The Old Crow
A fable by Riley Thorburn
The fable of the Old Crow
Once upon a time there was a rich and prosperous farmer. He had mountains of gold in which he counted everyday, but his harvest of corn was just as important to him. His favorite activity was to go and watch Juevs his servant, bag the corn and load it on a cart to haul into town.
Now one day while Jeuvs was doing this, an old black crow stumbled into the barn.
" Please help me, I am being chased by an angry farmer and I have been hungry for days," the old crow said.
Juevs feeling pity for the old crow granted him access to an old barley bag in which to hide in. A few hours later the farmer came into the barn and grumbled," A nasty old crow, stole my corn and ruined my crop. He will pay, I will find him and finish him off with my own bullets."
Jeuvs feeling anxious to let the crow loose before the farmer came back, quickly set to work getting the bag open. When the crow came out of the bag he was frightened and quickly fled the barn. But the farmer noticed the old crow flying out, and he quickly took aim and killed the crow.
Many days after the crow died, an insect plaque swept through the farmer's crops. Since he had no crops to sell at the market, he got no profits. Soon all his money was gone and the farmer was destitute and hungry. Before Jeuvs left the farm in search of a job elsewhere, he reminded him of the crow and how hungry and helpless the crow was too. The farmer then realized his mistake and went back to the old crows bones and cried for forgiveness.
As he was doing this, the crow all of a sudden came back to life. The crow then became a beautiful dove. At that moment, the farmer realized the old crow was really representing him. His soul and how he had acted were both very dark. Now the crow was white and pure of heart just like the farmer. The farmer never acted selfish again and became truthful to himself.
The end