Blacky the Crow
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Thornton W. Burgess >> Blacky the Crow
Blacky gossiped a while longer, then flew off to look for his
breakfast; and as he flew his heart was light. His shrewd little
eyes twinkled.
"I ought to have known Farmer Brown's boy better than even to
suspect him," thought he. "I know now why he had that terrible
gun. It was to frighten those Ducks away so that the hunter would
not have a chance to shoot them. He wasn't shooting at anything. He
just fired in the air to scare those Ducks away. I know it just as
well as if I had seen him do it. I'll never doubt Farmer Brown's boy
again. And I'm glad I didn't say a word to anybody about seeing him
with a terrible gun."
Blacky was right. Farmer Brown's boy had taken that way of making
sure that the hunter who had first baited those Ducks with yellow
corn scattered in the rushes in front of his hiding place should
have no chance to kill any of them. While appearing to be an enemy,
he really had been a friend of Dusky the Black Duck and his flock.
CHAPTER XXIX: Blacky Discovers An Egg
Blacky is fond of eggs, as you know. In this he is a great deal like
other people, Farmer Brown's boy for instance. But as Blacky cannot
keep hens, as Farmer Brown's boy does, he is obliged to steal eggs
or else go without. If you come right down to plain, everyday truth,
I suppose Blacky isn't so far wrong when he insists that he is no
more of a thief than Farmer Brown's boy. Blacky says that the eggs
which the bens lay belong to the hens, and that he, Blacky has just
as much right to take them as Farmer Brown's boy. He quite overlooks
the fact that Farmer Brown's boy feeds the biddies and takes the
eggs as pay. Anyway, that is what Farmer Brown's boy says, but I do
not know whether or not the biddies understand it that way.
So Blacky the Crow cannot see why he should not help himself to an
egg when he gets the chance. He doesn't get the chance very often to
steal eggs from the hens, because usually they lay their eggs in the
henhouse, and Blacky is too suspicious to venture inside. The eggs
he does get are mostly those of his neighbors in the Green Forest
and the Old Orchard. But once in a great while some foolish hen will
make a nest outside the henhouse somewhere, and if Blacky happens to
find it the black scamp watches every minute he can spare from other
mischief for a chance to steal an egg.
Now Blacky knows just what a rogue Farmer Brown's boy thinks he is,
and for this reason Blacky is very careful about approaching Farmer
Brown or any other man until he has made sure that he runs no risk
of being shot. Blacky knows quite as well as any one what a gun
looks like. He also knows that without a terrible gun, there is
little Farmer Brown or any one else can do to him. So when he sees
Farmer Brown out in his fields, Blacky often will fly right over him
and shout "Caw, caw, caw, ca-a-w!" in the most provoking way, and
Fanner Brown's boy insists that he has seen Blacky wink when he was
doing it.
But Blacky doesn't do anything of this kind around the buildings of
Farmer Brown. You see, he has learned that there are doors and
windows in buildings, and out of one of these a terrible gun may
bang at any time. Though he has suspected that Farmer Brown's boy
would not now try to harm him, Blacky is naturally cautious and
takes no chances. So when he comes spying around Farmer Brown's
house and barn, he does it when he is quite sure that no one is
about, and he makes no noise about it. First he sits in a tall tree
from which he can watch Farmer Brown's home. When he is quite sure
that the way is clear, he flies over to the Old Orchard, and from
there he inspects the barnyard, never once making a sound. If he is
quite sure that no one is about, he sometimes drops down into the
henyard and helps himself to corn, if any happens to be there. It
was on one of these silent visits that Blacky spied something which
he couldn't forget. It was a box just inside the henhouse door. In
the box was some hay and in that hay he was sure that he had seen an
egg. In fact, he was sure that he saw two eggs there. He might not
have noticed them but for the fact that a hen had jumped down from
that box, making a terrible fuss. She didn't seem frightened, but
very proud. What under the sun she had to be proud about Blacky
couldn't understand, but he didn't stay to find out. The noise she
was making made him nervous. He was afraid that it would bring some
one to find out what was going on. So he spread his black wings and
flew away as silently as he had come.
