Blacky the Crow
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Thornton W. Burgess >> Blacky the Crow
"No," replied Blacky promptly. "Farmer Brown's boy won't let
them. I know. I've been watching him and he has been watching those
hunters. As long as you stay here, you will be safe. What a great
world this would be if all those two-legged creatures were like
Farmer Brown's boy."
"Wouldn't it!" cried Peter. Then he added, "I wish they were."
"You don't wish it half as much as I do," declared Mrs. Quack.
"Yet I can remember when he used to hunt with a terrible gun and was
as bad as the worst of them," said Blacky.
"What changed him?" asked Mrs. Quack, looking interested.
"Just getting really acquainted with some of the little people of
the Green Forest and the Green Meadows," replied Blacky. "He found
them ready to meet him more than halfway in friendship and that some
of them really are his best friends."
"And now he is their best friend," spoke up Peter.
Blacky nodded. "Right, Peter," said he. "That is why the Quacks are
safe here and will be as long as they stay."
CHAPTER XV: Blacky Does A Little Looking About
Do not take the word of others
That things are or are not so
When there is a chance that you may
Find out for yourself and know.
- Blacky the Crow.
Blacky the Crow is a shrewd fellow. He is one of the smartest and
shrewdest of all the little people in the Green Forest and on the
Green Meadows. Everybody knows it. And because of this, all his
neighbors have a great deal of respect for him, despite his
mischievous ways.
Of course, Blacky had noticed that Johnny Chuck had dug his house
deeper than usual and had stuffed himself until he was fatter than
ever before. He had noticed that Jerry Muskrat was making the walls
of his house thicker than in other years, and that Paddy the Beaver
was doing the same thing to his house. You know there is very little
that escapes the sharp eyes of Blacky the Crow.
He had guessed what these things meant. "They think we are going to
have a long, hard, cold winter, " muttered Blacky to
himself. "Perhaps they know, but I want to see some signs of it for
myself. They may be only guessing. Anybody can do that, and one
guess is as good as another."
Then he found Mr. and Mrs. Quack, the Mallard Ducks, and their
children in the pond of Paddy the Beaver and remembered that they
never had come down from their home in the Far North as early in the
fall as this. Mrs. Quack explained that Jack Frost had already
started south, and so they had started earlier to keep well ahead of
him.
"Looks as if there may be something in this idea of a long, hard,
cold winter," thought Blacky, "but perhaps the Quacks are only
guessing, too. I wouldn't take their word for it any more than I
would the word of Johnny Chuck or Jerry Muskrat or Paddy the
Beaver. I'll look about a little."
So after warning the Quacks to remain in the pond of Paddy the
Beaver if they would be safe, Blacky bade them good-by and flew
away. He headed straight for the Green Meadows and Farmer Brown's
cornfield. A little of that yellow corn would make a good breakfast.
When he reached the cornfield, Blacky perched on top of a shock of
corn, for it already had been cut and put in shocks in readiness to
be carted up to Farmer Brown's barn. For a few minutes he sat there
silent and motionless, but all the time his sharp eyes were making
sure that no enemy was hiding behind one of those brown shocks. When
he was quite certain that things were as safe as they seemed, he
picked out a plump ear of corn and began to tear open the husks, so
as to get at the yellow grains.
"Seems to me these husks are unusually thick," muttered Blacky, as
he tore at them with his stout bill. "Don't remember ever having
seen them as thick as these. Wonder if it just happens to be so on
this ear."
Then, as a sudden thought popped into his black head, he left that
ear and went to another. The husks of this were as thick as those on
the first. He flew to another shock and found the husks there just
the same. He tried a third shock with the same result.
"Huh, they are all alike," said he. Then he looked thoughtful and
for a few minutes sat perfectly still like a black statue. "They are
right," said he at last. "Yes, Sir, they are right." Of course he
meant Johnny Chuck and Jerry Muskrat and Paddy the Beaver and the
Quacks. "I don't know how they know it, but they are right; we are
going to have a long, hard, cold winter. I know it myself now. I've
found a sign. Old Mother Nature has wrapped this corn in extra thick
husks, and of course she has done it to protect it. She doesn't do
things without a reason. We are going to have a cold winter, or my
name isn't Blacky the Crow."
CHAPTER XVI: Blacky Finds Other Signs
A single fact may fail to prove you either right or wrong;
Confirm it with another and your proof will then be strong.
