Blacky the Crow
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Thornton W. Burgess >> Blacky the Crow
At once they all began to fly over the top of the tree where they
could look down into the nest and there, sure enough, was
Mrs. Hooty, her great, round, yellow eyes glaring up at them
angrily. Such a racket! Right away Hooty was forgotten, and the
whole crowd at once began to torment Mrs. Hooty. Only Blacky sat
watchful and silent, waiting for Mrs. Hooty to lose her temper and
try to catch one of her tormentors. He had hope, a great hope, that
he would get one of those eggs.
CHAPTER VIII: Hooty Comes To Mrs. Hooty's Aid
No one can live just for self alone. A lot of people think they can,
but they are very much mistaken. They are making one of the greatest
mistakes in the world. Every teeny, weeny act, no matter what it is,
affects somebody else. That is one of Old Mother Nature's great
laws. And it is just as true among the little people of the Green
Forest and the Green Meadows as with boys and girls and grown
people. It is Old Mother Nature's way of making each of us
responsible for the good of all and of teaching us that always we
should help each other.
As you know, when Blacky the Crow called all his relatives over to
the nest where Mrs. Hooty was sitting on her eggs, they at once
stopped tormenting Hooty and left him alone in a thick hemlock-tree
in the darkest part of the Green Forest. Of course Hooty was very,
very glad to be left in peace, and he might have spent the rest of
the day there sleeping in comfort. But he didn't. No, Sir, he
didn't. At first he gave a great sigh of relief and settled himself
as if he meant to stay. He listened to the voices of those noisy
Crows growing fainter and fainter and was glad. But it was only for
a few minutes.
Presently those voices stopped growing fainter. They grew more
excited-sounding than ever, and they came right from one
place. Hooty knew then that his tormentors had found the nest where
Mrs. Hooty was, and that they were tormenting her just as they had
tormented him. He snapped his bill angrily and then more angrily.
"I guess Mrs. Hooty is quite able to take care of herself, " he
grumbled, "but she ought not to be disturbed while she is sitting on
those eggs. I hate to go back there in that bright sunshine. It
hurts my eyes, and I don't like it, but I guess I'll have to go back
there. Mrs. Hooty needs my help. I'd rather stay here, but --"
He didn't finish. Instead, he spread his broad wings and flew back
towards the nest and Mrs. Hooty. His great wings made no noise, for
they are made so that he can fly without making a sound. "If I once
get hold of one of those Crows!" he muttered to himself. "If I once
get hold of one of those Crows, I'll --" He didn't say what he
would do, but if you had been near enough to hear the snap of his
bill, you could have guessed the rest.
All this time the Crows were having what they called fun with
Mrs. Hooty. Nothing is true fun which makes others uncomfortable,
but somehow a great many people seem to forget this. So, while
Blacky sat watching, his relatives made a tremendous racket around
Mrs. Hooty, and the more angry she grew, the more they screamed and
called her names and darted down almost in her face, as they
pretended that they were going to fight her. They were so busy doing
this, and Blacky was so busy watching them, hoping that Mrs. Hooty
would leave her nest and give him a chance to steal the eggs he knew
were under her, that no one gave Hooty a thought.
All of a sudden he was there, right in the tree close to the nest!
No one had heard a sound, but there he was, and in the claws of one
foot he held the tail feathers of one of Blacky's relatives. It was
lucky, very lucky indeed for that one that the sun was in Hooty's
eyes and so he had missed his aim. Otherwise there would have been
one less Crow.
Now it is one thing to tease one lone Owl and quite another to tease
two together. Besides, there were those black tail feathers floating
down to the snow-covered ground. Quite suddenly those Crows decided
that they had had fun enough for one day, and in spite of all Blacky
could do to stop them, away they flew, cawing loudly and talking it
all over noisily. Blacky was the last to go, and his heart was
sorrowful. However could he get those eggs?
CHAPTER IX: Blacky Thinks Of Farmer Brown's Boy
"Such luck!" grumbled Blacky, as he flew over to his favorite tree
to do a little thinking. "Such luck! Now all my neighbors know about
the nest of Hooty the Owl, and sooner or later one of them will find
out that there are eggs in it. There is one thing about it, though,
and that is that if I can't get them, nobody can. That is to say,
none of my relatives can. I've tried every way I can think of, and
those eggs are still there. My, my, my, how I would like one of them
right now!"
