COUNTRY HUMOR
Dam problems
By Jack S. Bray

Once upon a time, a beaver built a dam across a small stream. The rains came and the beaver pond began to fill with water.

"I have more water than I need to irrigate my crops," thought the beaver. So he invited his neighbors--a frog, an otter and a blackbird--to use the water in the pond.

The beaver made a small hole in the pond dam and shared his water with the other animals. The beaver used water from the pond to grow crops. The frog sat and soaked in the water that flowed from the hole in the dam. The otter romped and played in the stream of water. The blackbird bathed and preened himself in the flow from the pond dam.

Each evening, after the animals had used the water, the beaver plugged the hole in the dam.

"You can't do that," said the frog. "The water keeps my skin moist. Without it, I would wrinkle up."

"Don't stop the water," said the otter. "I enjoy playing in the water, and you are interfering with my recreation."

"I must bathe day and night to keep my beautiful black feathers shiny," said the blackbird. "You have no right to plug the water hole."

So the beaver unplugged the hole in the dam to let the water run all the time. The frog soaked and croaked, the otter frisked and splashed, the blackbird washed and primped.

Then one day it stopped raining. It didn't rain for several days. The water in the pond got lower and lower until there was only a small trickle from the hole in the dam.

"I will build the dam higher," said the beaver. "That way, when it rains again, we can save more water in the pond against those times when it doesn't rain."

"No way," said the frog. "If we have a bigger pond, other frogs will want to come here."

"I'm against it," said the otter. "This was the right-size stream to play in."

"Leave it just the way it is," said the blackbird.

"It's my dam," said the beaver. "I built it, and I can make it higher if I want to."

But the other animals went to court and sued to get an injunction against the beaver's construction. Government agents from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior appeared in court to argue on the side of the frog, the otter and the blackbird. The judge issued an injunction forbidding any work on the pond dam.

So the beaver packed up his tools and left to find another stream to dam. Before long, the area around the pond grew up in weeds and brush. It no longer produced crops, nor did it provide any recreation for frogs, otters or blackbirds.

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