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 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.

VI

TICKLING A NOSE

Old Mr. Crow did not want to stay near the brook to talk with Peter
Mink. Calling to Jolly Robin to follow him, he flapped his way to the
edge of the woods and sat in a tree overlooking the pasture.

"Here comes Tommy Fox!" Mr. Crow exclaimed. "We ought to have some fun
with him. So when it's time for you to laugh for me, don't forget to
laugh loudly."

"I'll remember," Jolly promised him. And just by way of practice he
chirruped so merrily that Tommy Fox pricked up his ears and came
bounding up to the tree where Jolly and Mr. Crow were sitting.

"Good morning!" Mr. Crow cried to Tommy. "Is that a hen's feather
that's stuck behind your ear?" he asked very solemnly.

"No!" said Tommy Fox. "It's a crow's; and I certainly had a fine
breakfast."

Now, Jolly Robin wasn't quite sure whether he ought to laugh or not.
And then Tommy winked at him. So Jolly thought there must be a joke
somewhere and he began to chirrup as loudly as he could.

"For pity's sake, keep still!" old Mr. Crow snapped.

"But you wanted me to laugh louder," Jolly reminded him.

"Yes," said Mr. Crow--"when there's anything to laugh at."

"But didn't Tommy Fox make a joke?" Jolly Robin asked.

"A very poor one!" old Mr. Crow replied. "A very poor joke, indeed!...
I see," he added, "I see you've not had much experience laughing for
people. And here's where you make a mistake. You laugh at _other
people's_ jokes, which is all wrong. After this you must laugh at _my_
jokes--do you understand?"

Jolly Robin said he understood. And Mr. Crow remarked that he was glad
there woul