checkers with him.
XV

MR. CROW'S NEW COAT


When Mr. Crow decided, one fall, that he would stay in Pleasant Valley
during the winter, instead of going South, he remembered at once that he
would need a thick overcoat.

That was when he went to Mr. Frog's tailor's shop, for Mr. Frog, you
know, was a tailor.

"I want you to make me a warm overcoat." Mr. Crow told him. "Can you do
it?"

"Certainly!" said Mr. Frog. "You've come to the right place. Everybody
says that I'm the best tailor in Pleasant Valley." And that was quite
true--because he was the _only_ one. "What'll you have--stripes, checks,
or spots?" Mr. Frog asked briskly.

"What do you suggest?" Mr. Crow replied. He had not thought much about
his new coat--except that he wanted it to be warm.

"Spots, by all means!" said Mr. Frog. "I always wear 'em myself. They're
the best, to my mind. For if you happen to get a spot on your coat,
what's one spot more?"

"That's a good idea," Mr. Crow said. "And how much will you ask to make
me a spotted coat?"

"I charge by the spot," said Mr. Frog. "The more spots, the more the coat
will cost. So I'd advise you to take a coat with large spots, because
there'll be fewer of 'em and the price will be less."

"That's a good idea, too," said old Mr. Crow. "You may make my coat of
this!" He pointed to a piece of blue cloth with yellow spots about the
size of a dollar and a quarter.

"Good!" said Mr. Frog. Then he measured Mr. Crow. And then he measured
the cloth. And then he scratched some figures on a flat stone. "There'll
be thirteen spots on your coat and that'll make just thirteen that you'll
owe me."

"Thirteen what?" asked Mr. Crow.

"Ah! That's the question!" said Mr. Frog, mysteriously. "I'll tell you
when your coat's finished. And you can pay me then. It's what is known as
'spot cash,'" he added.

"Very well!" Mr. Crow answered. "And I'll come back--"

"To-morrow!" said the tailor.

When to-morrow came, Mr. Crow flew over to the pond where Mr. Frog had
his tailor's shop. And that spry gentleman slipped Mr. Crow's new coat
upon him. While Mr. Crow stood stiffly in the middle of the floor Mr.
Frog pulled the coat here and patted it there. He backed away and looked
at it, with his head on one side; and then he stood on his head and
looked at it, with his legs dangling in the air.

"It's a perfect fit," he assured Mr. Crow, finally. And then he caught up
a needle and thread and busied himself behind Mr. Crow's back for a long
time.

"What are you doing?" Mr. Crow inquired at last. "I'm getting tired of
standing still."

"Just fixing it!" answered Mr. Frog. "It'll be finished in a minute."

And it was. He stuck his needle into Mr. Crow, to let him know it was
done.

Mr. Crow jumped half way across the room. "Why did you do that?" he asked
hotly.

"I wanted to break my thread," Mr. Frog explained pleasantly. "It's the
quickest way of breaking a thread that I know of."

"You look out, or I'll break something else for you," Mr. Crow squawked,
for he was thoroughly enraged. "And now," he added, "I'll pay you what I
owe before leaving. I owe thirteen of something."

Then Mr. Frog surprised him.

"I've decided not to take any pay," he announced. "I hear that thirteen
is an unlucky number."

"Is that so?" Mr. Frog exclaimed. "Perhaps it is. If you had stuck your
needle into me thirteen times it certainly would have been unlucky for
you."

On the whole Mr. Crow was well pleased with his bargain. He was glad
that he had asked Mr. Frog to make a coat for him. Indeed, if only the
tailor had not stabbed him with his needle, he would have returned to the
shop at once and ordered Mr. Frog to make him a pair of trousers--with
thirteen spots on them.




XVI

A TIGHT FIT


Now, a certain thing happened that made Mr. Crow change his mind about
staying North for the winter. It had something to do with nuts, and
Frisky Squirrel, and Sandy Chipmunk. But that is another story; and
you may already have heard it.

Anyhow, Mr. Crow suddenly decided that he would have to fly southward,
after all. He was disappointed, because he didn't like the thought of
having to make so long a journey. Moreover, he had his new blue coat with
the yellow spots, which Mr. Frog had made for him. It was a handsome
coat. And everybody said it was very becoming to Mr. Crow. But he knew it
was altogether too warm to wear to his home in the South where the
weather was sure to be mild.

