Голицынский, 6-е издание – Артикль – Упражнение 47

A crow once said to her children, “It’s high time for you to look for food.” With these words she turned them out of the nest and took them to the field. But the crow’s children did not like the idea. “We’d rather go back to the nest,” they cried. “It’s so nice when you bring food to us!” “Indeed!” said their mother. “You are big enough to feed yourselves. My mother turned me out of the nest when I was much younger, and I had to take care of myself.” “But people will kill us with their guns,” said the young crows. “No fear of that,” answered their mother. “Before people shoot, they take aim, and that takes time. When you see a man raising a gun to his face, you must just fly away.” “That’s a simple thing to do,” said the children, “but supposing a man or a boy wants to throw a stone at us: in such a case he won’t have to take aim.” “Well, then he will have to bend down to pick up a stone,” said the crow. “But what if he carries a stone in his hand ready?” “Why, if you are clever enough to think of that,” said the mother, “you are clever enough to take care of yourselves.” And she flew away leaving the young crows in the field.