- Blacky the Crow.
After his discovery that Old Mother Nature had wrapped all the ears
of corn in extra thick husks, Blacky had no doubt in his own mind
that Johnny Chuck and Jerry Muskrat and Paddy the Beaver and the
Quacks were quite right in feeling that the coming winter would be
long, hard and cold. But Blacky long ago learned that it isn't wise
or wholly safe to depend altogether on one thing.
"Old Mother Nature never does things by halves," thought Blacky, as
he sat on the fence post on the Green Meadows, thinking over his
discovery of the thick husks on the corn. "She wouldn't take care to
protect the corn that way and not do as much for other things. There
must be other signs, if I am smart enough to find them."
He lifted one black wing and began to set in order the feathers
beneath it. Suddenly he made a funny little hop straight up.
"Well, I never!" he exclaimed, as he spread his wings to regain his
balance. "I never did!"
"Is that so?" piped a squeaky little voice. "If you say you never
did, I suppose you never did, though I want the word of some one
else before I will believe it. What is it you never did?"
Blacky looked down. Peeping up at him from the brown grass were two
bright little eyes.
"Hello, Danny Meadow Mouse!" exclaimed Blacky. "I haven't seen you
for a long time. I've looked for you several times lately."
"I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it at all," squeaked
Danny. "You'll never see me when you are looking for me. That is,
you won't if I can help it. You won't if I see you first."
Blacky chuckled. He knew what Danny meant. When Blacky goes looking
for Danny Meadow Mouse, it usually is in hope of having a Meadow
Mouse dinner, and he knew that Danny knew this. "I've had my
breakfast," said Blacky, "and it isn't dinner time yet."
"What is it you never did?" persisted Danny, in his squeaky voice.
"That was just an exclamation," explained Blacky. "I made a
discovery that surprised me so I exclaimed right out."
"What was it?" demanded Danny.
"It was that the feathers of my coat are coming in thicker than I
ever knew them to before. I hadn't noticed it until I started to set
them in order a minute ago." He buried his bill in the feathers of
his breast. "Yes, sir," said he in a muffled voice, "they are
coming in thicker than I ever knew them to before. There is a lot of
down around the roots of them. I am going to have the warmest coat
I've ever had."
"Well, don't think you are the only one," retorted Danny. "My fur
never was so thick at this time of year as it is now, and it is the
same way with Nanny Meadow Mouse and all our children. I suppose you
know what it means."
"What does it mean?" asked Blacky, just as if he didn't have the
least idea, although he had guessed the instant he discovered those
extra feathers.
"It means we are going to have a long, hard, cold winter, and Old
Mother Nature is preparing us for it," replied Danny, quite as if
he knew all about it. "You'll find that everybody who doesn't go
south or sleep all winter has a thicker coat than usual. Hello!
There is old Roughleg the Hawk! He has come extra early this year. I
think I'll go back to warn Nanny." Without another word Danny
disappeared in the brown grass. Again Blacky chuckled. "More signs,"
said he to himself. "More signs. There isn't a doubt that we are
going to have a hard winter. I wonder if I can stand it or if I'd
better go a little way south, where it will be warmer."
CHAPTER XVII: Blacky Watches A Queer Performance
This much to me is very clear:
A thing not understood is queer.
- Blacky the Crow.
Blacky the Crow may be right. Again he may not be. If he is right,
it will account for a lot of the queer people in the world. They are
not understood, and so they are queer. At least, that is what other
people say, and never once think that perhaps they are the queer
ones for not understanding.
But Blacky isn't like those people who are satisfied not to
understand and to think other people and things queer. He does his
best to understand. He waits and watches and uses those sharp eyes
of his and those quick wits of his until at last usually he does
understand.
The day of his discovery of Old Mother Nature's signs that the
coming winter would be long, hard and cold, Blacky paid a visit to
the Big River. Long ago he discovered that many things are to be
seen on or beside the Big River, things not to be seen elsewhere. So
there are few clays in which he does not get over there.
