Shay’s Imagination           

                        Chapter 1

                  The Beaver Lodge

Shay was born with a big imagination.  Big enough to do

anything and everything.   Her imagination could move the

biggest mountain and fly to the highest star.  Shay lived

beside a river bed of marshland, where a beaver family had

its lodge. Mama and Papa beaver had three kits, Billy, Randy,

and Lizzie. Billy was the reckless one, always getting into

trouble. Randy was cautious and considerate and never once

got in trouble. Lizzie was very ambitious and always helpful to

her parents. You might say she was a busy little beaver.

Mama and Papa beaver were very proud of their lodge.

Papa beaver liked to brag about their lodge to anyone who

would listen. Of course, there was always a lot of repair work

to be done because the logs would often shift in the water.

- 2 -

And then there was Billy.  He helped with the repairs but often

as not he ended up playing with the building materials and

things would be worse after than before he began to help.

Randy was usually there to stop him before things got really

out of hand.

The turtles living near by always kept a wary eye open for

Billy's presence. Nothing the turtles loved better than to sun

tan on a log. A bunch of them would line up on a log for a bit

of rest and sun tanning.

Billy would sneak up quietly and twist the log, laughing his

head off when they all plopped into the water.

They wondered how they could ever repay him with a trick

of their own. One day they had an idea; they tied the end of

Billy's favorite balancing log to a tree.  When Billy showed up

to drag his log to the river, the turtles were all there to watch

him.

 - 3 -

"Let us see how strong you are, Billy," they called out to him.

"You are strong enough to tilt our log and make us plunge into

the water.  Are you strong enough to pull your log out to the

stream?"

"Nothing to it," said Billy.

He began to pull on the log.  He moaned and groaned but the

log did not budge.

"What is the matter, Billy, didn't have your breakfast this

morning?"

The turtles enjoyed the scene.

After a lot of pulling and tugging, Billy discovered the rope.

He blushed and must have turned red as a beet.

After that the turtles were left to suntan in peace.

- 4 -

One day the beaver living up stream came rushing over, he

was all excited.

"A big, huge log is drifting down the river heading straight

toward your lodge," he yelled

Everybody panicked.

Papa beaver said "everybody out of the lodge."

The only thing going through Billy's head was just how big a

crash it would be.  Randy had a lot of study material that he

wanted to save and Lizzie gathered up all her valuable

ornaments.

The big log was getting very close.

"Time to leave!"  Papa Beaver shouted.

It wasn't the big crash that Billy was expecting, but the tail

end of the big log damaged the lodge. 

"What will we do now," said Mama beaver. "There isn't enough

time to do the repairs before dark."

- 5 -

Papa beaver said "we have to try.  Everybody get to work."

Shay had seen the big log drift against the lodge and all the

damage it caused.  She felt really sorry for the beavers.

"I know you can do it," she shouted to the beavers as she

watched them repair their lodge.

But things didn't look so good because it would soon be dark.

It was getting dark and the lodge was not yet finished.  There 

was a full moon but the dark clouds didn't let the moon's rays

shine through.  The beavers asked Shay for help.

"Can you move the clouds for us?" they pleaded.

Shay said she would ask her imagination.

Shay's imagination flew up to the clouds.

- 6 -

"Please help us," she said.  "The beavers need to finish their

lodge but it's too dark because you are not letting the moon

shine through."

"We can't go anywhere without the wind," the clouds said.

"Yu can talk to the wind but remember the wind understands

only poetry language."

Shay's imagination then talked to the wind:

"Wind, you can be very gentle and calm,

And not blow a feather from our palm.

Some days we are not even aware of you

Because nothing shows what you can do.

But other days you really blow and howl,

Birds are tossed about, even the mighty owl.

It is then that we see leaves and dust arise,

And all clouds disappear from the skies.

So please, wind, do show me your power,

Because it is getting dark this very hour.

Make all the clouds disappear from the sky,

So the beavers can fix the lodge they occupy."

 -  7 -

After that, the imagination went back to Shay at the beaver

lodge.  Nothing was happening and it was getting dark.

"I tried," Shay said, "sorry I couldn't help."

It was time for her to go home, but as she was about to leave

the wind picked up and the clouds started to roll away.

"Whoopee!" the beavers shouted in unison. "Now we can

finish our lodge."

Shay went home very happy that her imagination worked

hard to help the beavers finish repairing their lodge.

And every day after when she passed by the beaver's lodge,

they would make a point of thanking her for all the help.

The End

AuthorErwin Schalm

IllustrationsShayla Schalm