"Until I can no longer travel 'as the crow flies,' I shall not spend a
winter here," he would say to them with a solemn wink. That was one of
his favorite jokes. He had heard that when anybody asked Farmer Green how
far it was to the village he always answered, "It's nine miles as the
crow flies"--meaning that it was nine miles in a straight line.

Old Mr. Crow thought that the saying was very funny. But then, he usually
laughed at Farmer Green, no matter what he said or did.

You can see that Mr. Crow was no respecter of persons.




II

SOMETHING LOST


It may seem a strange thing for old Mr. Crow to have had no other
name--such as John, or James, or Josephus. But that was the way he
preferred it to be. Indeed, his parents had given him another name,
years before. But Mr. Crow did not like it. And after he grew up he
dropped the name. To tell the truth, the reason for his coming to
Pleasant Valley, in the beginning, was because no one knew him there.
And though his new friends thought it odd that he should be called
simply "Mr. Crow," he was satisfied.

Of course, that was when he was younger. As the years passed he became
known as "old Mr. Crow." But no one called him that except behind his