he Crow, sitting on the top of the tall maple, felt that
on such a morning as this he, too, must sing. So he opened his beak and
croaked, "Caw, caw, caw, caw." What he meant to say was, "Corn, corn,
corn, corn." Sam, the hired man, heard him and came out of the barn door
with his gun. Old Ka-ka-go spread his black wings and flapped off to the
woods on the side of the mountain.

Far up in the blue sky Kee-you the Red-shouldered Hawk wheeled slowly
about in great circles. When he saw Sam with his gun, he screamed,
"Kee-you, kee-you, kee-you," over and over.

That was a poor song, but a good war cry; It sent every singer plunging
to cover. O-pee-chee the Robin hid himself among the thick branches of
the apple tree. Kil-loo the Song Sparrow hopped into the thickest part
of the lilac bush. Zeet the Lark and Bob Lincoln squatted in the thick
grass. Not a bird note was to be heard.

But Ka-be-yun the West Wind was not afraid of the warrior hawk. He
breathed softly among the branches of the trees and set every little
leaf quivering and whispering. Then he ran across the meadows and the
wheat fields. As he sped along, great waves like those of the sea rolled
in wide sweeps across the meadow and through the tall wheat.

To little Luke it seemed as if the leaves and grass and wheat all
whispered, "Come away. Come and play." Just then a great bumblebee flew
by and now the call was clear. "Come away, come away! Follow, follow,
follow me!"

The boy jumped up and ran down the path into the garden. There he met
Old Klaws the House Cat, with a little brown baby rabbit in his mouth.
"You wicked old cat," said little Luke, "drop it, drop it, I say." But
Old Klaws only growled and gripped the little rabbit tighter. Little
Luke seized the old cat by the back of the neck and choked him till he
let go. The little brown rabbit looked up at him with his big round
eyes, as much as to say, "Thank you, little boy, thank you." Then he
hopped off into the thicket of berry bushes, where Old Klaws could not
catch him again.

Little Luke went on down the path, through the garden gate, and into the
meadow beyond. All at once Bob Lincoln sprang up out of the grass right
before his feet.

Little Luke thought he would find Bob Lincoln's nest. So he got down
upon his knees and began to look about in the grass very carefully. He
did not find the nest, but he did find a fine cluster of ripe, wild
strawberries. He forgot all about the nest and began to