When he reached the cornfield , Blacky perched on top of a shock of corn , for it already had been cut and put in shocks in readiness to be carted up to Farmer Brown 's barn . For a few minutes he sat there silent and motionless , but all the time his sharp eyes were making sure that no enemy was hiding behind one of those brown shocks . When he was quite certain that things were as safe as they seemed , he picked out a plump ear of corn and began to tear open the husks , so as to get at the yellow grains . `` Seems to me these husks are unusually thick , '' muttered Blacky , as he tore at them with his stout bill . `` Do n't remember ever having seen them as thick as these . Wonder if it just happens to be so on this ear . '' Then , as a sudden thought popped into his black head , he left that ear and went to another . The husks of this were as thick as those on the first . He flew to another shock and found the husks there just the same . He tried a third shock with the same result . `` Huh , they are all alike , '' said he . Then he looked thoughtful and for a few minutes sat perfectly still like a black statue . `` They are right , '' said he at last . `` Yes , Sir , they are right . '' Of course he meant Johnny Chuck and Jerry Muskrat and Paddy the Beaver and the Quacks . `` I do n't know how they know it , but they are right ; we are going to have a long , hard , cold winter . I know it myself now . I 've found a sign . Old Mother Nature has wrapped this corn in extra thick husks , and of course she has done it to protect it . She does n't do things without a reason .
We are going to have a cold winter , or my name is n't XXXXX the Crow . ''
Beaver Blacky Chuck Mother Muskrat husks left minutes right third