Well, Jolly Robin saw at once that it was impossible for him to please Mr. Crow.
“My laughter,” he said, “is always merry. I couldn’t laugh sadly, no matter how hard I might try. And as for shedding tears, I couldn’t weep for you even if you lost all your tail-feathers, Mr. Crow.”
“Then you may leave at once!” Mr. Crow cried, just as if Farmer Green’s pasture belonged to him.
“Yes!” Jolly Robin answered. “I may—and then again, I may not!”
And since he stayed right there and laughed, old Mr. Crow himself flew away. 32 It was a long while, too, before he could bear to hear people laugh. For he thought they must be laughing at him, because he had lost a tail-feather.
And perhaps that was what amused Jolly Robin, though I never thought of that before.