Tony Beaver was a famous lumberjack who lived on the Eel River in West Virginia. There are a lot of stories about Tony and his camp, but there's one story his men always liked to tell. It happened on one of those hot summer days. All the hands were restless, and nobody could open his mouth without saying a mean word or two. So Tony said, "You all need something to make yourselves run loose again."
Tony always said it was easier to think out in the wilderness, so that's where he went. The next morning, just before sunrise, Tony was lying on a high ridge when he opened his eyes and caught sight of a tiny drop of dew that seemed to be winking at him. Tony winked back. The minute he did that, something inside him told him to look real close at that dewdrop. He saw that the dewdrop was filled with color, and he got to thinking that that little dewdrop was the very heart of creation.The sun began to rise and the birds started to sing, and Tony was afraid his little dewdrop might melt. So he picked up leaves and moss to cover it up and protect it.
Just about that time, Tony thought he could hear his old friend Fiddling Jimmy playing a tune somewhere real close. The tune came closer, and Tony said, "I'll be! This happens every morning, and I never knew it before!" He picked up his little dewdrop inside its mossy bed and ran back to the camp to tell his men about what he had discovered about creation.
When he got back, he grabbed his gigantic cowhorn and stood on a high rock and blew such a blast that all the fellows came tumbling right out of their bunks and hurried to hear what Tony had to say.
"I want you fellas to take a good look at my little dewdrop," he said, "because I don't think any one of you big bruisers has ever really seen a dewdrop before."
Everybody stood in the soft dawn light and looked at the dewdrop. The more they looked, the more awestruck they grew. And then Tony asked Fiddling Jimmy, "Hey, Jimmy, what were you doing fiddling out there on the mountains this morning at sunrise?"
"Me?" Jimmy asked. He looked real surprised. "That wasn't me, Tony." So Tony told him all about the music he heard and about the dewdrop being the heart of creation and all.
"Now, Tony," Jimmy said, in a real solemn voice, "I think what you heard was the Big Music. Better be careful . . . " Right then, Fiddling Jimmy climbed way up to the top of the highest cliff. And he started looking off into the rising sun, holding his fiddle and stretching up on tiptoe.
All of a sudden this yellow strand of sunlight shot down out of the mountain and struck the dewdrop smack in the middle. The little thing started to burn away, and when that happened a big stillness filled the camp.
Suddenly Jimmy called, "The Big Music's busted through." He started to fiddle like a madman up there on that cliff.
Old Brother Mutters screeched, "Oh my lands" and grabbed a big stout pine with both arms. Because, you see, by then everyone could hear the sound of music coming from somewhere far away.
Well, the next thing that happened was amazing. A whole fence came floating over the ridge and down the hollow just like it was riding a river that no one could see. Whoo-hee! A second later the fence burst into pieces, and every one of the posts stood straight up and started to dance, bowing to each other.
"Oh my lands," Brother Mutters screeched again, and held even tighter to the tree. Just then this fat old lady of a haystack came dancing right over that ridge, bowing and kicking and carrying on like she was a young thing. And every single jack hurried out of her way 'cause she was coming right at them. Then they looked up and saw a pretty pair of maple saplings dancing and spinning with their branches on their hips. And that was just the beginning!
A minute later a full tide of music poured down on the camp, just like a flood, filled with every kind of tune anyone has ever heard. Every creature and everything that grows came dancing over that ridge. There were possums and rabbits and groundhogs and wildcats dancing like you've never seen anything dance, and trees and bushes and rocks were dancing too.
Everyone could see the tunes and hear them, and they were every color of the rainbow, weaving in and out among all those creatures. This big old bear with her cubs came rolling right over the cliff doing a dance along a little ridge of music and laughing hard as could be.
Well, pretty soon everyone was inside the Big Music, because you don't really dance to the Big Music. When the Big Music comes, it dances you! All the Eel River crew let themselves go to one tune after another.
The Sullivan boy danced so hard with a stout sawlog that the chips flew everywhere. Another fellow found a pet monkey down by the stream and off they soft-shoed, and Big Henry began to do the polka with that old lady haystack.
Tony Beaver danced with this big gray rock, and every time that rock dipped down, it went waist deep into the music and splashed up tunes like showers of raindrops. Music splashed all over everyone. Then Tony danced with a field mouse and a toad and a dogwood tree that burst into full bloom even though its flowering time was past.
It was a sight, it was! One of the funniest things was Tony's powerful steers caught up in a tangle of music, dancing away on their hind legs. They slung their tails over their arms and waltzed like they'd been waltzing all their lives.
I'll tell you, when the Big Music comes, you better dance or you might have the trouble Brother Mutters had. When he heard that Big Music, he clung tightly to that pine tree 'cause he thought music and dancing were sins. But when the full tide of music poured down, his pine tree gave a great heave and burst free from the ground and tossed its branches this way and that, swirling old Brother Mutters around. Then it just kicked real hard, and Brother Mutters went sailing up to the high ledge of rock, and the pine tree danced off with a pretty red oak.
One tune after another came tumbling down, and then all of a sudden a big, big tune came rolling in. It came in a long thundering march, mighty and solemn. The skies opened up and just stood back and let the Big Music through.
Fiddling Jimmy took one look at that big tune and hollered, "Here I am!" just like this was who he'd always waited for. He jumped into the heart of that song, and the tune rolled away all grand and graceful and beautiful, and it drew up on both sides and made a kind of rainbow of sound.
And that was it, see. The Big Music went off to wherever it had come from. The sound just died away. And the meanness left the camp, too. After all, the hands had all seen a dewdrop for the very first time and had danced to the Big Music, and they were stretched out above their common selves.
And if any of you don't believe this tale, you go on up to Eel River, and any of the hands will show you the crinkled place on the face of the highest cliffs up there, which marks the spot where the Big Music busted through. If you need directions to the place, just ask a blue jay.