Each was sure that he had seen two. It was only for a moment and then there was nothing to be seen. It was all very mysterious.
“There must be something the matter with our eyes,” declared Jerry. “Little Joe is such an uneasy fellow that he never would be content to settle down with a home of his own. ”

“ The next instant they were rolling over and over in the snow, snarling, spitting, growling, biting and clawing at each other. Now Yowler likes to fight on his back, so that he can use those great, stout hind feet of his to rip and tear. But an Otter, like other members of the Weasel family, can twist and turn in a marvelous way. So the young Otter managed to keep out of reach of those clawing hind feet. ”

“ Of all the little Quaddies who live in the Green Meadows, the Smiling Pool and the Green Forest, none is more surprising than Little Joe Otter. He is full of surprises, is Little Joe. He has a way of suddenly bobbing up and just as suddenly disappearing, which makes him one of the hardest of all the little people to get acquainted with. Just when you think there is no one around, up bobs Little Joe and gives you a surprise. ”

“ Of all the puzzled people in all the Great World none was more puzzled than was the young Otter whose big fish had disappeared. He had certainly killed that fish. He had even taken two big bites out of the choicest part of it. So he knew that the fish couldn't have flopped off the ice into the water while he was away. He had been gone only a few minutes, just long enough to get his sister and bring her over to see that big fish. ”

“ The wise will never scorn retreat
When facing swift and sure defeat.
Little Joe Otter. Yes, Sir, it certainly looked bad for that young Otter fighting with Yowler the Bobcat. It looked very much as if in the end Yowler would have that dinner of tender, young Otter for which he was fighting. Such a snarling and spitting! Such a thrashing about in the snow, as they rolled over and over! Never had Yowler fought harder. ”

“ It seemed to him a dreadful thing to lose a toe.
“What is losing your toe compared with losing your life?” his father asked.
“But perhaps I won’t lose my life,” protested the young Otter.
“Yes, you will,” replied Little Joe Otter. “It is just as certain as it is that you are now caught in this trap. I can’t help you; your mother can’t help you; no one can help you. That two-legged creature who set this dreadful trap will come to see if any one has been caught in it. Then he’ll kill you. If you want this to happen rather than lose that toe, why I may as well go back to your mother and sister. ”

“ Joe had been almost as much frightened as Old Man Coyote, and they ran too. But they didn't run far. Oh, my, no! Their love was too strong for that. They dived into the little pool, but almost at once their brown heads appeared again, as they turned to see what new danger threatened their darling. ”

“ But he had gone only a short distance after passing Farmer Brown's boy when his sharp ears heard a faint splash in a little pool just ahead. Instantly he dropped flat on his stomach and began to crawl forward an inch at a time, his eyes blazing with eagerness and his pointed ears cocked forward. Presently he saw Little Joe Otter and Mrs. Joe swimming, and a great disappointment swept over him. He knew that they were far too smart to be caught by him. ”

“ Their curiosity satisfied, they would bound ahead to catch up.
"If that smallest Otter will just drop far enough behind so that I can get her alone, I think I'll have an Otter dinner," muttered Yowler. "Those youngsters have got to see everything that is to be seen. They are like all other youngsters, full of curiosity and heedless. They probably think they are quite able to take care of themselves. It certainly will be worth while to follow them for awhile. I haven't anything better to do. Besides, I will go a long way for an Otter dinner." ”

“ Each of you must promise not to once use that little path we have made across the point to reach that other bend in the brook."
"But can't we slide any more?" asked one young Otter, looking very much disappointed. "There won't be any fun if we can’t go sliding."
"It is better to go without fun than to lose your life," said Little Joe Otter gravely. "However, we will make a new slippery slide. There is one thing more: If one of you should find a dead fish, keep away from it." ”

“ Despite the shortness of her legs, the young Otter moved fast. But with his longer legs Yowler moved faster. By the time she was back on the trail Yowler was only a jump behind her. Never was there a more frightened youngster in all the Great World than was that young Otter. ”

“ Otter were out of sight, and her brother was just disappearing over the top of a little ridge.
"I'm sure I saw something move over there," said the wilful young Otter, looking back at the little tree. "I'm sure I did. It won't take but a minute to go over and find out. Mother always has said that we should learn all we can. How can we learn if we don't try to find out about things? There certainly won't be any harm in looking under that little tree." ”

“ You see, Little Joe is just as smart in making a home as he is in everything else. Little Joe believes that a home is just for those who live there, and therefore that it is a secret which no one else should know. ”

