table, that they all were jolly good fellows and something about being
single was a life of bliss, and another about poor married man, and
they made so much noise that they awoke old James Crow, who was sound
asleep in his bed.

"What is that noise?" he said, jumping up and listening; but when he
heard it again old Mr. Crow got out of bed and put his head out of the
window.

"Oh, we are jolly bachelor boys," came from Mr. Possum's house and
floated right up to Mr. Crow's window.

"Something is going on that I do not know about," said old Mr. Crow,
pulling in his head and taking off his night cap. "I must find out
what it is. I should say that the noise came from Mr. Possum's house.
I'll go right down there and see."

And he did, arriving just as the supper was being put on the table; and
while Mr. Crow did not go to the door, he had no trouble at all in
looking in through the shutters, for old Mr. Crow was very clever in
the art of spying.

There was a big fat turkey, but Mr. Crow did not care about that--that
is, he was not crazy about turkey. He could eat it if there was
nothing better, but when the big dish of green corn was brought in Mr.
Crow began to think he had been slighted and that he should have been
asked to the party.

Jack Rabbit stood up in his chair so he would be tall enough to be seen
and held up a crisp radish. "Here is to our hosts, Mr. Coon and Mr.
Possum," he said, taking a bite of the radish.

"So," thought old Mr. Crow, "Mr. Possum is giving this supper and he is
a neighbor."

Then somebody began to sing, "We are the bachelors of the wood; we
wouldn't be married if we could."

And then Mr. Crow was good and mad. "Giving a bachelor party, are
they," he thought, "and they left me out. I am a bachelor just as much
as any of those fellows. I'll pay them back for slighting me if it
takes me a hundred years."

Just then the ice cream was brought in and Mr. Crow espied the new tin
spoons and his eyes shone with longing to have one or two or three or
as many as he could get, but how could he get them? If only he could
scare them and make them all run he would get them easy enough.

Then an idea came to Mr. Crow and he flew away. "I'll have those
spoons before I sleep again to-night, and get my revenge, too, or my
name is not James Crow," he said, and out of the woods he went.

Mr. Crow flew straight for Mr. Man's farm, and you know crows can fly
very straight, it is said.

Wh