What Do Tails Do?

Little Clare looked at herself in the mirror and noticed something.

She turned to Doggie and asked, “Why do you have a tail?”
Doggie replied, “I wag it to let you know I’m happy.”

Little Clare ran to the desk in her room and asked Fish, “Why do you have a tail?”
Fish replied, “I use it to swim with.”

Little Clare went outside to the barn and asked Kitty, “Why do you have a tail?”
Kitty replied, “I use it to keep my balance when I jump.”

Little Clare looked into the nest in the tree in her front yard and asked Bird, “Why do you have a tail?”
Bird replied, “I use it to steer with when I fly.”

Finally Little Clare went to the pond and asked Beaver, “Why do you have a tail?”
Beaver replied, “I use it to press mud into my dam so water won’t get out.”

Little Clare was impressed at all the jobs a tail could do, but she wondered why she didn't have a tail she could wag when she was happy, or one to swim with, or one to balance with when she jumped, or one to steer with when she flew, or even one she could use to press mud between sticks.

When Little Clare went back into the house she closed the door right behind her and thought, "If I had a tail it might have gotten shut in the door and hurt very much. I'm glad I don't have tail that can get shut in a door!"

Later that day, Little Clare was at the store with her mother and realized that if she had a tail she might turn around and accidently knock things off the shelves with it. "It's a good thing I don't have a tail so I don't accidently knock things off the shelves," she thought to herself.

While she was putting on a pretty, new dress her mother just bought her, Little Clare realized that it would be hard to wear a pretty dress if she had a tail. "I'm glad I don't have to cut a hole in my pretty, new dress so my tail will stick out," Little Clare told Dog.

Little Clare then realized that she didn't need a tail at all because she could smile when she was happy; she could use her hands and feet to swim; she didn't jump as far as Cat did, so she didn't need a tail to balance with; she couldn't fly so she didn't need a tail to steer with; and she could always press mud between sticks with her hands.

"Yes," she told Dog, "I think I will do just fine without a tail."

Dog licked her face and wagged his tail.