Jolly and his wife told all their friends that Grunty Pig was going to teach them a lesson. The birds had many a laugh over the matter. Not till old Mr. Crow visited the one day did the Robin family cease over what they called "the joke of the season."  
"Don't laugh too soon!" Mr. Crow . "This Grunty Pig means . He isn't going to teach you the sort of lesson you've been snickering about. What he intends to do is to harm you in some way."
 
Now, nobody in Pleasant Valley could look gloomier than old Mr. Crow. And when he hinted darkly, in his way, that there was trouble ahead for the Robin family, he threw Jolly Robin's wife into a flutter.
 
"Oh, what does Grunty Pig mean to do to us?" Mrs. Robin quavered.
 
"I'd rather not tell you," said old Mr. Crow. "I don't want you to worry."
 
Mr. Crow left them then. Of course he couldn't have chosen a better way to upset Mrs. Robin. Even Jolly himself had to admit after a while that he could think of nothing that seemed to cheer his wife in the least. "I'll speak to Mr. Crow again," he told his wife. "I'll ask him just what he meant."
 
! Mr. Crow couldn't tell him. The truth was that Mr. Crow had already told all he knew.
 
"I'll ask Grunty Pig himself what he means to do to us," Jolly then declared to his wife. "I've noticed that he digs every day at the foot of our apple tree. The next time he comes here I'll have a talk with him." So that very day Jolly put his question to Grunty Pig.
 
"What is it," he asked, "that you intend to do to us?"<............