Then Blacky the Crow did a thing which disappointed scamps often do,
-- began to blame the ones he was trying to wrong because his plans
had failed. To have heard him talking to himself, you would have
supposed that those eggs really belonged to him and that Hooty and
Mrs. Hooty had cheated him out of them. Yes, Sir, that is what you
would have thought if you could have heard him muttering to himself
there in the tree-top. In his disappointment over not getting those
eggs, he was so sorry for himself that he actually did feel that he
was the one wronged, -- that Hooty and Mrs. Hooty should have let
him have those eggs.
Of course, that was absolute foolishness, but he made himself
believe it just the same. At least, he pretended to believe it. And
the more he pretended, the angrier he grew. This is often the way
with people who try to wrong others. They grow angry with the ones
they have tried to wrong. When at last Blacky had to confess to
himself that he could think of no other way to get those eggs, he
began to wonder if there was some way to make trouble for Hooty and
Mrs. Hooty. It was right then that he thought of Farmer Brown's boy.
Blacky's eyes snapped. He remembered how, once upon a time, Farmer
Brown's boy had
delighted to rob nests. Blacky had seen him take the eggs from the
nests of Blacky's own relatives and from many other feathered
people. What he did with the eggs, Blacky had no idea. Just now he
didn't care. If Farmer Brown's boy would just happen to find Hooty's
nest, he would be sure to take those eggs, and then he, Blacky,
would feel better. He would feel that he was even with Hooty.
Right away he began to try to think of some way to bring Farmer
Brown's boy over to the lonesome corner of the Green Forest where
Hooty's nest was. If he could once get him there, he felt sure that
Farmer Brown's boy would see the nest and climb up to it, and then
of course he would take the eggs. If he couldn't have those eggs
himself, the next best thing would be to see some one else get them.
Dear me, dear me, such dreadful thoughts! I am afraid that Blacky's
heart was as black as his coat. And the worst of it was, he seemed
to get a lot of pleasure in his wicked plans. Now right down in his
heart he knew that they were wicked plans, but he tried to make
excuses to himself.
"Hooty the Owl is a robber, " said he. "Everybody is afraid of
him. He lives on other people, and so far as I know he does no good
in the world. He is big and fierce, and no one loves him. The Green
Forest would be better off without him. If those eggs hatch, there
will be little Owls to be fed, and they will grow up into big fierce
Owls, like their father and mother. So if I show Farmer Brown's boy
that nest and he takes those eggs, I will be doing a kindness to my
neighbors."
So Blacky talked to himself and tried to hush the still, small voice
down inside that tried to tell him that what he was planning to do
was really a dreadful thing. And all the time he watched for Farmer
Brown's boy.
CHAPTER X: Farmer Brown's Boy And Hooty
Farmer Brown's boy had taken it into his head to visit the Green
Forest. It was partly because he hadn't anything else to do, and it
was partly because now that it was very near the end of winter he
wanted to see how things were there and if there were any signs of
the coming of spring. Blacky the Crow saw him coming, and Blacky
chuckled to himself. He had watched every day for a week for just
this thing. Now he would tell Farmer Brown's boy about that nest of
Hooty the Owl.
He flew over to the lonesome corner of the Green Forest where Hooty
and Mrs. Hooty had made their home and at once began to caw at the
top of his voice and pretend that he was terribly excited over
something.
"Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!" shouted Blacky. At once all his relatives
within hearing hurried over to join him. They knew that he was
tormenting Hooty, and they wanted to join in the fun. It wasn't long
before there was a great racket going on over in that lonesome
corner of the Green Forest.
Of course Farmer Brown's boy heard it. He stopped and listened. "Now
I wonder what Blacky and his friends have found this time, " said
he. "Whenever they make a fuss like that, there is usually something
to see there. I believe I'll so over and have a look."
So he turned in the direction of the lonesome corner of the Green
Forest, and as he drew near, he moved very carefully, so as to see
all that he could without frightening the Crows. He knew that as
soon as they saw him, they would fly away, and that might alarm the
one they were tormenting, for he knew enough of Crow ways to know
that when they were making such a noise as they were now making,
they were plaguing some one.
Blacky was the first to see him because he was watching for him. But
he didn't say anything until Farmer Brown's boy was so near that he
couldn't help but see that nest and Hooty himself, sitting up very
straight and snapping his bill angrily at his tormentors. Then
Blacky gave the alarm, and at once all the Crows rose in the air and
headed for the Green Meadows, cawing at the top of their
lungs. Blacky went with them a little way. The first chance he got
he dropped out of the flock and silently flew back to a place where
he could see all that might happen at the nest of Hooty the Owl.
