"Corn!" Sandy Chipmunk exclaimed. "I don't know anything about any corn!"

"Well, you certainly are stupid!" Mr. Crow told him crossly. "Didn't you
spend the whole day gathering corn for me?"

"No, indeed!" Sandy replied. "I gathered beechnuts, Mr. Crow."

"Beechnuts!" Mr. Crow repeated. "I never told you I wanted _nuts_. I'd
starve, trying to live on nuts; for they don't agree with me at all. And
I make it a rule never to eat them. _Corn_ is what I want."

"You didn't say so," Sandy Chipmunk said. "You asked me to gather _food_
for you. And every one knows there's no better food than beechnuts to
last through the winter."

"That--" said Mr. Crow--"that is where we do not agree. I supposed you
knew I wanted corn. But there's no great harm done, anyhow," he added.
"Tomorrow you can gather _corn_ for me--now that you know what I want. No
doubt you can get Frisky Squirrel to help you again. But you must pay him
with _your_ share of the corn--not with mine."

"But then there wouldn't be any left for me," Sandy objected.

"But just think of all the beechnuts you have," Mr. Crow reminded him.

Sandy Chipmunk shook his head. "I'm afraid I'm too stupid to work for
you any more," he told Mr. Crow.

"Oh! I didn't mean what I said," Mr. Crow hastened to explain.