As he drew near the Big River, he was very watchful and careful, was
Blacky, for this was the season when hunters with terrible guns were
abroad, and he had discovered that they were likely to be hiding
along the Big River, hoping to shoot Mr. or Mrs. Quack or some of
their relatives. So he was very watchful as he drew near the Big
River, for he had learned that it was dangerous to pass too near a
hunter with a terrible gun. More than once he had been shot at. But
he had learned by these experiences. Oh, yes, Blacky had
learned. For one thing, he had learned to know a gun when he saw
it. For another thing, he had learned just how far away one of these
dreadful guns could be and still hurt the one it was pointed at, and
to always keep just a little farther away. Also he had learned that
a man or boy without a terrible gun is quite harmless, and he had
learned that hunters with terrible guns are tricky and sometimes
hide from those they seek to kill, so that in the dreadful hunting
season it is best to look sharply before approaching any place.
On this afternoon, as he drew near the Big River, he saw a man who
seemed to be very busy on the shore of the Big River, at a place
where wild rice and rushes grew for some distance out in the water,
for just there it was shallow far out from the shore. Blacky looked
sharply for a terrible gun. But the man had none with him and
therefore was not to be feared. Blacky boldly drew near until he was
able to see what the man was doing.
Then Blacky's eyes stretched their widest and he almost cawed right
out with surprise. The man was taking yellow corn from a bag, a
handful at a time, and throwing it out in the water. Yes, Sir, that
is what he was doing, scattering nice yellow corn among the rushes
and wild rice in the water!
"That's a queer performance," muttered Blacky, as he watched. "What
is he throwing perfectly good corn out in the water for? He isn't
planting it, for this isn't the planting season. Besides, it
wouldn't grow in the water, anyway. It is a shame to waste nice corn
like that. What is he doing it for?"
Blacky flew over to a tree some distance away and alighted in the
top of it to watch the queer performance. You know Blacky has very
keen eyes and he can see a long distance. For a while the man
continued to scatter corn and Blacky continued to wonder what he was
doing it for. At last the man went away in a boat. Blacky watched
him until he was out of sight. Then he spread his wings and slowly
flew back and forth just above the rushes and wild rice, at the
place where the man had been scattering the corn. He could see some
of the yellow grains on the bottom. Presently he saw something
else. "Ha!" exclaimed Blacky.
CHAPTER XVIII: Blacky Becomes Very Suspicious
Of things you do not understand,
Beware!
They may be wholly harmless but--
Beware!
You'll find the older that you grow
That only things and folks you know
Are fully to be trusted, so
Beware!
- Blacky the Crow.
That is one of Blacky's wise sayings, and he lives up to it. It is
one reason why he has come to be regarded by all his neighbors as
one of the smartest of all who live in the Green Forest and on the
Green Meadow. He seldom gets into any real trouble because he first
makes sure there is no trouble to get into. When he discovers
something he does not understand, he is at once distrustful of it.
As he watched a man scattering yellow corn in the water from the
shore of the Big River he at once became suspicious. He couldn't
understand why a man should throw good corn among the rushes and
wild rice in the water, and because he couldn't understand, he at
once began to suspect that it was for no good purpose. When the man
left in a boat, Blacky slowly flew over the rushes where the man had
thrown the corn, and presently his sharp eyes made a discovery that
caused him to exclaim right out.
What was it Blacky had discovered? Only a few feathers. No one with
eyes less sharp than Blacky's would have noticed them. And few would
have given them a thought if they had noticed them. But Blacky knew
right away that those were feathers from a Duck. He knew that a
Duck, or perhaps a flock of Ducks, had been resting or feeding in
there among those rushes, and that in moving about they had left
those two or three downy feathers.
"Ha!" exclaimed Blacky. "Mr. and Mrs. Quack or some of their
relatives have been here. It is just the kind of a place Ducks
like. Also some Ducks like corn.
If they should come back here and find this corn, they would have a
feast, and they would be sure to come again. That man who scattered
the corn here didn't have a terrible gun, but that doesn't mean that
he isn't a hunter. He may come back again, and then he may have a
terrible gun. I'm suspicious of that man. I am so. I believe he put
that corn here for Ducks and I don't believe he did it out of the
kindness of his heart. If it was Farmer Brown's boy I would know
that all is well; that he was thinking of hungry Ducks, with few
places where they can feed in safety, as they make the long journey
from the Far North to the Sunny South. But it wasn't Farmer Brown's
boy. I don't like the looks of it. I don't indeed. I'll keep watch
of this place and see what happens."
All the way to his favorite perch in a certain big hemlock-tree in
the Green Forest, Blacky kept thinking about that corn and the man
who had seemed to be generous with it, and the more he thought, the
more suspicious he became. He didn't like the looks of it at all.
