p, without stopping even to
thank Mr. Frog for what he had done.

Before Mr. Crow was out of hearing, the tailor thrust his head through
the doorway and called to the departing Mr. Crow.

"I told you--" said Mr. Frog--"I told you thirteen was an unlucky
number."

XIX

THE SHOE-STORE

"Dear me!" old Mr. Crow exclaimed one day. "I see I shall have to get
some new shoes. I've had these only about ten years and they're worn
through already. The trouble is, I don't know where to buy any more." He
was talking to his cousin, Jasper Jay.

"I can tell you," said Jasper. "That Rabbit boy--the one they call
Jimmy--has a shoe-store. You know he's always trying something new. He
has had a barber's shop; and he's been a tooth-puller. And now he has
opened a shoe-store over in the meadow."

"I'm glad to know it," Mr. Crow replied, "though I must say I wish it was
somebody else. There's something about that Rabbit boy that I don't like.
Maybe it's the way he wags his ears and wriggles his nose. And he's
always jumping."

"He's a bright young fellow," said Jasper Jay.

Old Mr. Crow coughed.

"A little too bright, sometimes," he ventured. "But he'll have to be a
good deal brighter to play any of his tricks on me."

"You think you're enough for him?" Jasper inquired.

"Think?" cried Mr. Crow. "I _know_ I am. And though I hate to get any
shoes in his shop, I'm afraid I shall have to just this once."

Later that day Mr. Crow went to the shoe-shop in the meadow. And Jimmy
Rabbit was delighted to see him.

"Come right in!" he invited Mr. Crow. "I see you need some new shoes. And
you've made no mistake in coming here for them."

"I hope not," Mr. Crow responded gruffly. He went inside the store and
sat down. And Jimmy Rabbit knelt before him and measured one of his feet.

Now, Mr. Crow had enormous feet. Big feet had always run--or walked--in
his family. And though he couldn't any more help the size of his feet
than the size of his bill, old Mr. Crow was very touchy in respect to
them. He grew angry at once.

"What do you mean by measuring my feet?" he croaked. "I didn't come here
to be insulted, you know."

Jimmy Rabbit looked up at him mildly.

"I just wanted to find out how _small_ your feet are," he explained
politely enough. "Sometimes people come here with feet so small that I
can't fit them. And when I looked at yours I was afraid that might be
the case."

"Oh!" said Mr. Crow. The answer pleased him. "