Kingdom of the Beavers

The Kingdom of the Beavers

     Before I start my story I would like to introduce myself and tell you what I do. My name is Arthael the explorer. I am an elf and my job, or what I like to refer to as my calling in life, is to visit cultures and lands throughout the world and write about them. I take my job very seriously and I feel I must do it properly. So, what I do to accomplish that is to find a culture I think sounds interesting, go to visit it, learn their history and everything I can about them, and then I write it down in my journey guide so I may bring it to you, my readers.

    When I first became an explorer I had heard rumors of there being a Kingdom of Beavers in a far off land and thought it would be a good place to start my career. I journeyed for many days and just as I was getting discouraged I saw an odd sight coming down the road. It was a beaver walking upright with very fine clothing on! He came up to me and said (to my surprise) “What might you be looking for my good Elf?” I replied, “I am in search of a kingdom of beavers. Do you know where it is?” He turned and pointed behind him and said, “Follow this road for about ten miles and you will reach it.” This brought a huge smile to my face and I thanked him profusely and headed off.

    After taveling many hours I came in sight of a huge wooden wall. The wall looked to be a large circle that was many miles round and there were guard towers spaced every quarter mile along it. I soon came to the main gate of the kingdom. When I reached it, I was met by a kind young beaver in what looked to be a guard outfit. He asked my name and purpose for coming to their kingdom. After explaining things to him, he took me through the gate and one of his fellow guards offered to lead me to the palace. He brought me before the King, and after I told the King my occupation and who I was, he very graciously gave me permission to write about his kingdom and said he wished to pay me handsomely. The King also provided me with a nice room in the palace, a personal guide, access to historical documents, and freedom to wander through the whole kingdom. After much research, I wrote out my story and here it is for you to read.

Please enjoy!

Arthael the Explorer

The Kingdom of the Beavers

    Long ago, in a far off land there was a colony of two hundred beavers who decided to settle along a wide river with a large lake at the end of it. These beavers were unlike any beaver we would think of, because they could talk, think, read, and walk upright like people.

    Now most beavers just build dams to live in, but this colony wanted much, much more. First off, they made a log wall that went in a twenty mile circle around part of the river and all of the lake. They also built guard towers on the wall. It took the beavers two whole years to finish. The next project to complete was the building of many beautiful houses, which took the next five years to finish.

Then they built a wooden castle right in front of the lake, which took them three more years. The castle had four towers, a ballroom, a large cellar, the royal kitchen, an armory, a treasure room, the banquet room, many bedrooms, and a throne room. Soon after the castle was finished, a king was crowned whose name was King Gnawbert the first. The royal lineage would pass on down through his descendants from oldest son to oldest son.

    The building of the kingdom did not stop after the amazing feats mentioned above had been finished. With the beaver population having reached eight-hundred there was need of more food and a way to store it. To do this they planted corn and barley, and made wooden bins that were twelve feet tall and six feet wide to store it in. To prepare the corn and barley the beavers built mills to grind it into flour. The other food sources were fishing, and huge vegetable gardens.

    With a mighty river and a beautiful lake being the centerpiece's of the Kingdom, the beavers made full use of them both. In the center of the lake, a large city was built on a large wooden platform. It had everything a beaver could want, and many of them left their houses to live there. The lake city served as the main harbor for the kingdom, with many boats, most for fishing, and some for fun. Along the river were many docks and five harbors. It was an awesome sight to go down the river and see all that the beavers had made, along with the pretty boats and the sailors sailing them.

    Now that the basic needs were met, the beavers began focusing on improving their lives. The first step they took was to figure out some simple way of recording their history. What they came up with was paper! A special forest was set aside to provide wood for producing it. When trees were ready, the beavers cut them down and sent them to the royal paper mill near the castle. At the very beginning, paper was only used by a few beavers who knew how to write. It was mainly used for keeping records of the kingdom and its history. After a few years of that King and his council felt that it would be good for the kingdom if every beaver could read and write. The goal was to have every beaver able to read by their fifth birthday (beaver years are different than human years). To accomplish this goal, schools were built and teachers trained. Every beaver child was required to go from the age of four until they reached their tenth year, which was their coming of age.

    The beavers did not like the idea of going around in just their fur all day. It wasn't sophisticated. So they made clothing for themselves out of cotton, which they grew outside the main city. Now one thing to note is that the beavers were quite finicky about their clothing and only wore the finest. The beavers could buy their clothing from stores which were located in every town or village.

    With the beaver's desire for sophistication their teeth posed a problem. The problem was that a beaver or rodents teeth grow their entire life and unless they gnaw or chew wood everyday their teeth can grow into their head and kill them. And chewing is improper or rude for any beaver to do. To remedy this problem dentistry was introduced to the kingdom. Each week all beavers were required to visit their town dentist for teeth trimming and cleaning.

    Another part of being sophisticated (by beaver standards) was to collect things such as carved animal figures, shiny stones, toys, and small trinkets. Huge fairs and bazaars were put on every year where beavers could show their collections and vendors could sell their wares of every make of collectible. The idea of collecting is taught to beavers at a very young age, and those who do not collect anything are thought to be odd.

      Even though the beavers are highly intelligent, they can still get sick or wounded, so healthcare was needed. In the early years of the kingdom the beavers' knowledge of healing and medicine was very limited, so a great deal of time was spent increasing that knowledge. They found many things in nature that they could use for medicine, healing of wounds, ways to repair broken bones, and many other health issues. This knowledge the beavers gained was very helpful, but they needed someone responsible to use it. To accomplish this task King Gnawbert had a medical school built where doctors and nurses could be trained. The King issued a decree that each small village should have at least one doctor and two nurses, and each city should have five doctors and twelve nurses.

    Beavers are experts when it comes to wood, but a city needs more than wood for building. For these needs they used stone and iron. It just so happened that the beavers discovered stone hills just outside the main wall surrounding the kingdom. After removing some of the stone, a grey substance was found running through the stone hill. The beavers didn't know it right then, but they had discovered iron ore! It took them many months to learn how to use it but when they did it was very helpful.

    Being in a large kingdom there is plenty of work to do and the kingdom of the beavers was no exception. So with that being the case there was no lack of jobs. Each beaver child was encouraged to spend one year after completing school to choose and train for a career of their choice. The most popular jobs tended to be anything dealing with wood. There was also another option that only the most daring would choose. It was to travel the world.

    The last area of beaver society I want to mention is animals. The love of animals started at the very top with King Gnawbert and trickled down to the small beaver child. The King had animals that most of his subjects could not afford such as miniature pony's, exotic parrots, lobsters, a Kangeroo, and trained falcons. Most of the commoners had ferrets, chipmunks, goldfish, turtles, and small dogs.

    Even though it's been many years since the founding of the kingdom of the beavers, the kingdom still remains and has nearly tripled in size. The current ruler is King Gnawbert the fourteenth and he gladly welcomes visitors like you and me to come and see the Kingdom of the Beavers.