Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)
242. The Owl and the Birds (Perry 437)
AN 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 look to her as knowing all things, while she
no longer gives them advice, but in solitude laments their past folly.
George Fyler Townsend's translation of the fables, first published in 1867, is
in the public domain and can be found at many websites, including Project
Gutenberg.
Illustrations come from: Aesop's Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with
illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867, at Google
Books. |