The drowsy cat, Vaska, sitting on a fence, almost fell off with fright at the noise and growled:
"What is the matter with you, Blackhead? The Lord has given you some voice! What are you happy about?"
The Crow answered, "Leave me alone. Don't you see I'm busy? Caw! Caw! Caw! So much to do, so much to do."
"You poor thing," laughed Vaska.
"Keep still, you lazy thing. Your sides must be all worn out with lying about, forever baking in the sun; while I know no rest from early morning. Look at me. Just see what I've done today. I perched on ten roofs, flew over half the town, peeped into every corner and hole there is, and now I must fly up the church steeple, visit the market, and dig a little in the garden. But I'm really wasting time talking to you. Too busy! Too busy! Caw! Caw! Caw!"
The Crow pecked her beak for the last time against the twig, shook her feathers out and was just ready to fly off when she heard a terrible noise. A flock of sparrows was noisily chasing a tiny little yellow bird.
"Catch her! Catch her!" squawked the sparrows.
"What's happened? Whither away?" cawed the Crow, following the sparrows.
The Crow flapped her wings ten times and caught up with the sparrows. The tiny yellow bird, completely exhausted, dropped into the little garden overgrown with bushes of lilacs, currants and syringa, to hide from the pursuing sparrows. The little yellow bird hid under a bush and there was the Crow.