V

MR. CROW TO THE RESCUE


As Buster sat on the sprig of wild honeysuckle, wondering where to look
for a bit of cotton with which to stuff his ears, a bird fluttered down
and perched upon the old stone wall to which the honeysuckle clung. The
name of the newcomer was Jasper Jay. And Buster Bumblebee was glad to see
him, because he wanted help from somebody and he didn't care who it was.

"Where could a person get a small piece of cotton?" he asked Jasper Jay.

And Jasper--who would gladly have made a lunch of Buster, had he not been
afraid of getting stung--Jasper promptly replied with another question:

"What do you intend to do with cotton?" He was a very curious fellow,
this Jasper Jay.

Buster Bumblebee had no objection to explaining everything to him. And
then--and only then--was Jasper willing to tell what he knew.

"Cotton--" said he--"cotton grows in fields. I know that much. And what's
more, I know it doesn't grow in Pleasant Valley, for I live here the
whole year round and I've never seen any."