Farmer’s Scarecrow Protect A Corn-Field

Hawaiian Crow (Corvus hawaiiensis) ©WikiC

FARMER’S SCARECROW PROTECTS A CORN-FIELD

“It’s a man.”

“To-night,” said daddy, “we are going to have the story of the meeting of the brownies, crows, and old Mr. Scarecrow. The crows had been giving feasts in a corn-field almost every morning bright and early before any of the big people who lived in the nearby farm-house were up. Such feasts as they did have! And one day they asked the brownies if they wouldn’t come to their next one.

“‘Caw-caw,’ said the crows together.

“‘Where are we going?’ asked one of the brownies teasingly, for they had been going around and around in circles and hadn’t reached any place.

“‘I don’t quite know,’ said Black Crown Crow, ‘it’s a question which is very hard to decide.’

“‘But we thought you had chosen a special spot,’ said one of the brownies.

“Black Crown Crow looked very sad, and his black wings seemed to droop. ‘It’s that guest I never asked. He’s causing all the trouble. How very rude it is of folks to come to a feast who aren’t invited, and to arrive before us, too. It’s very e-x-a-s-p-e-r-a-t-i-n-g!’

“‘Who is he?’ shouted the brownies, for every little while Black Crown Crow had gone ahead and then had come back. In these little trips he had seen right in the center of the corn-field a man—a real man, he thought, with a hat and a coat and trousers and boots—and carrying something which he couldn’t quite make out. It was either a great huge stick—or worse still—it was a gun. He shivered whenever he thought of that awful word gun.

“‘Caw-caw,’ again shrieked Black Crown Crow, ‘it’s a man and he has a gun—I’m sure it’s a gun. Now the rudeness of him! As if we wanted a man and a gun at our corn feast!’

“‘Oh, it was to have been a corn feast, and now the man has stopped it,’ laughed one of the brownies. ‘Well, such a joke! But to show you how nice we’ll be when we’re here ready for a party which can’t take place, we’ll give a nice party ourselves.’

“And the brownies scampered about a little grove near the corn-field, and there they made a bonfire over which they cooked some corn-meal which they had carried with them in their bags. They knew all along, ever since they’d started, where the crows wanted them to go for the feast, and they also knew that the farmer had made that scarecrow in his corn-field to frighten off Black Crown Crow and his followers.

“The brownies made a fine feast, but how they did chuckle among themselves that the pole dressed up as a man had succeeded in saving the corn for the people of the farm-house.”

American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) by Daves BirdingPix

Lee’s Addition:

Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. (Psalms 34:11 NKJV)

Looks like the Brownies, helped out the “exasperated” Crows and had a good laugh at the same time. The farmer was only trying to protect his crop and the crows were only trying to eat.

What can we learn?

The Farmer had a right to protect his food.
The Crows were afraid of something that wasn’t really frightening.
The Crows were hungry, but maybe they were “over-eating.”
The Brownies were helpful and provided food for them.

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! (Luke 12:24 NASB)

This verse tells us that God will provide for the Ravens (and Crows, which are in the same bird family). The Crows may need to go to another field where they can be provided for. Also, are you ever afraid of something, that isn’t really scary?

If the Lord feeds the Crows and other birds, He provides for us and also helps our fears.

From

Daddy’s Bedtime Bird Stories – Gutenberg ebooks

Mary Graham Bonner

With four illustrations in color by
Florence Choate and Elizabeth Curtis