Thomas and Alfred were two best friends. Whenever it got hot, they would take their cows up to a cool, green pasture in the mountains. Usually they stayed there with the cows all summer. The work there in the mountains was easy, but really boring. All they did was tend their cows all day. They would return to their tiny hut at night. Every night they ate supper, worked in the garden, and went to sleep.

　　Then one day, Thomas said "Let's make a life-size doll. We can put it in the garden and use it as a scarecrow." There was a farmer they both hated named Harold, so they decided to name the doll Harold and make it look like him. They made it out of straw and gave it a pointy nose and tiny eyes, like Harold's. Day after day, they would tie Harold to a pole in the garden to scare away the birds. They brought it in the house every night. Sometimes, they would talk to it, saying things like "How's it going?" And the other would say in a weird voice "Not good." Of course, Harold wouldn't appreciate it. When they were in a bad mood, they would even curse at him or kick him.

　　A while later, when Thomas was taking out his anger on Harold, Alfred swore he heard the doll grunt. "Did you hear that? Harold grunted!" "Impossible, he's just a sack of straw," replied Thomas. Alfred dismissed it, but they both stopped talking to it, kicking it, or even touching it, they just left him neglected in the corner of the room.

　　托马斯和阿尔弗雷德是很要好的朋友。每到天热的时候他们就把牛群赶到山里凉快的牧场去，而且通常一呆就是整个夏天。在山里放牧很轻松，但是也非常无聊。他们的所有工作就是白天看着牛群，晚上回到小木屋，吃完晚饭去菜园干一会儿活儿，然后就睡觉了。

　　直到有一天，托马斯说，“我们做个假人吧，做个和真人一般大的放在菜园里当稻草人用。”附近有个叫哈罗德的农夫，他们都很讨厌他，因此就按照哈罗德的样子来做这个假人，并且给它起的名字就叫哈罗德。他们用稻草扎出人形，然后装上了尖尖的鼻子和小小的眼睛，就和真的哈罗德一样。从那天起，每天他们把哈罗德绑在菜园里的一根竿子上，用来吓跑那些麻雀，然后晚上再拿进屋来。有时他们也和它说话，比如一个人说“今天过得好吗？”，随后另一个就故意用很奇怪的语调说“不太好！”。当然了，稻草人是不会感激他们对自己的关心的。当他们心情不好的时候，也会骂他几句或者干脆踢上几脚。

　　后来有一次，托马斯心情不好拿哈罗德出气，这时阿尔弗雷德发誓说自己听到稻草人嘟囔了一声，“你听见了吗？哈罗德出声了！”“不可能，他就是一袋稻草而已。”托马斯回答说。阿尔弗雷德不做声了，但是他们不再和它说话了，也不踢它了，甚至都不再碰它，只是扔到了墙角里。