that was all very well, if he had been at all polite about it. but one day he saw her visiting with another crow, and he lost his temper, and flew at him, and pecked him about the head and shoulders, and tore the long fourth feather from one of his wings, besides rumpling the rest of his coat. then he went away. he had beaten him by coming upon him from behind, like the sneak that he was, and he was afraid that if he waited he might yet get the drubbing he deserved. so he flew off to the top of a hemlock-tree where the other crows were, and told them how he had fought and beaten. you should have seen him swagger around when he told it. each time it was a bigger story, until at last he made them think that the other crow hadn't a tail feather left.