As he was flying away he saw those eggs. You see, as he rose into
the air, he managed to pass that open door in such a way that he
could glance in. That one glance was enough. You know Blacky's eyes
are very sharp. He saw the hay in the box and the two eggs in the
hay, and that was enough for him. From that instant Blacky the Crow
began to scheme and plan to get one or both of those eggs. It seemed
to him that he never, never, had wanted anything quite so much, and
he was sure that he would not and could not be happy until he
succeeded in getting one.
CHAPTER XXX: Blacky Screws Up His Courage
If out of sight, then out of mind. This is a saying which you often
hear. It may be true sometimes, but it is very far from true at
other times. Take the case of Blacky. He had had only a glance into
that nest just inside the door of Farmer Brown's henhouse, but that
glance had been enough to show him two eggs there. Then, as he flew
away toward the Green Forest, those eggs were out of sight, of
course. But do you think they were out of mind? Not much! No,
indeed! In fact, those eggs were very much in Blacky's mind. He
couldn't think of anything else. He flew straight to a certain tall
pine-tree in a lonely part of the Green Forest. Whenever Blacky
wants to think or to plan mischief, he seeks that particular tree,
and in the shelter of its broad branches he keeps out of sight of
curious eyes, and there he sits as still as still can be.
"I want one of those eggs," muttered Blacky, as he settled himself
in comfort on a certain particular spot on a certain particular
branch of that tall pine-tree. Indeed, that particular branch might
well be called the "mischief branch," for on it Blacky has thought
out and planned most of the mischief he is so famous for. "Yes,
sir," he continued, "I want one of those eggs, and what is more, I
am going to have one."
He half closed his eyes and tipped his head back and swallowed a
couple of times, as if he already tasted one of those eggs.
"There is more in one of those eggs than in a whole nestful of
Welcome Robin's eggs. It is a very long time since I have been lucky
enough to taste a hen's egg, and now is my chance. I don't like
having to go inside that henhouse, even though it is barely inside
the door. I'm suspicious of doors. They have a way of closing most
unexpectedly.
I might see if I cannot get Unc' Billy Possum to bring one of those
eggs out for me. But that plan won't do, come to think of it,
because I can't trust Unc' Billy. The old sinner is too fond of eggs
himself. I would be willing to divide with him, but he would be sure
to eat his first, and I fear that it would taste so good that he
would eat the other. No. I've got to get one of those eggs
myself. It is the only way I can be sure of it.
"The thing to do is to make sure that Farmer Brown's boy and Farmer
Brown himself are nowhere about. They ought to be down in the
cornfield pretty soon. With them down there, I have only to watch my
chance and slip in. It won't take but a second. Just a little
courage, Blacky, just a little courage! Nothing in this world worth
having is gained without some risk. The thing to do is to make sure
that the risk is as small as possible."
Blacky shook out his feathers and then flew out of the tall
pine-tree as silently as he had flown into it. He headed straight
toward Farmer Brown's cornfield. When he was near enough to see all
over the field, he dropped down to the top of a fence post, and
there he waited. he didn't have long to wait. In fact, he had been
there but a few minutes
when he spied two people coming down the Long Lane toward the
cornfield. He looked at them sharply, and then gave a little sigh of
satisfaction. They were Farmer Brown and Farmer Brown's
boy. Presently they reached the cornfield and turned into it. Then
they went to work, and Blacky knew that so far as they were
concerned, the way was clear for him to visit the henyard.
He didn't fly straight there. Oh, my, no! Blacky is too clever to do
anything like that. He flew toward the Green Forest. When he knew
that he was out of sight of those in the cornfield, he turned and
flew over to the Old Orchard, and from the top of one of the old
apple-trees he studied the henyard and the barnyard and Farmer
Brown's house and the barn, to make absolutely sure that there was
no danger near. When he was quite sure, he silently flew down into
the henyard as he had done many times before. He pretended to be
looking for scattered grains of corn, but all the time he was edging
nearer and nearer to the open door of the henhouse. At last he could
see the box with the hay in it. He walked right up to the open door
and peered inside. There was nothing to be afraid of that he could
see. Still he hesitated. He did hate to go inside that door, even
for a minute, and that is all it would take to fly up to that nest
and get one of those eggs.