"I'll have to leave my new coat behind," he said to himself in a sad
voice. "It's almost too heavy to wear even here, though it is fall. I
hate to do it; but I'd better take it off and hide it somewhere. There
might be some cold days next spring when I'd be glad of a thick, warm
coat."

So the old gentleman started to unbutton his new coat, which he had worn
all day, ever since Mr. Frog had slipped it on him early in the morning.
Anyone might think that it would have been an easy matter to unbutton the
coat, for Mr. Frog had sewed a double row of big brown buttons down the
front of it. But for some time Mr. Crow fumbled with one of them in vain.

"Ha!" he exclaimed at last. "This is stupid of me! I'm trying to unbutton
the wrong row of buttons." Then he fumbled with one of the buttons of the
other row. But strange to say, he was no more successful than before. He
struggled with all the buttons in that row (there were five of them). And
then he tried the other five, one after another.

Mr. Crow couldn't understand it. He wanted more than ever to take the
coat off, because his efforts to unbutton it had made him quite warm.

"I shall have get somebody to help me," he said at last. "It may be that
my eyesight is failing--though I haven't noticed before that there was
anything the matter with it.... There's my cousin, Jasper Jay! I'll ask
him to unbutton my coat." And he called to Jasper, who had just alighted
on a stump not far away.

To Mr. Crow's dismay, his cousin refused to assist him.

"I know you too well," said Jasper Jay. "You want to play some trick on
me. If the buttons were on the back of your coat I might help you. But
they're right in front of you; and they're so big that a blind person
couldn't help finding them, even on the darkest night.... No! You can't
fool me this time!"

"Very well!" Mr. Crow croaked. "If you won't help me, there are plenty of
other people who'll be glad to." And he flew away in something very like
a temper.

To Mr. Crow's surprise he couldn't find anyone that would unbutton his
new coat for him; like Jasper Jay, everybody was afraid that Mr. Crow
meant to play a trick on him.

Mr. Crow was beginning to be frightened. He had called on all his friends
in Pleasant Valley except one. And if that one should refuse, Mr. Crow
didn't know what he could do. He had liked his spotted coat. But now he
began to hate it. And he wanted to slip out of it and never see it again.

So Mr. Crow hurried over to the swamp where Fatty Coon lived.




XVII

THE STRANGE BUTTONS


To Mr. Crow's delight, it did not occur to Fatty Coon that Mr. Crow might
be playing a trick on him. You see, as was usually the case, Fatty was
hungry. And he had no thought for anything except food. When Mr. Crow
explained what a fix he was in, and asked Fatty to unbutton his coat for
him, Fatty stepped up to him at once.

But he didn't try to unbutton the coat. He sniffed at the buttons, while
his face wore a puzzled look. And then he began to smile.

"I'll tell you what I'll do!" Fatty said. "If you'll give me these
buttons, I'll take them off for you. And then, of course, you'll have no
more trouble with your coat. You can throw it off any time you please."

"Good!" Mr. Crow exclaimed. "The buttons shall be yours. I don't want
them, for I shall never wear this coat again."

So Fatty Coon set to work to take off the buttons. He removed them in a
very odd way, too. Instead of tearing them off he began eating them!

"Goodness!" Mr. Crow cried. "Aren't you afraid you'll be ill?"

But Fatty Coon never answered. He kept on nibbling the buttons and
crunching them in his mouth. And he never stopped until he had swallowed
the very last one.

Then he smacked his lips (for he knew no better).

"Those were the finest gingersnaps I ever tasted," he remarked. "It's a
pity there weren't a baker's dozen of them, instead of only ten."

Old Mr. Crow nearly fell over, he was so surprised. He had never dreamed
that those big brown buttons, which Mr. Frog had sewed upon his coat,
were nothing but gingersnaps.

"If I'd known that I would have eaten them myself!" he exclaimed. "But I
don't care. Now that I can get out of this heavy coat, I'm satisfied."

But to Mr. Crow's dismay, the coat clung round him as tightly as ever. He
couldn't throw it open at all. And he turned the least bit pale.

"This is strange!" he murmured. "What can be the matter, I wonder!"

Fatty Coon looked at the coat again. And then he laughed.

"The trouble--" he said--"the trouble is, there are no buttonholes! Your
coat doesn't open in front. And it doesn't open anywhere else, either.
It's _sewed on you_, Mr. Crow."

