And when the young beaver finds his
pie opened and closed again, he knows that there is a mate there
somewhere waiting for him. But the poor bank beaver never finds his
mate, and the next winter must go back to his solitary den. He is much
more easily caught than other beavers, and the trappers say it is
because he is lonely and tired of life.
The second theory is that generally held by Indians. They say the bank
beaver is lazy and refuses to work with the others; so they drive him
out. When beavers are busy they are very busy, and tolerate no
loafing. Perhaps he even tries to persuade them that all their work is
unnecessary, and so shares the fate of reformers in general.
While examining the den of a bank beaver last summer another theory
suggested itself. Is not this one of the rare animals in which all the
instincts of his kind are lacking? He does not build because he has no
impulse to build; he does not know how. So he represents what the
beaver was, thousands of years ago, before he learned how to construct
his dam and house, reappearing now by some strange freak of heredity,
and finding himself wofully out of place and time. The other beavers
drive him away because all gregarious animals and birds have a strong
fear and dislike of any irregularity in their kind.
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