“ He turned his head, and the young Otter saw as fierce a pair of eyes as he had ever looked into. They were round and yellow. Whitey snapped and hissed. Then he turned so as to face them. He still clutched the fish in his claws. Little Joe Otter snarled and bounded towards him. Whitey hesitated only a second, then spread his broad wings and silently flew away, taking the fish with him. Little Joe was too big for him to fight with.
So it was the Young Otter made the acquaintance of Whitey the Snowy Owl, and learned that there is always an explanation for a mystery. ”

“ But that terrible two-legged creature will give us no peace. There is a trap now at the foot of our new slippery slide."
"You are quite right, my dear," replied Mrs. Otter. "I am worried to death for fear, in spite of all their watchfulness, one of the children will get caught in a terrible trap and be killed. I think the sooner we move along the better. Safety is the most important thing." ”

“ That trapper has been watching us. He knows that I have been using this old log. He probably knows all the other places where we are in the habit of going. We must find out where those traps are."
Just then Little Joe heard a splash in the water. There was Mrs. Joe with a trout in her mouth. He called her over there, and showed her the trap and where it had been set. "Where are the children?" he demanded.
"They are fishing," replied Mrs. Otter, with a most anxious look in her eyes. "We must find them at once. They never have seen a trap and they know nothing about traps. ”

“ Peter doesn't like the water himself, but when he has to he can swim. He couldn't remember ever having been as much afraid of the water as those two Otter children, not even when he was a very little fellow. And that seemed funny, too. In fact, Peter couldn't understand it at all. Here were two babies whose father and mother were among the best swimmers in the world, and yet they couldn't get their two youngsters into the water. ”

“ No men lived near that part of the Big River. There was green forest on both banks. There were snug, dry, hiding-places, and Little Joe knew them all. They would stay until spring and then work down the Big River and so return to the Laughing Brook from which they had started.
The young Otters liked this place. They soon had a fine slippery slide on which to play when they were not sleeping or fishing. It was fun to explore under the ice along the banks of the Big River. It was fun to catch a fish and climb out on the ice to eat it. ”

“ So many things happen every day to the little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows that they do not think of any one thing very long. Two days after the mysterious disappearance of his big fish the young Otter had stopped thinking about it. ”

“ His mouth began to water at the smell of the fish.
"There isn't a particle of danger," said the foolish young Otter. "There wouldn't be a trap way up here, anyway. I want that fish and I'm going to have it." ”

“ Little Joe Otter.
Do you know that you can learn things by sitting perfectly still? You can. That is, you can if you use your eyes and use your ears and all the other senses that Old Mother Nature has given you. Peter Rabbit discovered it quite by accident. You know how curious he is. It seems as if his curiosity never can be satisfied.
On the day that Little Joe Otter invited him to call at his home and then promptly disappeared, Peter could think of nothing but that home, and wonder where it was. Whenever he got the chance he went over to the Green Forest to look for Little Joe and his home. ”

“ Little Joe Otter's foolish young son, who had found a dead fish at the back of a little pen of sticks on the edge of the water, remembered the warning to leave dead fish alone. But he was hungry, and it wouldn't take but a second to get that fish.
"Father and mother were just trying to scare us," he repeated to himself. "I guess they don't realize that I am big enough to take care of myself. It won't be long before I will be leaving them and going out into the Great World for myself, anyway. ”

“ Listening, Sammy was almost jealous. “If I had as beautiful a voice as that to go with my beautiful coat there would be no one in the world to compare with me,” he thought, quite forgetting that a beautiful character is far more to be desired than a beautiful voice or a beautiful coat. A splash in the still little pool below him reminded him what he was waiting for. Eagerly he peered down. Little Joe Otter was just swimming towards the shore, and at the top of the bank where it was steepest and smoothest were Mrs. Joe and the two Otter children. ”

“ THE FIRST SWIMMING LESSON
You’ll never learn to float on sand,
Nor swim by staying on the land.
Little Joe Otter.
One morning Peter Rabbit was a little late in getting over to the home of Little Joe Otter. When he got there, there was not a sign of the two brown Otter children at the doorway of their home between the roots of the big tree. “It must be,” thought Peter, “that they have gone off hunting. I wonder if I can find them if I look for them.”
Just then his ears caught the sound of splashing in the Laughing Brook. ”

“ The Green Meadows and the Green Forest and the Old Pasture were deep with snow. Only those who, like Johnny Chuck and Nimble Heels the Jumping Mouse and Striped Chipmunk and Bobby Coon, were asleep in their snug homes, or, like Paddy the Beaver and Jerry Muskrat, had plenty to eat close by their houses, had nothing to worry about. Those who had to hunt for their food were having a hard time of it. They always do in winter.
Little Joe Otter and his family had cause for worry. You know they live on fish. ”