Poor Mr. Crow began to feel faint. He leaned against a tree and did not
speak for some time. But he was thinking deeply. And all at once he
understood what had happened.

"It's all the fault of that silly tailor, Mr. Frog!" he groaned. "He made
me stand still a long time. And that was when he sewed my coat up the
back.... What can I do?" he asked helplessly.

"If I were you I'd go straight to Mr. Frog's shop and make him take
the stitches out," Fatty Coon said. "And if he has any more of those
gingersnaps, I wish you'd let me know."




XVIII

AN UNLUCKY NUMBER


As soon as old Mr. Crow pushed open the door of Mr. Frog's tailor's shop,
Mr. Frog jumped up quickly. He had been sitting cross-legged upon a
table, sewing. And when he leaped off the table he sprang so high that
his head struck the ceiling.

"What's that noise?" Mr. Crow asked him nervously, when Mr. Frog had
landed upon his feet. "It sounded like thunder; but there's not a cloud
in the sky."

"It was my head," Mr. Frog explained. "It hit the ceiling, you know."

"Oh!" said Mr. Crow. "It made a very hollow sound. But I am not
surprised. I have already learned that your head is quite empty."

"It's certainly not solid," Mr. Frog agreed pleasantly. No matter what
happened, he never lost his temper.

But Mr. Crow was different. _He_ was angry.

"You've got me into a pretty fix!" said he. "And now you must get me out
of it."

"I suppose you want more buttons," Mr. Prog observed. "I noticed as you
came in that you had lost every one."

"No!" Mr. Crow told him. "What I want is to get out of this coat. I've
decided to spend the winter in the South, after all. And here you've been
and gone and sewed the coat on me, and left me no way at all to slip out
of it."

"I beg your pardon," the tailor replied politely. "Pardon _me_--but I
think you are mistaken. I left four openings through which anyone could
crawl out."

Old Mr. Crow looked puzzled.

"I should like to know where they are," he said.

"The neck, the skirts, and the two sleeves!" Mr. Frog told him.

At that Mr. Crow looked at him severely.

"How could you expect me to slip through any of those places?" he asked.

"Why--" said the tailor--"I thought it would be easy for you. I've always
heard you were a very slippery customer."

When he said that, Mr. Crow made some queer noises in his throat, much as
if he were choking.

"Are you ill?" the tailor cried.

"Just a frog in my throat!" Mr. Crow answered.

As he said that. Mr. Frog leaped toward the door. He was a jumpy sort of
person. When anything startled him you could never tell in what direction
he might spring. And he was now about to rush out of his shop when Mr.
Crow caught him and dragged him back.

"You can't go," he shouted, "until you've taken the stitches out of the
back of my coat."

"Oh, certainly!" Mr. Frog quavered. And he set to work at once to open
the back seam of Mr. Crow's coat.

He was a spry worker--was Mr. Frog. In less time than it takes to tell it
he had ripped the back of the coat from collar to hem.

And old Mr. Crow was no less spry in pulling the coat off and flinging it
into a corner.

"There!" Mr. Crow cried. "There's your coat with the thirteen spots on
it! I certainly don't want it, for it has caused me no end of trouble."
Then he turned and hurried out of the shop, without stopping even to
thank Mr. Frog for what he had done.

Before Mr. Crow was out of hearing, the tailor thrust his head through
the doorway and called to the departing Mr. Crow.

"I told you--" said Mr. Frog--"I told you thirteen was an unlucky
number."




XIX

THE SHOE-STORE


"Dear me!" old Mr. Crow exclaimed one day. "I see I shall have to get
some new shoes. I've had these only about ten years and they're worn
through already. The trouble is, I don't know where to buy any more." He
was talking to his cousin, Jasper Jay.

"I can tell you," said Jasper. "That Rabbit boy--the one they call
Jimmy--has a shoe-store. You know he's always trying something new. He
has had a barber's shop; and he's been a tooth-puller. And now he has
opened a shoe-store over in the meadow."

"I'm glad to know it," Mr. Crow replied, "though I must say I wish it was
somebody else. There's something about that Rabbit boy that I don't like.
Maybe it's the way he wags his ears and wriggles his nose. And he's
always jumping."

"He's a bright young fellow," said Jasper Jay.

Old Mr. Crow coughed.

"A little too bright, sometimes," he ventured. "But he'll have to be a
good deal brighter to play any of his tricks on me."