"I'll warn the Quacks to keep away from there. I'll do it the very
first thing in the morning," he muttered, as he prepared to go to
sleep. "If they have any sense at all, they will stay in the pond of
Paddy the Beaver. But if they should go over to the Big River, they
would be almost sure to find that corn, and if they should once find
it, they would keep going back for more. It may be all right, but I
don't like the looks of it."
And still full of suspicions, Blacky went to sleep.
CHAPTER XIX: Blacky Makes More Discoveries
Little things you fail to see
May important prove to be.
- Blacky the Crow.
One of the secrets of Blacky's success in life is the fact that he
never fails to take note of little things. Long ago he learned that
little things which in themselves seem harmless and not worth
noticing may together prove the most important things in life. So,
no matter how unimportant a thing may appear, Blacky examines it
closely with those sharp eyes of his and remembers it.
The very first thing Blacky did, as soon as he was awake the morning
after he discovered the man scattering corn in the rushes at a
certain place on the edge of the Big River, was to fly over to the
pond of Paddy the Beaver and again warn Mr. and Mrs. Quack to keep
away from the Big River, if they and their six children would remain
safe. Then he got some breakfast. He ate it in a hurry and flew
straight over to the Big River to the place where he had seen that
yellow corn scattered.
Blacky wasn't wholly surprised to find Dusky the Black Duck, own
cousin to Mr. and Mrs. Quack the Mallard Ducks, with a number of his
relatives in among the rushes and wild rice at the very place where
that corn had been scattered. They seemed quite contented and in the
best of spirits. Blacky guessed why. Not a single grain of that
yellow corn could Blacky see. He knew the ways of Dusky and his
relatives. He knew that they must have come in there just at dusk
the night before and at once had found that corn. He knew that they
would remain hiding there until frightened out, and that then they
would spend the day in some little pond where they would not be
likely to be disturbed or where at least no danger could approach
them without being seen in plenty of time. There they would rest all
day, and when the Black Shadows came creeping out from the Purple
Hills, they would return to that place on the Big River to feed, for
that is the time when they like best to hunt for their food.
Dusky looked up as Blacky flew over him, but Blacky said nothing,
and Dusky said nothing. But if Blacky didn't use his tongue, he did
use his eyes. He saw just on the edge of the shore what looked like
a lot of small bushes growing close together on the very edge of the
water. Mixed in with them were a lot of the brown rushes. They
looked very harmless and innocent. But Blacky knew every foot of
that shore along the Big River, and he knew that those bushes hadn't
been there during the summer. He knew that they hadn't grown there.
He flew directly over them. Just back of them were a couple of
logs. Those logs hadn't been there when he passed that way a few
days before. He was sure of it.
"Ha!" exclaimed Blacky under his breath. "Those look to me as if
they might be very handy, very handy indeed, for a hunter to sit
on. Sitting there behind those bushes, he would be hidden from any
Duck who might come in to look for nice yellow corn scattered out
there among the rushes. It doesn't look right to me. No, Sir, it
doesn't look right to me. I think I'll keep an eye on this place."
So Blacky came back to the Big River several times that day. The
second time back he found that Dusky the Black Duck and his
relatives had left. When he returned in the afternoon, he saw the
same man he had seen there the afternoon before, and he was doing
the same thing, -- scattering yellow corn out in the rushes. And as
before, he went away in a boat.
"I don't like it," muttered Blacky, shaking his black head. "I
don't like it."
CHAPTER XX: Blacky Drops A Hint
When you see another's danger
Warn him though he be a stranger.
- Blacky the Crow.
Every day for a week a man came in a boat to scatter corn in the
rushes at a certain point along the bank of the Big River, and every
day Blacky the Crow watched him and shook his black head and talked
to himself and told himself that he didn't like it, and that he was
sure that it was for no good purpose. Sometimes Blacky watched from
a distance, and sometimes he flew right over the man. But never once
did the man have a gun with him.
Every morning, very early, Blacky flew over there, and every morning
he found Dusky the Black Duck and his flock in the rushes and wild
rice at that particular place, and he knew that they had been there
all night, He knew that they had come in there just at dusk the
night before, to feast on the yellow corn the man had scattered
there in the afternoon.