Blacky closed his eyes for just a second, and when he did that he
seemed to see himself eating one of those eggs. "What are you afraid
of?" he muttered to himself as he opened his eyes. Then with a
hurried look in all directions, he flew up to the edge of the
box. There lay the two eggs!
CHAPTER XXXI: An Egg That Wouldn't Behave
If you had an egg and it wouldn't behave
Just what would you do with that egg, may I ask?
To make an egg do what it don't want to do
Strikes me like a difficult sort of a task.
All of which is pure nonsense. Of course. Who ever heard of an egg
either behaving or misbehaving? Nobody. That is, nobody that I know,
unless it be Blacky. It is best not to mention eggs in Blacky's
presence these days. They are a forbidden topic when he is
about. Blacky is apt to be a little resentful at the mere mention of
an egg. I don't know as I wholly blame him. How would you feel if
you knew you knew all there was to know about a thing, and then
found out that you didn't know anything at all? Well, that is the
way it is with Blacky the Crow.
If any one had told Blacky that he didn't know all there is to know
about eggs, he would have laughed at the idea. Wasn't he, Blacky,
hatched from an egg himself? And hadn't he, ever since he was big
enough, hunted eggs and stolen eggs and eaten eggs? If he didn't
know about eggs, who did? That is the way he would have talked
before his visit to Farmer Brown's henhouse. It is since then that
it has been unwise to mention eggs
When Blacky saw the two eggs in the nest in Farmer Brown's henhouse
how Blacky did wish that he could take both. But he couldn't. One
would be all that he could manage. He must take his choice and go
away while the going was good. Which should he take?
It often happens in this life that things which seem to be
unimportant, mere trifles in themselves, prove to be just the
opposite. Now, so far as Blacky could see, it didn't make the least
difference which egg he took, excepting that one was a little bigger
than the other. As a matter of fact, it made all the difference in
the world. One was brown and very good to look at. The other, the
larger of the two, was white and also very good to look at. In fact,
Blacky thought it the better of the two to look at, for it was very
smooth and shiny. So, partly on this account, and partly because it
was the largest, Blacky chose the white egg. He seized it in his
claws and started to fly with it, but somehow he could not seem to
get a good grip on it. He fluttered to the ground just outside the
door, and there he got a better grip. Just as old Dandy-cock the
Rooster, with head down and all the feathers on his neck standing
out with anger, came charging at him, Blacky rose into the air and
started over the Old Orchard toward the Green Forest.
Never had Blacky felt more like cawing at the top of his lungs. You
see, he felt that he had been very smart, and I suspect that he also
felt that he had been very brave. He would have liked to boast a
little. But he didn't. He wisely held his tongue. It would be time
enough to do his boasting after he had reached a place of safety and
had eaten that egg. He was halfway across the Old Orchard when he
felt that egg beginning to slip. Now at best it isn't easy to carry
an egg without breaking it. You know how very careful you have to
be. Just imagine how Blacky felt when that egg began to slip. Do
what he would, he couldn't get a better grip on it. It slipped a wee
bit more. Blacky started down towards the ground. But he wasn't
quick enough. Striped Chipmunk, watching Blacky from the old stone
wall, saw something white drop from Blacky's claws. He saw Blacky
dash after it and clutch at it only to miss it. Then the white thing
struck a branch of an old apple tree, bounced off and fell to the
ground. Blacky followed it.
Striped Chipmunk stole very softly through the grass to see what
Blacky was doing. Blacky was standing close beside a white thing
that looked very much like an egg. He was looking at it with the
queerest expression.
Now and then he would reach out and rap it sharply with his bill,
and then look as if he didn't know what to make of it. He
didn't. That egg wasn't behaving
right. It should have broken when it hit the branch of the apple
tree. Certainly it should have broken when he struck it that way
with his bill. However was he to eat that egg, if he couldn't break
the shell? Blacky didn't know.