When Farmer Brown's boy first caught sight of the nest and saw the
Crows darting down toward it and acting so excited, he was puzzled.
"That's an old nest of Red-tail the Hawk, " thought he. "I found
that last spring. Now what can there be there to excite those Crows
so?"
Then he caught sight of Hooty the Owl. "Ha, so that's it!" he
exclaimed. "Those scamps have discovered Hooty and have been having
no end of fun tormenting him. I wonder what he's doing there."
He no longer tried to keep out of sight, but walked right up to the
foot of the tree, all the time looking up. Hooty saw him, but
instead of flying away, he snapped his bill just as he had at the
Crows and hissed.
"That's funny, " thought Farmer Brown's boy. "If I didn't know that
to be the old nest of Redtail the Hawk, and if it weren't still the
tail-end of winter, I would think that was Hooty's nest."
He walked in a circle around the tree, looking up. Suddenly he gave
a little start. Was that a tail sticking over the edge of the nest?
He found a stick and threw it up. It struck the bottom of the nest,
and out flew a great bird. It was Mrs. Hooty! Blacky the Crow
chuckled.
CHAPTER XI: Farmer Brown's Boy Is Tempted
When you're tempted to do wrong
Is the time to prove you're strong.
Shut your eyes and clench each fist;
It will help you to resist.
When a bird is found sitting on a nest, it is a pretty sure sign
that that nest holds something worth while. It is a sign that that
bird has set up housekeeping. So when Farmer Brown's boy discovered
Mrs. Hooty sitting so close on the old nest of Redtail the Hawk, in
the most lonesome corner of the Green Forest, he knew what it
meant. Perhaps I should say that he knew what it ought to mean.
It ought to mean that there were eggs in that nest.
But it was hard for Farmer Brown's boy to believe that. Why, spring
had not come yet! There was still snow, and the Smiling Pool was
still covered with ice. Who ever heard of birds nesting at this time
of year? Certainly not Farmer Brown's boy. And yet Hooty the Owl and
Mrs. Hooty were acting for all the world as feathered folks do act
when they have eggs and are afraid that something is going to happen
to them. It was very puzzling.
"That nest was built by Red-tail the Hawk, and it hasn't even been
repaired, " muttered Farmer Brown's boy, as he stared up at it. "If
Hooty and his wife have taken it for their home, they are mighty
poor housekeepers. And if Mrs. Hooty has laid eggs this time of
year, she must be crazy. I suppose the way to find out is to climb
up there. It seems foolish, but I'm going to do it. Those Owls
certainly act as if they are mighty anxious about something, and I'm
going to find out what it is."
He looked at Hooty and Mrs. Hooty, at their hooked bills and great
claws, and decided that he would take a stout stick along with
him. He had no desire to feel these great claws. When he had found a
stick to suit him, he began to climb the tree. Hooty and Mrs. Hooty
snapped their bills and hissed fiercely. They drew nearer. Farmer
Brown's boy kept a watchful eye on them. They looked so big and
fierce that he was almost tempted to give up and leave them in
peace. But he just had to find out if there was anything in that
nest, so he kept on. As he drew near it, Mrs. Hooty swooped very
near to him, and the snap of her bill made an ugly sound. He held
his stick ready to strike and kept on.
The nest was simply a great platform of sticks. When Farmer Brown's
boy reached it, he found that he could not get where he could look
into it, so he reached over and felt inside. Almost at once his
fingers touched something that made him tingle all over. It was an
egg, a great big egg! There was no doubt about it. It was just as
hard for him to believe as it had been for Blacky the Crow to
believe, when he first saw those eggs. Farmer Brown's boy's fingers
closed over that egg and took it out of the nest. Mrs. Hooty swooped
very close, and Farmer Brown's boy nearly dropped the egg as he
struck at her with his stick. Then Mrs. Hooty and Hooty seemed to
lose courage and withdrew to a tree near by, where they snapped
their bills and hissed.
Then Farmer Brown's boy looked at the prize in his hand. It was a
big, dirty-white egg. His eyes shone. What a splendid prize to add
to his collection of birds' eggs! It was the first egg of the Great
Horned Owl, the largest of all Owls, that he ever had seen.
Once more he felt in the nest and found there was another egg
there. "I'll take both of them, " said he. "It's the first nest of
Hooty's that I've ever found, and perhaps I'll never find
another. Gee, I'm glad I came over here to find out what those Crows
were making such a fuss about. I wonder if I can get these clown
without breaking them."
