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.”
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. “Show me the best pair of shoes you
have,” he ordered.
So Jimmy Rabbit began to search his shelves.
To tell the truth, he was puzzled. He had no
shoes big enough for Mr. Crow. But he did not
dare tell the old gentleman that, because he knew
Mr. Crow would be very angry.
At last Jimmy Rabbit found the biggest shoes in the
place. And he showed them to Mr. Crow, who seemed
much pleased.
