Little Joe Otter/Chapter 28
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
For freedom who is there will say
There's any price too much to pay?
Have you ever been terribly frightened? Have you ever been so frightened that you couldn't even think? That is the way it was with the foolish young Otter when he realized that he was caught in a trap. He was so filled with terror that he didn't even think about the pain in his foot. There is nothing quite so awful as the helpless feeling that comes when one is caught in a trap. Had that young Otter been seized by an enemy twice his size he would have fought bravely to the last breath. But one cannot fight a steel trap.
After awhile the young Otter was so tired out with struggling that he had to be quiet to get his breath and to rest. He trembled all over. Every time he heard the least little sound he was sure it was the trapper coming to kill him. How he did wish he had heeded the warnings of his father and mother!
For a long, long, long time he was held a prisoner by that dreadful trap. From time to time he tried to cut the chain that held the trap, but of course he tried in vain. His teeth, sharp as they were, didn't even scratch the steel of that chain. He wondered if his father and mother would miss him and look for him. He wondered if they would ever find out what had happened to him.
"If I could only get away from this thing, I never, never would disobey again," he sobbed. "No, Sir, I never, never would disobey again. I do wish father and mother would come. Perhaps if they came they could get me free from this dreadful thing."
It is said that if you wish long enough and hard enough for a thing you may get your wish. Certainly the foolish young Otter wished long and hard. And at last he did get his wish. His father, Little Joe Otter, suddenly appeared. He was looking for that young Otter. He had worried when that young Otter did not return and had started out to look for him.
Little Joe didn't scold that young Otter. Instead, he did the best he could to comfort him. The first thing he did was to look to see how the young Otter was held by that dreadful trap. He saw right away that he was held only by one toe.
"You are lucky, very lucky," declared Little Joe Otter.
The young Otter thought he was very unlucky. He said so. He couldn't see that there was anything lucky about it. Then Little Joe explained.
"That trap," said he," has got you only by one toe. It might have you by the whole foot. If it had you by the whole foot, and that is the way the trapper meant that it should catch you, there would be very little hope for you. As it is, if you pull hard enough, you may lose your toe, but that will be all."
"But I don't want to lose my toe!" wailed the young Otter.
"All right," replied Little Joe. "If you had rather lose your life than your toe, there is nothing I can do about it. You can get free if you really want to, but the price of freedom will be that toe."