Just at that very minute he remembered something. He remembered that
he had stopped collecting eggs. He remembered that he had resolved
never to take another bird's egg.
"But this is different, " whispered the tempter. "This isn't like
taking the eggs of the little song birds."
CHAPTER XII: A Tree-Top Battle
As black is black and white is white,
So wrong is wrong and right is right.
There isn't any half way about it. A thing is wrong or it is right,
and that is all there is to it. But most people have hard work to
see this when they want very much to do a thing that the still small
voice way down inside tells them isn't right. They try to
compromise. To compromise is to do neither one thing nor the other
but a little of both. But you can't do that with right and wrong. It
is a queer thing, but a half right never is as good as a whole
right, while a half wrong often, very often, is as bad as a whole
wrong.
Farmer Brown's boy, up in the tree by the nest of Hooty the Owl in
the lonesome corner of the Green Forest, was fighting a battle. No,
he wasn't fighting with Hooty or Mrs. Hooty. He was fighting a
battle right inside himself. It was a battle between right and
wrong. Once upon a time he had taken great delight in collecting the
eggs of birds, in trying to see how many kinds he could get. Then as
he had come to know the little forest and meadow people better, he
had seen that taking the eggs of birds is very, very wrong, and he
had stopped stealing them. He bad declared that never again would he
steal an egg from a bird.
But never before had he found a nest of Hooty the Owl. Those two big
eggs would add ever so much to his collection. "Take 'em, " said a
little voice inside. "Hooty is a robber. You will be doing a
kindness to the other birds by taking them."
"Don't do it, " said another little voice. "Hooty may be a robber,
but he has a place in the Green Forest, or Old Mother Nature never
would have put him here. It is just as much stealing to take his
eggs as to take the eggs of any other bird. He has just as much
right to them as Jenny Wren has to hers."
"Take one and leave one, " said the first voice.
"That will be just as much stealing as if you took both, " said the
second voice. "Besides, you will be breaking your own word. You said
that you never would take another egg."
"I didn't promise anybody but myself, " declared Farmer Brown's boy
right out loud. At the sound of his voice, Hooty and Mrs. Hooty,
sitting in the next tree, snapped their bills and hissed louder than
ever.
"A promise to yourself ought to be just as good as a promise to any
one else. I don't wonder Hooty hisses at you, " said the good little
voice.
"Think how fine those eggs will look in your collection and how
proud you will be to show them to the other fellows who never have
found a nest of Hooty's, " said the first little voice.
"And think how mean and small and cheap you'll feel every time you
look at them, " added the good little voice. "You'll get a lot more
fun if you leave them to hatch out and then watch the little Owls
grow up and learn all about their ways. Just think what a stout,
brave fellow Hooty is to start housekeeping at this time of year,
and how wonderful it is that Mrs. Hooty can keep these eggs warm and
when they have hatched take care of the baby Owls before others have
even begun to build their nests. Besides, wrong is wrong and right
is right, always."
Slowly Farmer Brown's boy reached over the edge of the nest and put
back the egg. Then he began to climb down the tree. When he reached
the ground he went off a little way and watched. Almost at once
Mrs. Hooty flew to the nest and settled down on the eggs, while
Hooty mounted guard close by.
"I'm glad I didn't take 'em, " said Farmer Brown's boy. "Yes, Sir,
I'm glad I didn't take 'em."
As he turned back toward home, he saw Blacky the Crow flying over
the Green Forest, and little did he guess how he had upset Blacky's
plans.
CHAPTER XIII: Blacky Has A Change Of Heart
Blacky The Crow isn't all black. No, indeed. His coat is black, and
sometimes it seems as if his heart is all black, but this isn't
so. It certainly seemed as if his heart was all black when he tried
so hard to make trouble for Hooty the Owl. It would seem as if only
a black heart could have urged him to try so hard to steal the eggs
of Hooty and Mrs. Hooty, but this wasn't really so. You see, it
didn't seem at all wrong to try to get those eggs. Blacky was
hungry, and those eggs would have given him a good meal. He knew
that Hooty wouldn't hesitate to catch him and eat him if he had the
chance, and so it seemed to him perfectly right and fair to steal
Hooty's eggs if he was smart enough to do so. And most of the other
little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows would have
felt the same way about it. You see, it is one of the laws of Old
Mother Nature that each one must learn to look out for himself.
