Visit the “A Bedtime Story” show website to submit your story ideas for a future episode!

There once was a scarecrow named Stanley who was terrible at his job. He was not scary in the slightest. He wore a brightly colored patchwork coat, had a big, friendly grin drawn on his face, and his straw hat was always tipped at a jaunty, welcoming angle. The birds knew him, and they weren’t afraid. In fact, they loved Stanley. They would land on his shoulders, peck at the buttons on his coat, and listen to the quiet, gentle whispers he offered them.

“The corn is ripe today,” Stanley would whisper to a little sparrow. “Be careful of the field mice; they’re a bit grabby.”

The farmer, a kind but frustrated woman named Ms. Penny, would sigh as she looked out at her field. “Stanley, what am I going to do with you?” she’d say. “You’re a wonderful scarecrow, but you’re just not very good at being a scarecrow.”

Stanley would just sway gently in the breeze, a group of birds perched on his shoulders like he was a feathery coat rack. He couldn’t help it. His purpose was to scare, but his heart was just too friendly.

One day, a crow came to the field with a terrible problem. He had a shiny, sparkly object—a tiny, misplaced key—stuck in his beak. He had found it and couldn't get it out. He was desperate and flew to the one being he knew he could trust: Stanley.

Stanley listened to the crow’s frantic caws. He slowly moved his straw hands, a little clumsy but gentle, and carefully nudged the key from the crow’s beak. The crow cawed in relief and flew away, leaving the key on the ground.

Ms. Penny saw the whole thing from her porch. She came out to the field, looking at Stanley, then at the key. She looked at the other birds, perched on Stanley's hat, not bothering to take the corn. They were just sitting there, singing their little songs. Ms. Penny, a very clever farmer, realized something. Stanley wasn't a scarecrow; he was a friend. He wasn’t scaring the birds away, but he was making them happy, and maybe a happy bird is a well-fed bird who doesn't need to steal all the corn.

Ms. Penny picked up the key. "Stanley, you're not an ordinary scarecrow," she said. "You're a 'care-crow'!" She hung a little sign on him with that name. And from that day on, Stanley the Un-Scarecrow wasn’t a failure; he was the proud and beloved protector of the cornfield, and all the happy, well-fed birds who lived there.