The Crows of Pearblossom facts for kids
The Crows of Pearblossom is a fun short story written in 1944 by Aldous Huxley. He was a famous English writer. In 1967, the story became a children's book, published by Random House, with pictures by Barbara Cooney. Later, in 2011, another picture book version came out, illustrated by Sophie Blackall.
The Story of the Crows
This story begins with Mr. and Mrs. Crow. They live in a tall cottonwood tree. Their home is in a place called Pearblossom. Sadly, Mrs. Crow has a big problem. A Rattlesnake lives at the bottom of their tree. This snake keeps eating her eggs. Because of the snake, her eggs never hatch.
One day, Mrs. Crow sees the snake eating her 297th egg! (She doesn't count eggs on Sundays.) She is very upset. She asks Mr. Crow to go into the snake's hole. She wants him to get rid of the snake.
Mr. Crow thinks about it. He decides it's better to ask for help. He talks to his smart friend, Mr. Owl. Mr. Owl has a clever idea. He bakes two eggs out of mud. He makes them look just like Mrs. Crow's real eggs.
These fake eggs are left in the nest. The next day, the Rattlesnake finds them. He eats the mud eggs without knowing they are fake. When the stone eggs reach his stomach, they cause him great pain. The snake thrashes around. He ties himself in many knots around the tree branches.
After this, Mrs. Crow is finally able to hatch her eggs. She has "four families of seventeen children each." That's a lot of baby crows! The story ends with Mrs. Crow using the tied-up snake. She uses him as a clothesline to hang the little crows' diapers.
The Snake's Poem
The story includes a short poem from the Rattlesnake: "I cannot fly- I have no wings;
I cannot run- I have no legs;
But I can creep where the black bird sings
And eat her speckled eggs, ha, ha,
And eat her speckled eggs."