But when Blacky showed that nest of Hooty's to Farmer Brown's boy
with the hope that Farmer Brown's boy would steal those eggs, there
was blackness in his heart. He was doing something then which was
pure meanness. He was just trying to make trouble for Hooty, to get
even because Hooty had been too smart for him. He had sat in the top
of a tall pine-tree where he could see all that happened, and he had
chuckled wickedly as he had seen Farmer Brown's boy climb to Hooty's
nest and take out an egg. He felt sure that he would take both
eggs. He hoped so, anyway.
When he saw Farmer Brown's boy put the eggs back and climb down the
tree without any, he had to blink his eyes to make sure that he saw
straight. He just couldn't believe what he saw. At first he was
dreadfully disappointed and angry. It looked very much as if he
weren't going to get even with Hooty after all. He flew over to his
favorite tree to think things over. Now sometimes it is a good thing
to sit by oneself and think things over. It gives the little small
voice deep down inside a chance to be heard. It was just that way
with Blacky now.
The longer he thought, the meaner his action in calling Farmer
Brown's boy looked. It was one thing to try to steal those eggs
himself, but it was quite another matter to try to have them stolen
by some one against whom Hooty had no protection whatever.
"If it had been any one but Hooty, you would have done your best to
have kept Farmer Brown's boy away, " said the little voice
inside. Blacky hung his head. He knew that it was true. More than
once, in fact many times, he had warned other feathered folks when
Farmer Brown's boy had been hunting for their nests, and had helped
to lead him away.
At last Blacky threw up his head and chuckled, and this time his
chuckle was good to hear. "I'm glad that Farmer Brown's boy didn't
take those eggs, " said he right out loud. "Yes, sir, I'm glad. I'll
never do such a thing as that again. I'm ashamed of what I did; yet
I'm glad I did it. I'm glad because I've learned some things. I've
learned that Farmer Brown's boy isn't as much to be feared as he
used to be. I've learned that Hooty isn't as stupid as I thought he
was. I've learned that while it may be all right for us people of
the Green Forest to try to outwit each other we ought to protect
each other against common dangers. And I've learned something I
didn't know before, and that is that Hooty the Owl is the very first
of us to set up housekeeping. Now I think I'll go hunt for an honest
meal." And he did.
CHAPTER XIV: Blacky Makes A Call
Judge no one by his style of dress;
Your ignorance you thus confess.
- Blacky the Crow.
"Caw, caw, caw, caw." There was no need of looking to see who that
was. Peter Rabbit knew without looking. Mrs. Quack knew without
looking. Just the same, both looked up. Just alighting in the top of
a tall tree was Blacky the Crow. "Caw, caw, caw, caw," he repeated,
looking down at Peter and Mrs. Quack and Mr. Quack and the six young
Quacks. "I hope I am not interrupting any secret gossip."
"Not at all," Peter hastened to say. "Mrs. Quack was just telling
me of the troubles and clangers in bringing up a young family in the
Far North. How did you know the Quacks had arrived?"
Blacky chuckled hoarsely. "I didn't, " said he. "I simply thought
there might be something going on I didn't know about over here in
the pond of Paddy the Beaver, so I came over to find out. Mr. Quack,
you and Mrs. Quack are looking very fine this fall. And those
handsome young Quacks, you don't mean to tell me that they are your
children!"
Mrs. Quack nodded proudly. "They are," said she.
"You don't say so!" exclaimed Blacky, as if he were very much
surprised, when all the time he wasn't surprised at all. "They are a
credit to their parents. Yes, indeed, they are a credit to their
parents. Never have I seen finer young Ducks in all my life. How
glad the hunters with terrible guns will be to see them."
Mrs. Quack shivered at that, and Blacky saw it. He chuckled
softly. You know he dearly loves to make others uncomfortable. "I
saw three hunters over on the edge of the Big River early this very
morning," said he.
Mrs. Quack looked more anxious than ever. Blacky's sharp eyes noted
this.
"That is why I came over here," he added kindly. "I wanted to give
you warning."
"But you didn't know the Quacks were here!" spoke up Peter.
"True enough, Peter. True enough," replied Blacky, his eyes
twinkling. "But I thought they might be. I had heard a rumor that
those who go south are traveling earlier than usual this fall, so I
knew I might find Mr. and Mrs. Quack over here any time now. Is it
true, Mrs. Quack, that we are going to have a long, hard, cold
winter?"
"That is what they say up in the Far North," replied
Mrs. Quack. "And it is true that Jack Frost had started down earlier
than usual. That is how it happens we are here now. But about those
hunters over by the Big River, do you suppose they will come over
here?" There was an anxious note in Mrs. Quack's voice.