CHAPTER XVIII: Blacky Becomes Very Suspicious

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