THE WISDOM OF THE CROW 77 



Henry further related an incident where a bunch of 

 crows had come upon some oats that had been spilled 

 from a sled on the hard snow. There were nine of 

 them. True to their custom, one flew up into a near-by 

 tree to act as sentinel 



" On the far side of the road," said Henry, " there 

 were some low bushes, and, happening to see a move- 

 ment among them, I watched closely, and soon saw the 

 head of a red fox with his eyes greedily fixed upon the 

 feeding birds. Even a crow, at times in the winter, 

 must taste good to a fox. 



"Master Reynard crawled silently on his belly 

 toward the unsuspecting birds, and I thought the 

 sentinel crow in the tree must have gone to sleep. But 

 not he, indeed. He waited until the rapacious streak 

 of reddish fur was about to be launched like a flash at 

 the nearest crow, when ' Caw ! Caw ! Caw ! ' said the 

 one on the tree in his quickest and sharpest manner, 

 and away the birds flew, leaving the fox in dire chagrin 

 at his failure. 



" Then the sentinel crow started to jeer and laugh at 

 their common enemy and to berate him with vigor. 

 The fox slunk away, and as soon as he was far enough 

 for them to be out of danger the sentinel called his 

 brethren back, he descending to feed on the oats while 

 one of the others took his place as sentry. 



" Now," said Henry, " that sentinel acted just as if 

 he was full of mischief, and wanted to fool the fox and 



