Owl with the great head and eyes

Owl with the great head and eyes

Long ago, in the tales of the eastern Canadian forests, animals could talk to each other almost like people. Rabbit knew every trail, every stream, and every clearing in the forest. He was a skilled guide, but he was even more famous for his tricks.

Rabbit especially often argued with Wolf. They could greet each other when they met and even walk part of the way together, but each knew that if the other thought of some trick, there would be no peace.

Not far from them, in a small house among the trees, lived a woman with her grown daughter. Rabbit and Wolf both loved to come to their house. Rabbit brought music: he would sit on the porch and play the pipe. Wolf, in turn, boasted that he knew the forest well and could find food even in bad weather.

One spring day, Rabbit heard the woman say to her daughter:

“Wolf seems reliable to me. He is strong and, they say, a skilled hunter.”

Rabbit did not like this at all.

“So they respect Wolf more than me?” he thought. “I’ll show them just how ‘respectable’ he is!”

In the evening Rabbit came to the house and began to tell:

“Wolf is not nearly as grand as he seems. I could even ride him here like a horse.”

The woman raised her eyebrows.

“Ride Wolf? I won’t believe that until I see it.”

Rabbit only smiled.

The next day he met Wolf on the path.

“Let’s visit that house together,” Rabbit suggested.

Wolf readily agreed.

They had walked a little, and suddenly Rabbit clutched his stomach.

“Oh, oh! I can’t take another step. I must have eaten too much young clover.”

“Climb onto my back,” said Wolf. “You’re light. I’ll carry you.”

Rabbit climbed onto his back. A few minutes later he was already giving cheerful orders:

“To the left! Now to the right! Faster!”

Near a field, they found a small old saddle blanket with a strap, left to dry on a fence. Rabbit persuaded Wolf to wear it so he could sit more comfortably. Then he picked up a slender twig and pretended to be a celebrated rider.

And so they approached the house: Wolf was walking, and Rabbit was sitting on his back and loudly exclaiming:

“Make way for the great traveller!”

The woman and her daughter went out onto the porch and laughed in surprise.

Rabbit jumped down to the ground and proudly said:

“You see? I told you I could ride here on Wolf.”

Wolf only now understood why Rabbit had started this show.

"So that's what you've planned!" he grumbled.

They gave him a good supper, which soothed him a little. On the way home, though, he decided Rabbit would not get away with his tricks so easily next time.

Rabbit also felt that Wolf was angry, so he avoided him for several days. But hunger is hunger. One evening Rabbit made his way to someone else's garden to eat cabbage.

The owners noticed the thief, caught him and tied him to a tree with a wide rope.

“Stay here until we decide how to teach you to leave other people’s gardens alone,” they said, going indoors.

Just then Wolf came out of the forest.

Rabbit immediately spoke in a gentle voice:

“Friend Wolf! How good that you came. They left me here waiting for a wonderful dinner. They say they will bring a whole basket of delicacies. And I have already eaten and want to go home.”

Wolf narrowed his eyes.

“After last time, I don’t really believe you.”

“Quite right,” Rabbit said seriously. “Never believe the first thing you hear. But you can check for yourself. Untie me and, if you like, wait here in my place.”

Wolf was hungry. He thought, thought and finally agreed.

Rabbit freed himself, tied Wolf with the same rope and rushed away.

When the owners returned and saw Wolf instead of Rabbit, they were very surprised.

“What is happening here?”

Wolf understood everything.

“Rabbit…” he groaned. “Rabbit again.”

The people untied him and let him go, and Wolf ran to look for the cunning one.

He followed the trail for a long time. Finally, in the moonlight, he saw Rabbit. He ran away and hid in the hollow of an old tree. The hole was so narrow that Wolf could not even put his muzzle in it.

“You won’t escape now,” said Wolf. “I’ll get help and find someone to guard this hollow.”

On a nearby branch sat an Owl.

“Owl,” Wolf asked, “keep watch beside the hollow. Don’t let Rabbit slip out before I return.”

“Very well,” Owl replied, moving to a lower perch.

When Wolf disappeared between the trees, Rabbit’s voice came from the hollow:

“Owl, don’t you wonder what’s inside here? I have such a wonderful little room here!”

“I can’t see anything,” said Owl. “It’s dark there.”

“Come closer and open your eyes wider. Then you’ll see.”

Owl was very curious. She leaned over the hole and opened her eyes wide.

Rabbit was chewing on some bitter forest leaves. He took some of their tart juice into his mouth and spat it straight out.

“Ouch!” cried Owl.

Her eyes stung. She jumped away from the hole, flapped her wings, and began to blink, trying to wipe away her tears. That was all Rabbit had expected. He quietly slipped out of the hole on the other side and disappeared into the bushes.

Soon Wolf returned.

“Where is Rabbit?”

“He… was here…” began Owl, still squinting.

Wolf looked into the hole. It was empty.

“You let him out!”

“No, he tricked me!”

Wolf hurried angrily around the tree, swinging the long stick he had brought to probe the hollow. By accident, he struck a dead branch above Owl. It fell nearby, and she jumped in fright, bumping her head lightly against the trunk.

“Hoo-hoo!” she cried.

“I’m sorry, Owl,” Wolf said, stopping at once. “I was angry with the wrong person.”

Owl sat wide-eyed. Her eyes still watered from the bitter juice, and the feathers on her head had fluffed up in alarm. She looked even rounder-headed and larger-eyed than before.

“Hoo-hoo,” she called again, more softly this time.

Wolf looked at the empty hollow and sighed heavily.

“Enough. I will not let Rabbit drag me into his antics again.”

And he went on his way.

And Owl remained on the branch. When it got even darker, she suddenly noticed that she could see perfectly well in the night forest. The moonlight did not hurt her eyes, the rustle of a mouse under the leaves was heard from afar, and her big eyes helped her to see things that she almost did not notice during the day.

Since then, says the old fairy tale, Owl has loved the night. Her big eyes peer into the darkness, her head seems round and dignified, and from the forest sometimes comes her familiar:

“Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!”

It is the voice of an alert guardian of the night. After her old adventure with Rabbit, she learned to keep her face away from dark hollows, however curious she might be about what was inside.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