FOREWORD 
I LLUSTRATING this book has given me an unusual hap¬ 
piness. There was no need to search for scenes adaptable 
to a translation into the graphic arts, as every line of this 
book seems to breathe life and activity, while the scenic 
descriptions seem to actually send forth the green coolness of 
the beaver’s surroundings. 
By executing the drawings directly on lithographic plates, 
we are using a medium with the widest range of tone values 
in black and white and the greatest accuracy in reproducing 
the slightest pressure of the pencil, which in the ordinary 
photo-engraving process is usually lost. 
As regards the hero of the story, I think that we see our 
beaver in quite a new light. His nocturnal habits and his pro¬ 
tective measure of surrounding his home with deep water has 
made him a stranger to most of us. But, through this book, 
we all of a sudden discover in him a brave and skilled laborer, 
who harms nobody, but sets a fine example through his ability 
and his wonderful attitude toward the tragedies in his life. 
Signed KURT WlESE, 
Frenchtown, New Jersey. 
9 
