The first person they saw in the woods was Peter Mink. He was fishing for trout 24 in Broad Brook. And old Mr. Crow, as soon as he spied him, sang out:
“How many of Farmer Green’s fish have you eaten this morning?”
Peter Mink was just crawling out of the water, with a fish in his mouth. When he heard Mr. Crow calling to him, he dropped his trout upon a rock and looked up quickly.
“How much of Farmer Green’s corn have you stolen for your breakfast?” he cried.
At that Jolly Robin began to laugh. But Mr. Crow stopped him quickly.
“Don’t laugh!” the old gentleman squawked. “There’s nothing to laugh at, so far as I can see.”
So Jolly managed to smother his laughter, for he noticed that Mr. Crow was angry.
“You’ll have to be careful,” Mr. Crow 25 warned him. “You mustn’t laugh at the wrong time, you know.”
“I’ll do my best,” Jolly Robin promised. And he could see already that old Mr. Crow was going to be hard to please.