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 tending 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.

After a while, they decided nothing was to be feared. Maybe a few bugs or rats were living in the straw. So they went back to their old routine. Every day, they would take it outside, and bring it back in at night. Then they even started treated him badly again.

One night, Alfred noticed something that scared him. "It looks like Harold is growing." "I was thinking the same," answered Thomas. "Maybe it's just our imagination. I think the elevation is getting to us." The next morning, they saw Harold stand up and walk outside, climb onto the roof, and he stayed there all night. In the morning, it came down and stood in the pasture. They got very scared and decided to flee. They took their cows and started heading back down for the valley. After going only a mile or so, they realized they had forgotten the milking stools. They knew they didn't have the money to replace them, so Alfred forced himself back to get them. "I'll catch up with you later. You just keep moving." After walking for a while, Thomas looked back at the hut and did not see Alfred. What he did see, however, horrified him. He saw Harold, on the roof of the hut, stretching out a bloody piece of flesh to dry in the sun.

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。

过了没多久，他们觉得其实并没有什么好怕的，也许只是稻草里面有几只虫子或者老鼠而已。随后他们又和以前一样了，白天把它拿出去晚上拿回来，也还是那么粗暴的对待它。

一天晚上，有件事把阿尔弗雷德吓坏了，“我觉得好像哈罗德长大了。”“我也有这个感觉，”托马斯说，“也许只是我们的想象吧，但是我觉得它快和我们一样高了。”转天早晨，他们见哈罗德站起来走了出去，随后爬上屋顶在那呆了整整一夜，早上它又下来站在草地上。见到这一切他们很害怕，决定离开这里，于是就赶着牛群往山谷外面走。走了大约一英里，他们发现挤奶用的凳子忘记拿了。阿尔弗雷德不得不回去取，因为他们没有钱买新的，“你先走，我一会儿去追你。”托马斯就继续往前走，过了一会儿他回头看了看那间小屋。然而，他并没发现阿尔弗雷德，眼前的一幕让他惊恐万分：哈罗德正在房顶上，铺着血淋淋的一片肉，在太阳下晒着呢！