THE TALE THAT GREW AND GREW

A new cut to the gossip pattern sews up an animal world boner very neatly and then has even more fun unravelling it. An aging crow gets in on the tail end of a mouse's summer complaint to the beaver that even the creek water is too warm for comfort. Thinking the beaver has boiled the mouse, the crow tells the very next animal she meets of the awful deed which grows to such proportions that war on the beavers is declared. It is the bear who saves the day- by asking each rumor spreader right back down the line exactly what he had heard.