[meteorite-list] Martian vs. Lunar vs. Owl's Wit

From: Bernd Pauli HD <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:55:52 2004
Message-ID: <3C55B49A.6CD0F376_at_lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>

The Owl Who Was God (by James Thurber)

Once upon a starless midnight there was an owl who sat on the branch of
an oak tree. Two ground moles tried to slip quietly by, unnoticed.
'You!' said the owl. 'Who?' they quavered, in fear and astonishment, for
they could not believe it was possible for anyone to see them in that
thick darkness. 'You two!' said the owl. The moles hurried away and told
the other creatures of the field and forest that the owl was the
greatest and wisest of all animals because he could see in the dark and
because he could answer any question. 'I'll see about that,' said a
secretary bird, and he called on the owl one night when it was again
very dark. 'How many claws am I holding up?' said the secretary bird.
'Two,' said the owl, and that was right. 'Can you give me another
expression for "that is to say" or "namely"?' asked the secretary bird.
'To wit,' said the owl. 'Why does a lover call on his love?' asked the
secretary bird. 'To woo,' said the owl.
The secretary bird hastened back to the other creatures and reported
that the owl was indeed the greatest and wisest animal in the world
because he could see in the dark and because he could answer any
question. 'Can he see in the daytime, too?' asked a red fox. 'Yes,'
echoed a dormouse and a French poodle. 'Can he see in the daytime, too?'
All the other creatures laughed loudly at this silly question, and they
set upon the red fox and his friends and drove them out of the region.
Then they sent a messenger to the owl and asked him to be their leader.
When the owl appeared among the animals it was high noon and the sun was
shining brightly. He walked very slowly, which gave him an appearance of
great dignity, and he peered about him with large, staring eyes, which
gave him an air of tremendous importance. 'He's God!' screamed a
Plymouth Rock hen. And the others took up the cry, 'He's God!' So they
followed him wherever he went and when he began to bump into things they
began to bump into things, too. Finally he came to a concrete highway
and he started up the middle of it and all the other creatures followed
him. Presently a hawk, who was acting as outrider, observed a truck
coming toward them at fifty miles an hour, and he reported to the
secretary bird and the secretary bird reported to the owl. 'There's
danger ahead,' said the secretary bird. 'To wit?' said the owl. The
secretary bird told him. 'Aren't you afraid?' he asked. 'Who?' said the
owl calmly, for he could not see the truck. 'He's God!' cried all the
creatures again, and they were still crying 'He's God!' when the truck
hit them and ran them down. Some of the animals were merely injured, but
most of them, including the owl, were killed.

Moral: You can fool too many of the people too mucb of the time.
Received on Mon 28 Jan 2002 03:29:14 PM PST