"It is no business of mine what those Ducks do," muttered Blacky to
himself, "but as surely as my tail feathers are black, something is
going to happen to some of them one of these days. That man may be
fooling them, but he isn't fooling me. Not a bit of it. He hasn't
had a gun with him once when I have seen him, but just the same he
is a hunter. I feel it in my bones. He knows those silly Ducks come
in here every night for that corn he puts out. He knows that after
they have been here a few times and nothing has frightened them,
they will be so sure that it is a safe place that they will not be
the least bit suspicious. Then he will hide behind those bushes he
has placed close to the edge of the water and wait for them with his
terrible gun. That is what he will do, or my name isn't Blacky."
Finally Blacky decided to drop a hint to Dusky the Black Duck. So
the next morning he stopped for a call. "Good morning," said he, as
Dusky swam in just in front of him. "I hope you are feeling as fine
as you look."
"Quack, quack," replied Dusky. "When Blacky the Crow flatters, he
hopes to gain something. What is it this time?"
"Not a thing," replied Blacky. "On my honor, not a thing. There is
nothing for me here, though there seems to be plenty for you and
your relatives, to judge by the fact that I find you in this same
place every morning. What is it?"
"Corn," replied Dusky in a low voice, as if afraid some one might
overhear him. "Nice yellow corn."
"Corn" exclaimed Blacky, as if very much astonished. "How does corn
happen to be way over here in the water?"
Dusky shook his head. "Don't ask me, for I can't tell you," said
he. "I haven't the least idea. All I know is that every evening when
we arrive, we find it here. How it gets here, I don't know, and
furthermore I don't care. It is enough for me that it is here."
"I've seen a man over here every afternoon," said Blacky. "I
thought he might be a hunter."
"Did he have a terrible gun?" asked Dusky suspiciously.
"No-o," replied Blacky.
"Then he isn't a hunter," declared Dusky, looking much relieved.
"But perhaps one of these days he will have one and will wait for
you to come in for your dinner," suggested Blacky. "He could hide
behind these bushes, you know."
"Nonsense," retorted Dusky, tossing his head. "There hasn't been a
sign of danger here since we have been here. I know you, Blacky; you
are jealous because we find plenty to eat here, and you find
nothing. You are trying to scare us. But I'll tell you right now,
you can't scare us away from such splendid eating as we have had
here. So there!"
CHAPTER XXI: At Last Blacky Is Sure
Who for another conquers fear
Is truly brave, it is most clear.
- Blacky the Crow.
It was late in the afternoon, and Blacky the Crow was on his way to
the Green Forest. As usual, he went around by the Big River to see
if that man was scattering corn for the Ducks. He wasn't there. No
one was to be seen along the bank of the Big River.
"He hasn't come to-day, or else he came early and has left,"
thought Blacky. And then his sharp eyes caught sight of something
that made him turn aside and make straight for a certain tree, from
the top of which he could see all that went on for a long
distance. What was it Blacky saw? It was a boat coming down the Big
River.
Blacky sat still and watched. Presently the boat turned in among the
rushes, and a moment later a man stepped out on the shore. It was
the same man Blacky had watched scatter corn in the rushes every day
for a week. There wasn't the least doubt about it, it was the same
man.
"Ha, ha!" exclaimed Blacky, and nearly lost his balance in his
excitement. "Ha, ha! It is just as I thought!" You see Blacky's
sharp eyes had seen that the man was carrying something, and that
something was a gun, a terrible gun. Blacky knows a terrible gun as
far as he can see it.
The hunter, for of course that is what he was, tramped along the
shore until he reached the bushes which Blacky had noticed close to
the water and which he knew had not grown there. The hunter looked
out over the Big River. Then he walked along where he had scattered
corn the day before. Not a grain was to be seen. This seemed to
please him. Then he went back to the bushes and sat down on a log
behind them, his terrible gun across his knees.
"I was sure of it," muttered Blacky. "He is going to wait there for
those Ducks to come in, and then something dreadful will
happen. What terrible creatures these hunters are! They don't know
what fairness is. No, Sir, they don't know what fairness is. He has
put food there day after day, where Dusky the Black Duck and his
flock would be sure to find it, and has waited until they have
become so sure there is no danger that they are no longer
suspicious. He knows they will feel so sure that all is safe that
they will come in without looking for danger. Then he will fire that
terrible gun and kill them without giving them any chance at all.