The crows didn't pay the slightest attention to his exhortations, but
flew on as fast as they could. After a bit, one of them flapped his
wings in a manner which meant: "Look out! Danger!" Soon thereafter they
came down in a spruce forest, pushed their way between prickly branches
to the ground, and put the boy down under a thick spruce, where he was
so well concealed that not even a falcon could have sighted him.
Fifty crows surrounded him, with bills pointed toward him to guard him.
"Now perhaps I may hear, crows, what your purpose is in carrying me
off", said he. But he was hardly permitted to finish the sentence before
a big crow hissed at him: "Keep still! or I'll bore your eyes out."
It was evident that the crow meant what she said; and there was nothing
for the boy to do but obey. So he sat there and stared at the crows, and
the crows stared at him.
The longer he looked at them, the less he liked them. It was dreadful
how dusty and unkempt their feather dresses were--as though they knew
neither baths nor oiling. Their toes and claws were grimy with dried-in
mud, and the corners of their mouths were covered with food drippings.
These were very different birds from the wild geese--that he observed.
He thought they had a cruel, sneaky, watchful and bold appearance, just
like cut-throats and vagabonds.
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