“Exactly!” Mr. Crow replied. “And
at my age I might take cold and be very ill, perhaps.”
“Where are you going?” Jasper inquired
pleasantly. He was disappointed; but he did not
let his cousin see that.
“I’m on my way to a big meeting of the
Crow family,” the old gentleman replied.
“And you’re taking your umbrella?”
Jasper asked, as if he were greatly astonished.
“Why—yes!” Mr. Crow answered.
“You seem surprised.”
“I am,” said Jasper Jay with a sad shake
of his head. “I’d hate to risk it,
if I were you. There’ll be some rough young
fellows there and you’re likely to lose your
umbrella. I’m afraid they’ll take
it away from you.”
Old Mr. Crow looked worried.
“I don’t know what to do,” he said
anxiously. “It’s an important meeting.
They’re expecting me. And I’m late,
as it is. If I go back home and leave my umbrella
I’m afraid they’ll think I’m not
coming.”
“I suppose I could help you just this once,”
Jasper Jay remarked. “Of course, it’s
not a thing I’d do for everybody. But since
you’re my cousin, if you want me to do it I’ll
take care of your umbrella until you come back again.”
“Will you wait right here?” Mr. Crow asked
him.
“Yes!”
“Will you promise not to spread the umbrella?”
At that question Jasper Jay’s face fell.
But pretty soon he said cheerfully:
“I promise not to put it up—unless
it should rain.”
Mr. Crow looked carefully at the sky. There was
not a cloud to be seen. So he turned to Jasper
Jay with a smile and placed the umbrella carefully
in his hands.
Then Mr. Crow flew away.
“It certainly can’t rain,” he said
to himself.
Mr. Crow arrived at the meeting quite out of breath.
And his friends noticed that he seemed uneasy about
something. He kept looking up at the sky and
asking everybody what he thought about the weather.
CAUGHT IN THE RAIN
Left alone in the woods with Mr. Crow’s umbrella,
Jasper Jay had a fine time. First he looked at
the umbrella very closely, from the handle to the
slender tip. Then he placed it under his wing
and strutted back and forth upon the ground, just
as he had seen Mr. Crow parade before his friends.
And Jasper wished that someone would come along and
see him.
But nobody came. So after a while he grew tired
of wishing. And the next thing he did was to
unfasten the strap that kept the folds of the umbrella
wrapped about its stick.
“I’m not putting it up,” he told
himself. “I didn’t promise I wouldn’t
do this. I only agreed not to spread the umbrella
unless it rained.”
Just then a low rumble caught his ear.
“That’s thunder!” he cried.
“I do hope it will rain!”
In a short time the sky grew dark. And pretty
soon great drops came pattering down upon the leaves
over Jasper’s head.
