Story: The Owl and His Purpose

(The Owl as the Sun Sets)

           

The owl’s eyes flickered open as the last sliver of sun fell below the horizon.  He was just in time.  He slowly stretched his wings open, flexing his talons, ruffling his feathers, which cascaded down his back with every layer.  His performance was about to begin.

            The owl recalled one of his first performances, back when he was merely an owlet.  His voice was not yet refined enough to carry the performance on throughout the night, but even then, they loved him.  He had never heard a fowl word spoken about his immaculate voice and that is how he overcame his initial nerves and knew he had to continue blessing the creatures of the forest with his nightly serenade.

            Tonight he felt especially confident.  All day he dreamt of composing the most beautiful song yet and now, he was ready to perform.

            “My song is so beautiful, all the forest falls silent”.

            He heard the animals call out, “So beautiful, so beautiful. Falls silent, falls silent”.   

            “I bless this forest with my voice and sing to my glory”.

            “Glory, glory, glory” The forest called back.

            “For I will grace my forest with this voice and sing each night forever”

            “Forever, forever, forever” replied the ground beneath the trees. 

            Feeling truly content with himself, the owl kept singing and singing, constantly being reaffirmed by those he thought were listening beneath the trees.  The first rays of sun began to sprinkle the sky in gold.  The owl’s eyes felt heavy and he began to slowly end his serenade but then a thought crossed his mind. 

            “Tonight the animals have loved me more than usual, I think I will continue to sing to them.   I will sacrifice my rest for their pleasure and sing until my beak will not open any longer”.  So the owl continued.

            In the middle of his chorus, a high pitch sound alarmed from the farm next to him.  “Cock-a-doodle-doooooo”.  The owl furrowed his brows, repositioned his wings, cleared his throat and continued, forgiving the rude interruption.  Then the rooster called out again, three more times.  The owl was disgusted by this bird’s inconsiderate behavior.  How dare he ruin the great owls performance with such a nauseating sound?  The owl was about to continue until more and more birds began to speak up.  The chirping and screeching was incessant and the owl had no choice but to finish his song instantly, for his beautiful words were being drowned by the ruckus.

            The owl was furious.  He had never been so disrespected in his life.  The birds seemed to be competing with him, trying to drown out his voice with their pointless chatter.  He stretched out his wings and soared to a nearby perch.  On the end of a branch was a pile of sticks balanced to hold two baby birds. Their mother was off finding them food and they sat quietly looking at the owl from their home.  Thankful for their quiet voices, the owl turned toward them.

            “Well at least you two know how to listen when I am blessing the forest with my song” he said kindly.

            The two chicks looked at him and started giggling, “Mr. Owl, your voice may be beautiful to you, but when the sun rises, there are other birds who need to share their song.”

            “Beautiful to me?” The owl exclaimed, surprised.  “My voice is beautiful to all the creatures of the forest.  I hear them praise me throughout the night.”

            “Oh silly Mr. Owl, haven’t you ever heard of an echo.  You have always just been praising yourself.  The creatures of the forest sleep at night while you sing.  We only heard you singing to yourself because us hatchlings cannot sleep throughout the night yet.  Your song is beautiful, but only to your own ears, that is why the other birds take over when you fall asleep.”

            The Owl was appalled.  How could this be so?  My song, only beautiful to me?   With heavy eyes and a heavy heart, the owl flew back to his tree and huddled inside his home.  He closed his eyes, embarrassed of his vanity and naivety.  How could he have been so wrong?

            The next few nights the owl refused to sing.  He sat on his branch and watched the moon journey across the black sky and closed his eyes to sleep even before the first rays of sun shown through.  He had lost his song and he had lost his happiness. 

            Finally, on the 5^th night since his last song, he noticed something.  Since the night he had stopped singing, there had been more noise on the forest floor.  It wasn’t his echo.  It was scampering, and rustling.  The forest was restless, not quiet as it used to be. He began pondering the little chicks’ words and remembered them say, “The creatures of the night sleep while you sing.” His eyes swelled up with joy.  His song is what made the forest sleep.  His voice was what calmed the animals and gave them comfort as they closed their eyes.  He had a purpose!  So as the moon reached the top of the night sky, the owl stood tall and opened his beak.  He began to sing.  It was a new song, one he had never thought to sing before, and he knew it was his best song yet.

            “Hush forest, go to sleep.  The sun is down but I am awake.  I am here to comfort you as you pass your time from sunset to sunrise.  My voice will protect you and calm you. Hush forest, go to sleep.” 

***

Author's Note:

This is a rendition of an Indian Fables by  Ramaswami Raju called The Owl and the Echo.  In this fable, like my story, the owl sings at night and mistakes his echo for other admirers.  He decides to continue his song when the sun rises but the other birds are horrified by the owl’s voice and they attack him, running him out of their space.  I chose this story because I found multiple morals of the story that the Indian Fable didn’t go into.  I chose to give the owl a purpose so he didn’t feel discouraged from doing what he was naturally made to do.  There is the obvious moral of vanity but there is also the moral that if we are good at something, we must not take advantage of our ability and try to put others down to make us better. We must use our ability for a purpose rather than to please ourselves. 

Bibliography: Bibliography. "The Owl and the Echo" from Indian Fables by Ramaswami Raju. Web Source.