Aesop's Fables
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.