Once upon a time a farmer's wife was winnowing corn, when a crow,
flying past, swooped off with a grain from the winnowing basket and
perched on a tree close by to eat it. The farmer's wife, greatly
enraged, flung a clod at the bird with so good an aim that the crow
fell to the ground, dropping the grain of corn, which rolled into a
crack in the tree. The farmer's wife, seeing the crow fall, ran up to
it, and seizing it by the tail, cried, 'Give me back my grain of corn,
or I will kill you!'
The wretched bird, in fear of death, promised to do so, but, lo and
behold! when he came to search for the grain, it had rolled so far
into the crack that neither by beak nor claw could he reach it.