But Mr. Crow sneered openly at that. "I'm a _newspaper_--not a
_jest-book_," he announced.

"Then you refuse to tell any jokes, do you?" Brownie Beaver asked him.

"I certainly do!" Mr. Crow cried indignantly.

"Very well!" Brownie said. "I see I'll have to take some other
newspaper, though I must say I hate to change--after taking this one
so long."

"I hope you'll find one to suit you," Mr. Crow said in a cross voice.
And he flew away without another word. He was terribly upset. You see,
he had enjoyed being a newspaper, because it gave him an excuse for
asking people the most inquisitive questions. He had intended all that
week to ask Aunt Polly Woodchuck whether she wore a wig. But he hadn't
been able to find her at home. And now it was too late--for Mr. Crow
was a newspaper no longer.

As for Brownie Beaver, he succeeded in getting Jasper Jay to be his
newspaper. Though Jasper told him many jokes, Brownie found that he
could not depend upon Jasper's news. And as a matter of fact, Jasper
made up most of it himself. He claimed that the _newest news_ was
the best.

"That's why I invent it myself, right on the spot," he explained.