“I can’t understand it, I can’t understand it.” he chattered as he ran back and forth along the branches of the tree. “I can’t understand why they’re sharing all this work together. Why don’t they just collect the food for themselves and not bother with each other?
He felt he should talk to someone about it and he wondered if Malak, the great owl, was awake at the top of the tree. Scampering back and forth, Jumping from branch to branch, sometimes running up the trunk, he arrived at the top of the tree and there, with his eyes half opened, sat Malak, the owl.
“Hey there, Malak,” said Tic Tac, wakening him, “why do they do it? Why are they doing that?” he chattered.
“Why are who doing what?” asked Malak, somewhat grumpily, not used to being awakened during the day.
“Well, they’re all sharing the work and they’re all gathering the food together. I don’t see why they do it.”
“What are you talking about, Tic Tac?” asked Malak, now thoroughly awake and rather interested in what excited the squirrel so much.
“Well, when I gather my food for the winter, when I go out and gather all my nuts, I keep them all over the forest in little piles, that only I know about, and so do all the other squirrels. We keep our own supply of food all to ourselves, but not these beavers, they don’t do that at all. They’re working together, sharing the work and, I suppose they’re going to share all the food later on.”
“Indeed they are,” said Malak. “There busy beavers are very smart. You watch them closely; you’ll see some of them working on the dam; some of them are teaching the other, younger beavers how to swim properly; and look over there, notice Brown Beaver teaching the kits how to gnaw through a sapling so that it falls down where they want it to fall; and then all the others gather the saplings in their beaver lodge. They share their work, they share responsibility of teaching one another; of course, they share their lodge, and then during the winter they have all that food to share together. It’s such a happy way of living, each helping the other.”
“I don’t like it,” said Tic Tac, “I just don’t like it.”
“Well,” said Malak, “of course you don’t, but that’s because you are a squirrel and we all know that squirrel are very independent little animals and that’s the way you do it, so don’t worry about it. But, if you were really smart, all you squirrels would get together and share your supply of nuts. I’m sure you forget where you put half of them.”
“Well,” said Tic Tac, thinking hard, “as a matter of fact I do, I just can’t remember where they all go.”
“You see,” said Malak, “if you were sharing your supplies, you would have a great supply of nuts that would last all the squirrels throughout the winter.”
Tic Tac said, “That’s a great idea. I’m going to talk to all the other squirrels about it.” And, with that, he ran off chattering, looking for the other squirrels.
Malak, who knew the squirrels pretty well, didn’t think he’d have much success. But, before he dozed off to sleep again, he had one last look at the pond. He smiled as he saw the beavers. “Yes, they’re pretty smart, these fellows are, they know how to work and play and share together. They’ll have a good winter. They’ll have lots of food. Ho - hum,” he thought, “if I weren’t an owl I think I might be a beaver!”