The Crow and the Sheep

The crow had found a warm seat, and she meant to keep it. It was soft. It was woolly. It could walk. It belonged to a sheep, who had not been asked.

Up the hill went the sheep with the crow on his back, and down the hill went the sheep with the crow on his back, all through the long hot day. She pulled at his wool and dug in her claws, and whenever he stopped to eat she gave him a sharp peck. "Walk on," she said.

At last the sheep turned his head to look at her. "If you tried this on a dog," he said, "he would soon show you his sharp teeth."

The crow laughed until her feathers shook. "Of course I would not try it on a dog," she said, "for I am no fool. I am rude to the weak and polite to the strong, and I know who to bully and who to butter up. That is how a crow lives to a good old age."

She settled down again in the warm wool. "Walk on," she said.