"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 hoa.r.s.ely. "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.
"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.