The Crow 



A Kindergarten Story by Alice McKay 

 Jimmy Scarecrow's Story 



Here l"am[way out in the corn field. How would you like to 

 be^me? I'm Jimmy Scarecrow. Do you know why I'm here? 

 Farmer Busyman set me here some time ago. He said, "Scare 

 them away, little fellow ; scare them away." To be sure he meant 

 I should scare the crows. Don't you think I look fine in Farmer 

 Busyman 's yellow straw hat and his big brown coat? 



"Caw,— Caw." Do you hear that? "Caw,— Caw." Look 

 high, high up in that big strong tree. Could you climb way up 

 nearly to the top? There's a cradle up there but there's no one 

 in it just now. It's made of sticks and strips of grape vine bark 

 and grasses woven together. 



Not long ago, the soft winds rocked five wee crow babies who 

 were fast asleep in that cradle. Not so long ago Mother Crow 

 lined that nest herself. What do you think she said? "My 

 dear, naked birdlings must have a soft warm cradle, so I'll find 

 some moss, and fine rootlets for the inside." You see the little 

 nestlings have no feather-dresses when they come out of the shell. 

 They have to wait for their clothes to grow. You see, each crow- 

 baby has only one suit of clothes at a time, and he washes and dries 

 that without taking it off. 



Of course, I'm Jimmy Scarecrow, and don't care to eat, but 

 those crow birdlings surely were the biggest eaters. I think 

 you just couldn't find hungrier babies. Indeed, I heard that they 

 looked as though they were all mouth. And what do you think 

 they liked, and still like? — nice juicy caterpillars — and — Junebug 

 larvae! Mother Crow, herself, likes sprouting corn, and she 

 knows where to find it. Indeed, she does. Do you see all those 

 little corn plants about me? Mother Crow doesn't seem to mind 

 my standing here. She says I'm only Jimmy Scarecrow. Very 

 often, down, down, she would fly, and up, up she would pull the 

 tiny corn stalk, and swallow it whole. Crows are strange birds. 



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