dusk and at dawn to make him blink. And when Solomon
blinked he looked even wiser than ever.

Well, the first disputing pair that came to Solomon's tree after he hung
out his new sign were old Mr. Crow and Jasper Jay. They reached the
hemlock grove soon after sunset and squalled loudly for Solomon. "Hurry!"
Mr. Crow cried, as soon as Solomon Owl stepped outside his door. "It will
be dark before we know it; and it's almost our bedtime."

"What's your difficulty?" Solomon asked them.

Mr. Crow looked at Jasper Jay. And then he looked at Solomon again.

"Maybe you won't like to hear it," he said. And he winked at Jasper. "But
you've put out this sign--so we've come here."

"You've done just right!" exclaimed Solomon Owl. "And as for my not liking
to hear the trouble, it's your dispute and not mine. So I don't see how it
concerns me--except to settle it."

"Very Well," Mr. Crow answered. "The dispute, then, is this: Jasper says
that in spite of your looking so wise, you're really the stupidest person
in Pleasant Valley."

"He does, eh?" cried Solomon Owl, while Jasper Jay laughed loudly. "And
you, of course, do not agree with him," Solomon continued.

"I do not!" Mr. Crow declared.

"Good!" said Solomon, nodding his head approvingly.

"No, I do not agree with Jasper Jay," Mr. Crow said. "I claim that there's
one other person more stupid than you are--and that's Fatty Coon."

Well, Solomon Owl certainly was displeased. And it didn't make him feel
any happier to hear Jasper Jay's boisterous shouts, or the hoarse
"_haw-haw_" of old Mr. Crow.

"I hope you can decide which one of us is right," Mr. Crow ventured.

"I am, of course!" cried Jasper Jay.

"You're not!" Mr. Crow shouted. And to Solomon Owl he said, "We've been
disputing like this all day long."

Solomon Owl didn't know what to say. If he announced that Jasper was right
it would be the same as admitting that he was the stupidest person in the
whole neighborhood. And if he said that old Mr. Crow's opinion was correct
he would not be much better off. Naturally he didn't want to tell either
of them that he was right.

"I'll have to think about this," Solomon observed at last.

"We don't want to wait," said Mr. Crow. "If we keep on disputing we're
likely to have a fight."

Now, Solomon Owl hoped that they would have a fight. So he was determined
to keep them waiting for his decision.

"Come back to-morrow at this time," he said.

XVI
NINE