s that prevented Mr. Crow's leaving Pleasant
Valley. He liked his old home. And he liked grasshoppers and cutworms,
too. So he stayed until October. And the strange part of it was that he
never once discovered that Farmer Green had planted tarred corn only in a
border around the field. Inside that border the corn was of the good, old
yellow kind that Mr. Crow liked.

And so, for once, Farmer Green out-witted old Mr. Crow.

By the end of the summer his corn had grown so tall and borne so many big
ears that Farmer Green took some of it to the county fair. And everybody
who saw it there said that it was the finest corn that ever was seen in
those parts.

VI

MR. CROW IN TROUBLE

After Mr. Crow found that Farmer Green had put tar on his corn, Mr. Crow
was so angry that he flew for a good many miles before stopping. And
then, as he started to walk along the limb that lead to his house in the
tall elm, he noticed for the first time that he could hardly move his
right foot.

He looked down and he was startled when he saw that his foot was many
times its usual size. Moreover, it did not look like a foot at all, being
a strange, huge, shapeless thing.

Old Mr. Crow was alarmed. Never in all his life had he found himself in
such a plight. He stayed at home only long enough to tie his foot up in a
bandage, which made it look bigger than ever. And then he hurried off as
fast as he could fly to call upon Aunt Polly Woodchuck, who was said to
be an excellent doctor.

Aunt Polly was at home. And since Mr. Crow could not crawl inside her
house, she received him in her dooryard.

As soon as she looked at Mr. Crow's foot Aunt Polly Woodchuck threw up
both her hands.

"You have gout!" she cried. "And it's the worst case I ever saw."

That made Mr. Crow feel proud and happy.

"What about a cure?" he inquired. "I shouldn't like to have my foot like
this always. If you could cure it in a week I would be satisfied. But I
want at least a week in which to show my foot to my friends."

"You'll be lucky if you're better in a month," said Aunt Polly Woodchuck.
"You must be very careful about what you eat. You may have all the
ginseng and Jimson weed and elecampane that you wish. And drink plenty of
catnip tea! But until you're quite well again, don't touch corn,
grasshoppers, birds' eggs, field-mice, or elderberries. If you eat such
things your other foot may swell. And then you'd be unable to walk at
all."

Mr. Crow was