Arthur Rackham (1867-1939): 'The Owl and the Birds',
illustration for Aesop's Fables, 1912
The Owl is a very wise bird; and once, long ago, when the first
oak sprouted in the forest, she called all the other Birds together
and said
to them, 'You see this tiny tree? If you take my advice,
you will destroy it now
when it is small: for when it grows big,
the mistletoe will appear upon it, from which
birdlime will be prepared for your destruction." Again, when the first flax was
sown,
she said to them, "Go and eat up that seed, for it is the
seed of the flax, out of which
men will one day make nets to catch
you." Once more, when she saw the first archer,
she warned the
Birds that he was their deadly enemy, who would wing his arrows
with their own feathers and shoot them. But they took no notice of
what she
said: in fact, they thought she was rather mad, and
laughed at her. When,
however, everything turned out as she had
foretold, they changed
their minds and conceived a great respect
for her wisdom.
Hence, whenever she appears, the Birds attend upon
her in the hope of hearing something that may be
for their good. She, however, gives them
advice no longer, but sits moping and
pondering on the folly of her kind.
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