The Book of Clever Beasts: Studies in Unnatural History

In Short

This book is a satire of the early twentieth-century "nature fake" movement, presenting a series of mock-scientific studies of wild animals. The narrative follows a overly gullible naturalist who camps out in the woods to observe wildlife, only to record increasingly outlandish behaviors—such as a cat hatching eggs, a goat devouring soap and lightbulbs, a bear grooming her cub with an elk-horn comb, a squirrel laying turkey-sized eggs, and an owl weaving a portrait rug. It endures as a sharp, absurdly humorous parody of exaggerated wildlife storytelling.

The Story

The book proceeds as a series of comical field logs written by an overly credulous narrator who takes up residence in the wild to document animal behavior. In his opening endeavor, he attempts to study a cat named Tom-Tom and an elusive creature called Little Upsidaisi. Instead of standard feline habits, he discovers Tom-Tom tending a nest where a mother cat broods over a litter that includes a unhatched tortoise-shell egg. The narrator routinely loses household items, only to discover that the local animals have purloined his gear—including a black wooden box repurposed as a catnip dispenser marked with a written dedication.

As the narrator moves from one wilderness site to another, his observations grow more absurd. He attempts to cohabitate with Jagg, a "Skootaway Goat" with an appetite for tin cans, candles, soap, and written notes. The narrator attempts to communicate with Jagg by writing instructions on paper slips, which the goat eats before nodding in agreement. Desperate to escape the goat's destructive companionship, the narrator tricks Jagg into staying behind at a cabin by feeding him a final written directive.

Next, the naturalist travels to the Geyser House to study bears, inspired by rumors of mourning bears that hold their trapped mates. He observes a mother bear named Snooflet's mother who uses an elk-horn comb to groom her cub before serving him a multi-course dinner of leftover canned goods in strict culinary order. His stay is interrupted by a quirky wilderness encounter with an Oklahoman lawyer living as a woodsman, followed by an investigation into squirrels. He notes that squirrels speak an Indian language ("Kitchi-Kitchi"), sing split-voice duets, and lay large, dark-brown eggs equipped with handle-like projections for their tails.

Subsequent chapters document a tame crow named Jim who uses a tiny crutch while healing from a broken leg and plays children's games like "Drop the Handkerchief" with other crows. Later, the narrator interacts with a female fox named Hoop-La who knits, winks at him through field glasses, and rescues a deaf old fox walking along the railroad tracks. The narrator's final studies involve a rabbit named Jenny Ragtail—who communicates using a deaf-and-dumb ear alphabet—and a pet owl named Hoot-Mon, who stays up late weaving a patterned rug featuring his own likeness out of stolen materials. The book concludes with mock-scientific exhibits and a tongue-in-cheek bibliography referencing prominent nature authors of the period.

How It Unfolds

The nest in the cabin The narrator discovers a mother cat brooding over a nest containing kittens and an unhatched tortoise-shell egg. He finds his stolen personal items reused by the animals, including a wooden box repurposed into a catnip container bearing a written inscription.

Living with a literate goat The narrator shares his quarters with Jagg, a goat that eats candles, soap, and written instructions. To escape Jagg's nuisance, the narrator feeds the goat a paper slip commanding him to guard the cabin, allowing the author to catch a train to freedom.

Dining with the geyser bears At a forest hotel, the narrator watches a mother bear comb her cub's fur with an elk-horn implement. She then sorts through garbage cans to feed her child a structured, multi-course meal ending with canned syrup dessert.

The egg of the singing squirrel While studying tree squirrels, the narrator learns their supposed native tongue and witnesses them singing dual-toned songs. Upon climbing a tree, he finds a female sitting on a nest of large, handled eggs.

The crow with a wooden leg The narrator fashions a miniature crutch for a wounded crow named Jim, who uses it until his bone knits. The crow eventually drops a raw chicken into the author's frying pan to settle a personal grudge before playing tag with a flock.

The fox who knitted gloves Observing a den through field glasses, the narrator spots a female fox who sews, winks at him, and escorts an elderly, deaf fox to safety. Later, the fox drops an old rubber shoe at his feet to express her disapproval of his intrusions.

