In the vicinity of Tadpole Pond there was a large farm. On this farm the owner made a specialty of raising corn, potatoes and other crops which he sold in the nearby towns. In other words the farm provided a living for him.
Now there was a black crow—Billy Crow was his name—and he caused this hard-working farmer all kinds of trouble. He would dig up the seeded corn with his long beak; naturally the corn wouldn’t grow and the farmer of course lost quite a bit of money.
The funniest looking scarecrow you ever saw was placed in the corn-field to scare Billy Crow away. But strange to say, Billy Crow didn’t scare a bit. He would fly all around the scarecrow; he would even light on his arms and roost there for quite a spell. Then he would dig his beak into the ground and steal the corn seed.
The farmer got pretty well discouraged. It seemed as though he would have to stop planting corn until Billy Crow stopped thieving, and the only thing that would do that would be the killing of this troublesome black crow. Now the farmer was a good-hearted man and he didn’t want to kill him. So Billy Crow kept right on stealing the corn seed.
One day Hoppy Toad happened along by the corn-field, and he noticed Billy Crow in the act of digging up the corn seed. He hopped into the field where the thieving black crow was. Billy Crow, on noticing Hoppy Toad, was not at all pleased at his presence. In fact, he was very mad.
Hoppy Toad gazed at him for awhile, and said, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. The idea of stealing corn seed from the hard-working farmer who is trying to make an honest living.”
“But he raises more than he can use, doesn’t he?” asked Billy Crow.
“Indeed he doesn’t,” replied Hoppy Toad. “He needs all the corn he can raise.”
“I wouldn’t have stolen it if I had known that,” said Billy Crow.
“That is no excuse for stealing, Mr. Crow. I wouldn’t want to be called a thief.”