A FRIENDSHIP TALE

CHAPTER 3

Miena didn't hold her unfortunate experience against Dooro. They continued to meet and talk every day, at least for a while, as he was busier than ever. The snow pack was melting and the waters of the tributary swelled, forcing the beaver colony to abandon their lodges, if only temporarily. Dooro explained to Miena that this was actually a good thing because the more water the dam could hold back, the more water there would be to fill new canals and underwater plunge holes so necessary to escape enemies. Now that the trees closest to the lake were gone they had to travel further afield, and each additional canal lined with underwater escape burrows might mean life or death. Through Dooro, Miena came to understand a beaver's passion for dam building.

Along with the increased flow of water and abundant greenery came an explosion of new family members. Besides the coot and merganser ducks with their ducklings, three of the mallard couples were showing off their new broods. Except for their more subdued coloring, Miena thought all the ducklings were adorable miniatures of their parents. For the first time she knew a new yearning and couldn't wait to discuss it with Dooro.

"Do you plan on having a family one day?" she asked the beaver as he lie sunning himself lazily on his back. He flipped to his stomach.

"Yes. I do. A couple weeks ago, as a matter of fact, I was considering it."

Miena was surprised. "You didn't tell me."

"No, I didn't think to. I came across a fresh mound of mud an unfamiliar beaver had put onto a fallen log. She had shaped it into a cone. It smelled... marvelous." He stretched his chin out onto his forefeet and closed his eyes, savoring the memory.

Miena didn't have a clue as to why mud would smell marvelous. "That's.... nice. I have thought about it, too. Not mud, of course -- but having a family. But then..."

Dooro sensed Miena's depression. Knowing she was an outcast from her own kind and unlikely to attract a mate, it occurred to him a distraction was in order. "Look, there's my mother with my brothers."

Sure enough, the mother beaver was swimming across the lake in their direction with her two kits straddling her tail. After passing by a pair of ducks also giving rides to their ducklings, they came right up to Miena and Dooro. The beaver kits immediately abandoned their mother and began leaping onto Dooro and then tumbling over one another.

"Boys, behave yourselves," their mother admonished sternly. To Dooro she said, "Your father and I are about to cut down a big spruce tree. Will you watch your baby brothers?"

Dooro's eyes twinkled. He'd already seen Miena fluff her feathers in anticipation. "That will be fine, mother. Maybe I will give them another lesson on dam building."

The mother beaver smiled her beaver smile and nodded serenely, fully trusting her oldest son. She didn't object to Miena. She'd decided it was an odd friendship, but after all, ducks are no threat to beavers. She returned to the water with a gentle slap of her tail and Dooro, Miena, and the kits all followed her as far as the dam.

Once at the dam Dooro began explaining the fine art of dam building. He told them a dam needs to be wider at the bottom than the top. That instead of one big tree being used as a foundation, many saplings and limbs of older trees heavy with brush go into the construction. Then branches are laid side by side in line with the direction of the current and anchored into the mud by rocks and stones, so as not to wash away. With a web of interlaced branches acting like a net, all manner of driftwood and debris are entrapped. Dooro explained that once the foundation is laid, to be watertight the dam needs a plaster of mud, pebbles, and grasses and that this plastering of mud must be done on the upstream side first or it will wash away. And finally, the heaviest logs are added to the dam on the downstream side and pushed against it at right angles for more strength.

Being only three weeks old, Dooro's brothers were hardly attentive. They perked up, however, at the mention of mud. "We want to plaster. Can we do that?" they begged.

It was what Dooro had in mind.

He took them to the bottom of the pond where he showed them how to scoop up armfuls of mud, old leaves and pebbles. His forepaws with their five toes and strong claws were particularly dexterous, and with the support of his paddle-like tail he could walk on his hind legs underwater. Arms full, Dooro actually walked up the side of the eight-foot dam to the surface where he began shoving mud into place with paws and snout. In following his example, the beaver kits were barely successful. Because of their size and underdeveloped coordination, mud melted from their grasp and they quickly discovered stealing Dooro's was an easier way to plaster. He good-naturedly allowed it, although a lot of mud seemed to be drifting back from where it came.

After one dive, Miena was content to stay on the surface and enjoy the young beavers enjoying themselves. She was impressed that animals so young would be so industrious, but eventually their playfulness got the better of them. It was after Dooro's fifth dive that his baby brothers decided mud had a better use. First they began patting it on Dooro, and then themselves, and finally Miena. But the mud war was self-limiting because by that time Dooro had no intentions of gathering more mud.

Then they turned to Miena. It occurred to the beaver kits they could pretend to be ducklings and be ferried about. Over Dooro's strenuous objections Miena went along with it, looking decidedly waterlogged, or rather, beaver-logged. She traveled beside the dam towards the bank, figuring to get out once she grew too tired to carry her passengers. They were having a wonderful time, drawing looks of amusement from other ducks as well as beavers.

Suddenly close by there was a noise as loud as a pistol shot -- so loud it could be heard half a mile away. Immediately other loud pops followed, some fainter, as distant beavers sounded the alarm with their tails. Those in the pond reacted by diving or flying, but Miena did neither. One of the kits dove instantly but the other kit seemed confused and was swimming towards the bank. With bone-chilling fear Miena saw Aiera, the dark-gray wolf, loping along the bank in their direction.

Without thinking, and on the pure instincts of a mother duck, she raised a hue and cry as loud as her lungs would permit. "Quack-wack-wack. Quack-wack-wack." Half flying, half pushing the water with her feet she rushed to put herself between the kit and Aiera. The same instant the wolf saw the young beaver he heard and saw the duck. It's automatic that predators attack the weakest and Miena knew instinctively to become vulnerable. She began flapping one wing and bobbing spasmodically, all the while keeping up her "Quack-wack-wack," as though she was in great pain.

The ruse worked. Aiera couldn't resist a wounded duck. He crashed into the pond, water spraying everywhere. His muzzle was only inches away and when he opened wide his mouth Miena saw his fangs. Out of the corner of her eye she also saw the second beaver kit dive to safety. In front of Aiera's eyes she healed instantly, flying up and away to a tree where she could safely watch his reaction.

The thwarted wolf leaped about in the water, sniffing and growling. All the beavers had disappeared and the ducks were either in the trees or had paddled to a safe distance. Aiera's tongue drooled from unanticipated loss and unable to accept defeat, he actually began swimming towards the ducks at the center of the pond. With exaggerated nonchalance they easily outdistanced him and he finally gave up.

Half an hour later the pond's residents were back to doing what they'd been doing before the wolf appeared, except for Dooro, Miena and the kits who stayed close to the family lodge at the center of the pond. While the kits swam and played, Dooro and Miena talked, keeping a wary eye on the bank.

Dooro was in awe. "That was marvelous what you did."

Determined to remain modest, Miena dipped her head in the water several times. Droplets of water rolled and splashed off her back and feathers. "My parents did that for me. It's something we ducks do."

"Well, I still think it was marvelous," insisted Dooro.

"The place where I live in the wintertime has more than one wolf. They usually live in packs, you know," said Miena changing the subject.

The thought both intrigued and terrified the beaver. "I have never heard of that."

"Well, I've seen it," she assured him.

Miena's worldly knowledge never failed to impress Dooro and after the events of that day, he had even more respect for her. As for the duck, she basked in his respect.