"You think you're enough for him?" Jasper inquired.

"Think?" cried Mr. Crow. "I _know_ I am. And though I hate to get any
shoes in his shop, I'm afraid I shall have to just this once."

Later that day Mr. Crow went to the shoe-shop in the meadow. And Jimmy
Rabbit was delighted to see him.

"Come right in!" he invited Mr. Crow. "I see you need some new shoes. And
you've made no mistake in coming here for them."

"I hope not," Mr. Crow responded gruffly. He went inside the store and
sat down. And Jimmy Rabbit knelt before him and measured one of his feet.

Now, Mr. Crow had enormous feet. Big feet had always run--or walked--in
his family. And though he couldn't any more help the size of his feet
than the size of his bill, old Mr. Crow was very touchy in respect to
them. He grew angry at once.

"What do you mean by measuring my feet?" he croaked. "I didn't come here
to be insulted, you know."

Jimmy Rabbit looked up at him mildly.

"I just wanted to find out how _small_ your feet are," he explained
politely enough. "Sometimes people come here with feet so small that I
can't fit them. And when I looked at yours I was afraid that might be
the case."

"Oh!" said Mr. Crow. The answer pleased him. "Show me the best pair of
shoes you have," he ordered.

So Jimmy Rabbit began to search his shelves. To tell the truth, he was
puzzled. He had no shoes big enough for Mr. Crow. But he did not dare
tell the old gentleman that, because he knew Mr. Crow would be very
angry.

At last Jimmy Rabbit found the biggest shoes in the place. And he showed
them to Mr. Crow, who seemed much pleased.

"I'll try them on," Mr. Crow said.

Jimmy Rabbit held out the shoes, hoping that Mr. Crow would take them.
But Mr. Crow had no such notion in his head.

"I mean, _you_ may try them on _me_" he added.

"You didn't say that," Jimmy Rabbit reminded him.

"No further remarks are necessary," Mr. Crow screamed in a shrill voice.

And at that Jimmy Rabbit knelt before him once more and began to crowd
one of Mr. Crow's feet into one of the shoes.

Jimmy struggled for a long time without saying a word. But Mr. Crow said
several words under his breath, for Jimmy was hurting him dreadfully.

There were two reasons for that. In the first place, the shoe was much
too small for Mr. Crow. And in the second, Jimmy Rabbit was putting the
left shoe on Mr. Crow's right foot.

But neither of them knew that second reason.




XX

OLD SHOES FOR NEW


Old Mr. Crow was too proud to admit that the shoe Jimmy Rabbit was
pulling upon his right foot was too small for him. But he would have
objected, to be sure, had he known that it was the left shoe. He would
have objected likewise when Jimmy crammed his left foot into the right
shoe a few minutes later. But Mr. Crow only knew that his feet already
ached.

"Now just stand on them!" Jimmy Rabbit said at last.

And Mr. Crow stood up.

"Now walk a bit," the shoe merchant continued.

But Mr. Crow could not walk. He _hobbled_ a short distance. And then he
sank down with a groan.

"They don't hurt you, do they?" Jimmy Rabbit asked him.

And Mr. Crow shook his head. He thought he could do that truthfully. What
he felt was far worse than a mere _hurt_. It was _torture_--that was
certainly what it was.

Of course Jimmy Rabbit knew what the trouble was--or part of it, at
least. He knew that Mr. Crow's toes were doubled up inside the shoes. And
it was on the tip of his tongue to suggest to Mr. Crow that he have his
toes cut off. But a better way soon occurred to Jimmy Rabbit.

"I know you'll find these shoes very comfortable--after they're
finished," he told Mr. Crow.

"Finished!" Mr. Crow exclaimed. "Do you mean to say they're only partly
made?"

"There's just one more thing to do to them," Jimmy Rabbit explained. "The
holes haven't been cut in them yet."

"Holes!" said Mr. Crow. "What holes?"

"Why, the holes for your toes, of course!" Jimmy Rabbit answered.
"Maybe you didn't know that shoes are to be worn like that this summer.
It makes them much cooler in hot weather."

Well, Mr. Crow liked the idea. He said so, too. He certainly couldn't
wear the shoes as they were. And if everybody else was going to wear
shoes with toe-holes, he didn't want to be behind the times. But he
hadn't seen anybody with shoes made after that fashion. And he told Jimmy
Rabbit as much.