The deaf-and-dumb rabbit language The narrator discovers that rabbits talk by signaling with their ears in a complex code. He uses this knowledge to decipher their conversations, learning that the local rabbits regard him as a nuisance who ought to provide more corn.

The owl who wove a rug A pet owl named Hoot-Mon spends his nights working by the fireplace. On the narrator's birthday, the owl presents him with a hand-woven rug depicting a white owl on a red and black background.

The People

• The Narrator: An earnest, completely gullible nature researcher. He wants to document the inner lives of wild animals, but his total lack of skepticism leads him to accept impossible animal feats as scientific facts. He remains constantly bewildered by the chaos the animals cause around his camp.
• Tom-Tom and Magdalene: A pair of cats living near the cabin. Tom-Tom steals household goods, blankets, and cream to provide for Magdalene and her nest of kittens, leaving behind written notes for the narrator.
• Jagg: A ravenous "Skootaway Goat" who eats everything in sight, from lightbulbs to paper notes. He follows the narrator constantly until he is duped by a written instruction to guard an empty cabin.
• Snooflet and his Mother: A pair of wild bears living near a resort hotel. The mother bear insists on strict etiquette, grooming her cub with a comb and organizing his meals course by course from discarded tin cans.
• Kitchi-Kitchi: A devoted female squirrel who perches on the narrator's shoulder, sweeps the floor with her tail, and defends him from other aggressive squirrels before nesting on a clutch of brown eggs.
• Jim Crow: An intelligent crow who learns to walk with an improvised crutch after breaking his leg. He holds grudges against local roosters, wears a red flannel jacket, and leads wild crows in playground games.
• Hoop-La: A crafty mother fox who knits, winks at observers through field glasses, and shelters an elderly, hard-of-hearing fox in her den.
• Hoot-Mon: A highly skilled owl who uses his claws and beak to weave custom textiles, ultimately crafting a portrait rug for the narrator before accidentally burning a paper hat made for him out of foolscap.

In Its Own Voice

"One black, yellow, and white egg was not yet hatched, but I could see that very soon a little tortoise-shell kitten would claim her maternal care." The narrator stumbles upon a mother cat nesting in his cabin and takes her biology entirely at face value.

"I wrote out one morning: 'Jagg, I am going to clean house,' and fed him the slip. An hour or so later he came to me and nodded intelligently..." The author attempts to manage his unruly pet goat by relying on written correspondence digested as food.

"Rabbits converse with each other by means of a deaf-and-dumb alphabet, very similar to that made by mutes of our own species, using their ears entirely." The observer outlines his grand scientific discovery regarding forest wildlife communication.

What It's Really About

The book is a direct satire of early twentieth-century "nature fakers"—writers who romanticized wildlife by attributing human reasoning, moral choices, and emotional lives to animals. By pushing these tendencies to their logical extreme, the narrative mocks the gullibility of readers and pseudo-scientists who accept outrageous tall tales as natural history. Beneath the slapstick encounters lies an argument for genuine scientific skepticism. The text contrasts the absurd, highly sentimentalized stories of animal intelligence with the reality of wilderness life, lampooning writers who invent elaborate animal personalities rather than observing actual nature.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy literary parodies, classic humor, and satire of scientific trends will find this book entertaining. Its episodic structure reads like a series of light comic sketches, offering a deadpan delivery that makes the wildest claims—such as nest-building cats or rug-weaving owls—thoroughly ridiculous.

Modern readers should be aware of a few period details. The humor relies heavily on knowledge of early 1900s popular natural history books, meaning some specific literary references may feel obscure today. Additionally, the text includes brief regional archetypes and dialect tropes common to turn-of-the-century American humor (such as the character Uncle Antonio). Despite these dated elements, the core mockery of sensationalized science remains fresh, making it a quick and amusing read for anyone interested in classic American satire.

<ElicitationsGroup message="Where would you like to go next?"> <Elicitation label="Explore the real-world 'Nature Fakers' controversy" query="Tell me about the historical 'Nature Fakers' controversy in early 20th-century America and the real authors involved."/> <Elicitation label="Compare this satire to other works by Myrtle Reed" query="What other books did Myrtle Reed write, and how does this parody compare to her romantic fiction?"/> </ElicitationsGroup>