The Originals: The Beaver’s Sacrifice

DESCRIPTION

The Beaver’s Sacrifice is a story about a little Beaver’s sacrifice to save his community.

Colour a scence from the story

Transcript

“Ouch!” screamed little Chewy, the beaver, as a log fell on his tail.

“Are you alright?” called out mummy, rushing toward Chewy. “My tail hurts but luckily the log didn't fall on my head!” little Chewy said, trying to smile.
“Don't worry,” said mummy patting his head, “You'll be fine soon.”
Over the next few days, Chewy just hung around at the bank of the river while all the beavers were busy building the dam before the river froze for the winter.

Children,  a dam is like a barrier built to hold water forming a reservoir

Have you heard of a river dam before? How big do you think it is?

Well, It’s even taller than your parents!

Listen to the story

In a couple of weeks, the tail healed and little Chewy decided to help out in making the dam.

Excitedly, little Chewy nibbled a tree trunk and carefully carried it to the river.

Plonk! He jumped and moved to the centre of the river where other beavers were setting the logs and claying them to build a strong dam.

But little Chewy could not manoeuvre himself in the river. He started wondering what was wrong and why he was not able to move his tail according to his wishes.

Children, why do you think he couldn’t move himself?

You’ll soon find out 

Suddenly, there was a gush of water and little Chewy was carried away by the currents.

“Help! Help!” he screamed.

All the beavers stopped and, realizing what was happening, rushed towards little Chewy.

Luckily there was a flat area where the flow of the water was not strong.

The beavers circled him and helped him ashore.

“Looks like the tail is damaged!” whispered a cousin.

Mummy, comforting little Chewy, expressed, “Looks like your tail is damaged and so you must not go to the middle of the river.”
“But how will I help in building the dam?” retorted little Chewy.

“You may cut the logs and pass them to us. That's an important job too,” Mummy suggested.

Little Chewy was sad, but agreed.

Every day, little Chewy helped a little but most of the time he just hung around by the side of the river.

One day, as he was sawing on a tree to cut it for the dam, he stopped halfway and saw that the log resembled his mother’s face.

He was elated and he sculpted it for a few more days.

Little Chewy carved out the details so that it resembled his mother.

Everyone admired his piece of art and that support encouraged him to keep carving things out of logs.

What kind of things do you think Chewy carved?

Well, days slipped by and he made trees, squirrels, birds, etc. from the logs of wood.

Everyone was in awe of his sculpturing skills.

One day, he saw a huge tree with a big tree trunk and decided to make his family sculpture: mom, dad, his two siblings and himself. He meticulously started carving, engrossed in it day and night.

The winters were fast approaching and the beaver community was frantically rushing to build the dam.

Far in one corner, Little Chewy was painstakingly working day and night to give the final touches to his family sculpture.

One day he overheard his uncles discussing with his father, “Winter is here early. We have already had the first snowfall. The water in the river will freeze much before its time and we haven't finished the dam yet.”

“That is indeed true, let us put in all our energies into completing the dam,” the father urged the whole community.

Children, can you name the season that comes right before winter? That’s right, it’s the  Fall season ! The leaves fall from the tree and then winter comes in with cooler temperatures.

As luck would have it, that night there was more snow and the temperature dipped further.

The next morning everyone worked felling trees, carrying them to the river, and placing them in the dam in the right position.

It felt like the beavers and the weather were having a race.

Children, would the beavers complete the dam or would the weather freeze the river first?

Finally, only the last piece was left to be fixed, but the beavers were exhausted. They couldn’t move at all.

The only beaver with any strength left was Chewy. He turned to the river and his family, noticing that they were exhausted, and looked around for a tree to fix the last piece. Alas, there was none.

What would you do if you were Chewy and couldn’t find any more pieces left to make the dam?

Let’s see what happens in the story.

Finally, he gazed as his beautiful family structure, noticing all of the intricacies he had spent so much time detailing. He picked it up and carried it carefully to the river. Then he requested, “Please put this as the last piece in the dam for we do not have much time left.”

“But this is so pretty and you been working so hard at it,” his cousins said.

Little Chewy insisted, “We cannot lose time as the top layer of the river has already frozen. You all saved my life. If it wasn't for you all I wouldn’t have been alive today. So, this is just a token of appreciation, please accept it.”

That sculpture became the final piece in the dam.

“Hurray! Thanks Little Chewy for sacrificing your sculpture,” shouted all the beavers. “We’ll all be safe this winter!”

Now the community was safe. The lake formed by the dam was deep and the water didn't freeze, saving the beaver community and their nest.