"Ah!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "Quite true! You'll be the first in Pleasant
Valley, Mr. Crow. You'll set the fashion, instead of following it. Better
be first than last, you know!"

Old Mr. Crow agreed to that. So he let Jimmy Rabbit cut as many holes in
the shoes as he had toes--that made four holes in each shoe.

And then Mr. Crow thrust his toes through the holes. To his great delight
he could walk with ease and comfort. And he was about to leave the store
when Jimmy Rabbit stopped him.

"Haven't you forgotten something?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Mr. Crow replied.

"Yes, you have!" Jimmy Rabbit insisted. "You've forgotten your bill!"

Mr. Crow looked at him in amazement. And then he felt of his face.

"None of your tricks, young man!" he cried. "My bill is right where it
belongs. How _could_ I forget it, I should like to know?"

"You don't understand," said Jimmy Rabbit. "What I mean is this: You
haven't paid me for the shoes."

"Oh!" said Mr. Crow. And he looked away quickly. "Well, you may keep my
old shoes. I'm sure that's a fair exchange."

And he pretended to be surprised when Jimmy Rabbit did not agree with
him.

"Your old shoes are full of holes," Jimmy objected. "I don't want them."

And there Mr. Crow had him.

"These shoes I have on are full of holes, too," he declared. "And if one
hole isn't just as good as another, then I may as well go back to school
again." And with that he stalked angrily away.

As it happened, old Mr. Crow had never been to school in his life. But
he thought the remark sounded well. And it seemed to keep Jimmy Rabbit
quiet. He couldn't think of a thing to say until long after Mr. Crow had
gone.

And then it was too late.




XXI

THE CROW CAUCUS


"Where are all those crows going?" Johnnie Green asked his father one
evening. He pointed to a long line of big black birds that straggled
across the sky. They came from across the valley. And they were
travelling fast toward the pine woods near the foot of Blue Mountain.
"They seem to be in a hurry," said Johnnie Green.

His father took one look at the procession and laughed.

"They're going to a crow caucus, I guess," he answered.

And then Johnnie wanted to know what a caucus was. He asked so many other
questions, too, that Farmer Green didn't succeed in answering them all
until they had almost finished their supper.

Now, it was the custom of old Mr. Crow and many of his dusky friends to
gather at sunset in the pine woods and hold a _meeting_. That was what
Farmer Green meant when he said they were going to a _caucus_. And if he
could have been there himself he would have been astonished at the things
he would have heard.

But for some reason he was never invited to attend one of those twilight
meetings. Perhaps it was because disagreeable remarks were sometimes made
about Farmer Green!

On that evening when Johnnie noticed the flight of Mr. Crow's cronies
toward the woods something happened at the meeting that displeased that
old gentleman. Being the biggest--as well as the oldest--crow in the
neighborhood, for years past he had called every such meeting to order.
And he had always done most of the talking, too.

But old Mr. Crow was late that night. When he reached the pine woods he
found that a stranger had taken his accustomed seat in a great tree and
was already addressing the gathering in a loud and commanding voice.

And nobody paid any attention to old Mr. Crow. Nobody made room for him.
He had to take a back seat on a limb that was crowded with boisterous
young fellows, who kept pushing and poking one another. It was most
annoying.

"Who's that person that's so fond of hearing himself talk?" Mr. Crow
asked someone in the next tree. He spoke in such a loud voice that
everybody could hear him. And the stranger cried out sharply:

"Silence!"

Thereupon everyone looked around at Mr. Crow and frowned.

He felt both angry and uncomfortable. And for a little while he sat as
still as he could and listened to the stranger's remarks.

Now, the newcomer was talking about the hard times. He said that there
weren't as many grasshoppers as usual that year, and that Farmer Green
had put tar on his corn before he planted it and that the rats had stolen
most of his young chickens (of course that left very few for _them_), and
that the wild berry crop was poor.

Everybody agreed with the stranger. And everybody nodded his head, as if
to say, "That's quite true!"--at least, everybody but Mr. Crow. He was
determined that he would not agree with anything the stranger said. And
so he shouted, "Nonsense!" at the top of his lungs.

A murmur ran through the meeting. And there were cries of "Put him out!"

"That's what I say, too!" Mr. Crow bellowed.

And then he could hardly believe his ears when someone near him said,
"They mean you!"




XXII