THE OWL, in her
wisdom, counseled the Birds that when the acorn first began to sprout, to
pull it all up out of the ground and not allow it to grow. She said acorns
would produce mistletoe, from which an irremediable poison, the bird- lime,
would be extracted and by which they would be captured. The Owl next advised
them
to pluck up the seed of the flax, which men had sown, as it was a plant which
boded no good to them. And, lastly, the Owl, seeing an archer approach, predicted
that this man, being on foot, would contrive darts armed with feathers which
would fly faster than the wings of the Birds themselves. The Birds gave no
credence to
these warning words, but considered the Owl to be beside herself and said
that she was mad. But afterwards, finding her words were true, they wondered
at her
knowledge and deemed her to be the wisest of birds. Hence it is that when
she appears they go to her (1) as knowing all things, while she no longer
gives them
advice, but only laments.
(1) Refers to the excited "mobbing" behaviour of smaller birds when they detect a roosting owl (Kenn Kaufman, Birds of North America, New Nork, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, p. 122).
This site was created August 22, 2002.
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