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Tale of Jasper Jay

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<h2>II</h2><h3>A BLOW FOR THE BULLY</h3> Jasper Jay had some queer notions in his head. One of them was that a person couldn't be happy unless he was making a great deal of noise. And if there was anything that roused Jasper's wrath, it was the sight of some quiet, modest little neighbor who minded his own affairs and had little to say. There was one such chap who made his home in a wild grapevine that grew upon the stone wall in front of the farmhouse. His name was Mr. Chippy; and he was never known to do anybody the least bit of harm. On the contrary, he was quite helpful to Farmer Green's wife, for he went to the farmhouse almost every day and cleared the crumbs off the kitchen doorstep. But Jasper Jay complained that Mr. Chippy was altogether too humble. "He never says anything except 'Chip, chip, chip, chip,'" Jasper often remarked. "And his voice is so high and thin that anybody would think he was a little old lady, to hear him. He's too quiet to get on in the world. And as for a good time, I don't believe he ever had one in all his life." Jasper said a good many other unpleasant things about mild Mr. Chippy. And one day when the saucy rascal had nothing better to do he flew over to the stone wall just to talk to Mr. Chippy and tell him what he thought of him. "Hi there, red-head!" Jasper Jay shouted. "Come out here on the wall! I want to see you." Mr. Chippy thrust his chestnut crowned head through the leaves of the wild grapevine. And one could hardly say that he looked pleased. Like most people, he was not overjoyed by Jasper Jay's visits. But he crept on top of the stone wall and chipped a how-dy-do to his caller. "That's no way to greet anybody!" cried Jasper Jay, rudely. "If you want to make a person feel that he is welcome you ought to speak up good and loud—and slap him on the back. And you must look happy, too." Little Mr. Chippy smiled faintly. But Jasper Jay was not satisfied. "You don't look happy!" he scoffed. "You appear as if you had a pain somewhere.... Come, now! Let me hear you give a hearty laugh!" If Mr. Chippy had known that his caller was going to be so rude he would have stayed hidden in the wild grapevine. And now he wished that Jasper would go away and leave him in peace. As for laughing, he saw nothing at all to laugh at. "You'd better do as I tell you!" Jasper Jay warned him. And he raised his crest and stamped angrily upon the stone wall. "You're altogether too quiet. I want you to laugh loud. "You're going to be happy, if I have to break every bone in your body," Jasper added. Naturally, that threat did not help little Mr. Chippy to laugh. Instead, he looked quite worried. He knew that Jasper Jay was a bully. And there was no telling what he might do to anyone so small as Mr. Chippy was. So he tried his best to please Jasper. But he was so upset that he could manage only a feeble "Chip, chip, chip, chip!" "That'll never do," Jasper told him. "Maybe this will, then," said Mr. Chippy, quietly. And darting at Jasper Jay, he knocked him off the stone wall before Jasper knew what was happening. Jasper Jay was furious. He scrambled quickly back upon the wall. But Mr. Chippy had vanished. He had dived under the cover of the grapevine and hid in a chink between the stones, where Jasper could not find him. "I declare—" said Jasper Jay at last—"I declare, he's got away from me!" And so Jasper went off, shaking his head. He had never supposed that mild Mr. Chippy would dare do anything so bold as to knock anybody off a stone wall. It is plain that Jasper Jay had never learned that one can be brave without boasting. And as he flew off across the road toward the river, Jasper thought he heard a peculiar noise from the depths of the wild grapevine. It was only Mr. Chippy, chuckling to himself. For Jasper had made him quite happy, after all—though not exactly in the way that the blue-coated bully had intended. <hr class="chapter" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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