Of things you do not understand,
Beware!
They may be wholly harmless but--
Beware!
You'll find the older that you grow
That only things and folks you know
Are fully to be trusted, so
Beware!
--Blacky the Crow.
That is one of Blacky's wise sayings, and he lives up to it. It is one
reason why he has come to be regarded by all his neighbors as one of the
smartest of all who live in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadow. He
seldom gets into any real trouble because he first makes sure there
is no trouble to get into. When he discovers something he does not
understand, he is at once distrustful of it.
As he watched a man scattering yellow corn in the water from the shore
of the Big River he at once became suspicious. He couldn't understand
why a man should throw good corn among the rushes and wild rice in the
water, and because he couldn't understand, he at once began to suspect
that it was for no good purpose. When the man left in a boat, Blacky
slowly flew over the rushes where the man had thrown the corn, and
presently his sharp eyes made a discovery that caused him to exclaim
right out.
What was it Blacky had discovered? Only a few feathers. No one with eyes
less sharp than Blacky's would have noticed them. And few would have
given them a thought if they had noticed them. But Blacky knew right
away that those were feathers from a Duck. He knew that a Duck, or
perhaps a flock of Ducks, had been resting or feeding in there among
those rushes, and that in moving about they had left those two or three
downy feathers.
“Ha!” exclaimed Blacky. “Mr. and Mrs. Quack or some of their relatives
have been here. It is just the kind of a place Ducks like. Also some
Ducks like corn. If they should come back here and find this corn, they
would have a feast, and they would be sure to come again. That man who
scattered the corn here didn't have a terrible gun, but that doesn't
mean that he isn't a hunter. He may come back again, and then he may
have a terrible gun. I'm suspicious of that man. I am so. I believe he
put that corn here for Ducks and I don't believe he did it out of the
kindness of his heart. If it was Farmer Brown's boy I would know that
all is well; that he was thinking of hungry Ducks, with few places where
they can feed in safety, as they make the long journey from the Far
North to the Sunny South. But it wasn't Farmer Brown's boy. I don't like
the looks of it. I don't indeed. I'll keep watch of this place and see
what happens.”
All the way to his favorite perch in a certain big hemlock-tree in the
Green Forest, Blacky kept thinking about that corn and the man who
had seemed to be generous with it, and the more he thought, the more
suspicious he became. He didn't like the looks of it at all.
“I'll warn the Quacks to keep away from there. I'll do it the very first
thing in the morning,” he muttered, as he prepared to go to sleep. “If
they have any sense at all, they will stay in the pond of Paddy the
Beaver. But if they should go over to the Big River, they would be
almost sure to find that corn, and if they should once find it, they
would keep going back for more. It may be all right, but I don't like
the looks of it.”
And still full of suspicions, Blacky went to sleep.