Blacky the Crow | Page 4

stay away from that
corner of the Green Forest. That was a very wise resolution. Of all the
people who live in the Green Forest, none is fiercer or more savage
than Hooty the Owl, unless it is Mrs. Hooty. She is bigger than Hooty
and certainly quite as much to be feared by the little people.
All this Blacky knows. No one knows it better. And Blacky is not one
to poke his head into trouble with his eyes open. So he very wisely
resolved to forget all about those eggs. Now it is one thing to make a
resolution and quite another thing to live up to it, as you all know. It
was easy enough to say that he would forget, but not at all easy to
forget. It would have been different if it had been spring or early
summer, when there were plenty of other eggs to be had by any one
smart enough to find them and steal them. But now, when it was still
winter (such an unheard-of time for any one to have eggs!), and it was
hard work to find enough to keep a hungry Crow's stomach filled, the
thought of those eggs would keep popping into his head. He just
couldn't seem to forget them. After a little, he didn't try.
Now Blacky the Crow is very, very cunning. He is one of the smartest
of all the little people who fly. No one can get into more mischief and
still keep out of trouble than can Blacky the Crow. That is because he
uses the wits in that black head of his. In fact, some people are unkind
enough to say that he spends all his spare time in planning mischief.
The more he thought of those eggs, the more he wanted them, and it
wasn't long before he began to try to plan some way to get them
without risking his own precious skin.
"I can't do it alone, " thought he, "and yet if I take any one into my

secret, I'll have to share those eggs. That won't do at all, because I want
them myself. I found them, and I ought to have them." He quite forgot
or overlooked the fact that those eggs really belonged to Hooty and Mrs.
Hooty and to no one else. "Now let me see, what can I do?"
He thought and he thought and he thought and he thought, and little by
little a plan worked out in his little black head. Then he chuckled. He
chuckled right out loud, then hurriedly looked around to see if any one
had heard him. No one had, so he chuckled again. He cocked his head
on one side and half closed his eyes, as if that plan was something he
could see and he was looking at it very hard. Then he cocked his head
on the other side and did the same thing.
"It's all right, " said he at last. "It'll give my relatives a lot of fun, and of
course they will be very grateful to me for that. It won't hurt Hooty or
Mrs. Hooty a bit, but it will make them very angry. They have very
short tempers, and people with short tempers usually forget everything
else when they are angry. We'll pay them a visit while the sun is bright,
because then perhaps they cannot see well enough to catch us, and we'll
tease them until they lose their tempers and forget all about keeping
guard over those eggs. Then I'll slip in and get one and perhaps both of
them. Without knowing that they are doing anything of the kind, my
friends and relatives will help me to get a good meal. My, how good
those eggs will taste!"
It was a very clever and cunning plan, for Blacky is a very clever and
cunning rascal, but of course it didn't deserve success because nothing
that means needless worry and trouble for others deserves to succeed.

CHAPTER V
: Blacky Calls His Friends
When Blacky cries "Caw, caw, caw, caw!" As if he'd dislocate his jaw,
His relatives all hasten where He waits them with a crafty air. They
know that there is mischief afoot, and the Crow family is always ready
for mischief. So on this particular morning when they heard Blacky
cawing at the top of his lungs from the tallest pine-tree in the Green
Forest, they hastened over there as fast as they could fly, calling to each
other excitedly and sure that they were going to have a good time of
some kind.

Blacky chuckled as he saw them coming. "Come on! Come on! Caw,
caw, caw! Hurry up and flap your wings faster. I know where Hooty
the Owl is,