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.