THE SHRIKE AND THE CHIPMUNKS
Once upon a time there were two chipmunks, a male and a female. The male chipmunk thought that arranging nuts in artistic patterns was more fun than just piling them up to see how many you could pile up. The female was all for piling up as many as you could. She told her husband that if he gave up making designs with the nuts there would be room in their large cave for a great many more and he would soon become the wealthiest chipmunk in the woods. But he would not let her interfere with his designs, so she flew into a rage and left him. "The shrike will get you," she said, "because you are helpless and cannot look after yourself." To be sure, the female chipmunk had not been gone three nights before the male had to dress for a banquet and could not find his studs or shirt or suspenders. So he couldn't go to the banquet, but that was just as well, Because all the chipmunks who did go were attacked and killed by a weasel.
The next day the shrike began hanging around outside the chipmunk's cave, waiting to catch him. The shrike couldn't get in because the doorway was clogged up with soiled laundry and dirty dishes. "He will come out for a walk after breakfast and I will get him then," thought the shrike. But the chipmunk slept all day and did not get up and have breakfast until after dark. Then he came out for a breath of air before beginning work on a new design. The shrike swooped down to snatch up the chipmunk, but could not see very well on account of the dark, so he batted his head against an alder branch and was killed.
A few days later the female chipmunk returned and saw the awful mess the house was in. She went to the bed and shook her husband. "What would you do without me?" she demanded. "Just go on living, I guess," he said. "You wouldn't last five days," she told him. She swept the house and did the dishes and sent out the laundry, and then she made the chipmunk get up and wash and dress. "You can't be healthy if you lie in bed all day and never get any exercise," she told him. So she took him for a walk in the bright sunlight and they were both caught and killed by the shrike's brother, a shrike named Stoop.
Moral: Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead.
THE OWL WHO WAS GOD
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 I" 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 oilier 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. I
When the owl appeared among the animals it was high noon and I
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 much of the time.