when he tried to make folks believe peacock feathers were growing in his
tail."




MR. CROW'S DECEIT.


"I have heard a great many stories which Mr. Crow has told; but never
one about him," your Aunt Amy interrupted. "If he tried to deceive the
other birds, I surely would like to know about it."

"Well, he did," Mrs. Mouser Cat said emphatically, sitting bolt upright;
"but of course he doesn't like to have the story told, so I had rather
you wouldn't let him know I mentioned it.

"I don't know how he happened to get it into his head to do such a
thing, for, as a rule, he spends the most of his time over in the big
tree telling stories or making poetry; but he grew foolish once, and
whenever anybody came where he was, he said he had strange growing
feathers, and the doctor believed he was turning into a peacock.

"Of course that made a good deal of excitement around here, among all of
us, for it would be a strange thing for a crow to change in that way,
and he had twice as many visitors as he ever had before, all wanting to
know about the new feathers.

"Well, of course he couldn't keep saying that they were coming, and not
show any signs of them, so one day he said he felt terribly sick and