The scarecrow, and the value of solidarity

Once upon a time there was a very miserly farmer who lived in a distant town. He was so
greedy that when a bird ate a grain of wheat from the ground, he became so furious that he
spent the day guarding his garden so that no one would touch it.

One day, the man thought of an idea to prevent the birds from entering his garden: build a
scarecrow to take care of the place.

Thus, the farmer made the arms and legs with three reeds, he configured the body with
straw and used a pumpkin as a head. He also put two grains of corn for his eyes, a carrot for
his nose, and a row of wheat grains to complete his teeth.

Then he put clothes on him and put him on the ground. Soon, the farmer realized that he
was missing a heart and decided to put the ripest pomegranate fruit in his chest.

The scarecrow was left alone in the orchard and soon a needy sparrow was flying over the
orchard to look for wheat. Then, the straw man wanted to do his job and scare him away, but
the bird stood on the tree and said:

—What good wheat you have! Give me something for my children.

"It's not possible," said the scarecrow. However, he found a solution: he offered him his
wheat teeth.

The sparrow, happy, took the wheat grains. The scarecrow was satisfied with his action,
although without teeth.

Days later, a rabbit entered the garden and looked interested at the scarecrow's carrot nose.

"I want a carrot, I'm hungry," said the rabbit.

The scarecrow had a hunch and offered him his carrot. He was so happy that he wanted to
sing a song, but he had no mouth or nose to sing it.

One morning, the early-rising rooster appeared, throwing his quiquiriquí into the air. He then
said to the scarecrow:

—I'm going to forbid the hen to feed her eggs to the master, because he gives them little to
eat.

This decision did not seem good to the scarecrow and he offered his eyes, made of corn
kernels, for them to feed on.

"Good," said the rooster, and he left gratefully.

At twilight, he heard a human voice. He was a former worker who had been fired by the
farmer.
"Now I'm a vagabond," he told him.

—Take my dress, it's the only thing I can offer you.

—Thank you scarecrow!

That same day, he heard a child crying who was looking for food; the owner of the orchard
had fired his mother and was hungry.

"I give you my head, which is a beautiful pumpkin," said the scarecrow.

At dawn, the farmer went to the garden and, when he saw the state of the scarecrow, he
became very angry. So much so that he set it on fire. When his pomegranate heart fell to the
ground, the farmer, laughing, said:

—I'll eat this.

When he bit, the man experienced a change: his heart of stone became a heart of flesh.
Since then, the farmer's garden became a pleasant place where everyone came with the
beautiful note of human warmth.