CHAPTER XXXII: What Blacky Did With The Stolen Egg
Blacky was puzzled. He didn't know what to make of that egg he had
stolen from Farmer Brown's henhouse. It wasn't like any egg he ever
had seen or even heard of. It was a beautiful-looking egg, and he
had been sure that it would taste as good, quite as good as it
looked. Even now he wasn't sure that if he could only taste it, it
would be all that he had hoped. But how could he taste it, when he
couldn't break that shell? He never had heard of such a shell. He
doubted if anybody else ever had, either. He had hammered at it with
his stout bill until he was afraid that he would break that, instead
of the egg. The more he tried to break into it and couldn't, the
hungrier he grew, and the more certain that nothing else in all the
world could possibly taste so good. But the Old Orchard was not the
place for him to work on that egg. In the first place, it was too
near Farmer Brown's house. This made Blacky uneasy. You see, he had
something of a guilty conscience. Not that he felt at all a sense of
having done wrong. To his way of thinking, if he were smart enough
to get that egg, he had just as much right to it as any one else,
particularly Farmer Brown's boy. Yet he wasn't at all sure that
Farmer Brown's boy would look at the matter quite that way. In fact,
he had a feeling that Farmer Brown's boy would call him a thief if
he should be discovered with that egg. Then, too, there were too
many sharp eyes in the Old Orchard. He wanted to get away where he
could be sure of being alone. Then if he couldn't break that shell,
no one would be the wiser. So he picked up the egg and flew straight
over to the Green Forest, and this time he managed to get there
without dropping it.
Now you would never suspect Blacky the Crow, he of the sharp wits
and crafty ways, of being amused by bright things, would you? But he
is. In fact, Blacky is quite like a little child in this
matter. Anything that is bright and shiny interests Blacky right
away. If he finds anything of this kind, he will take it away to a
certain secret place, and there he will admire it and play with it
and finally hide it. If I didn't know that it isn't so, because it
couldn't possibly be so, I should think that Blacky was some
relation to certain small boys I know. Always their pockets are
filled with all sorts of useless odds and ends which they have
picked up here and there. Blacky has no pockets, so he keeps his
treasures of this kind in a secret hiding-place, a sort of treasure
storehouse. He visits this secretly every day, uncovers his
treasures, and gloats over them and plays with them, then carefully
covers them up again. First Blacky took this egg over near his home,
and there he once more tried and tried and tried to break the
shell. But the shell wouldn't break, not even when Blacky quite lost
his temper and hammered at it for all he was worth. Then he gave the
thing up as a bad matter and flew up to his favorite roost in the
top of a tall pine-tree, leaving the egg on the ground. But from
where he sat on his favorite roost in the tall pine-tree he could
see that provoking egg, a little spot of shining white. When a Jolly
Little Sunbeam found it and rested on it, it was so very bright and
shiny that Blacky couldn't keep his eyes off it.
Little by little he forgot that it was an egg. At least, he forgot
that he wanted to eat it. He began to find pleasure in just looking
at it. It might not satisfy his stomach, but it certainly was very
satisfying to his eyes. He forgot to think of it as a thing to eat,
but began to think of it wholly as a thing to look at and admire. He
was glad he hadn't been able to break that shell.
Once more he spread his black wings and flew down to the egg. He
cocked his head to one side and looked at it. He cocked his head to
the other side and looked at it. He walked all around it, chuckling
and saying to himself, "Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty and all mine,
mine, mine, mine! Pretty, pretty, and all mine!"
Than he craftily looked all about to make sure that no one was
watching him. Having made quite sure, he rolled the egg over and
turned it around and admired it to his heart's content. At last he
picked it up and carried it to his treasure-house and covered it
over very carefully. And there that china nest-egg, for that is what
he had stolen, is still his chief treasure to this day, and Blacky
still sometimes wonders what kind of a hen laid such a hard-shelled egg.
Blacky has had very many other adventures, but it would take another
book to tell about all of them. That would be hardly fair to some of
the other little people who also have had adventures and want them
told to you. One of these is a beautiful little fellow who lives in
the Green Forest, and so the next book will be Whitefoot the Wood Mouse.