The Story of an Owl

1984

Once upon a time, there was a quiet village in the woods where many kinds of birds lived together peacefully.  One day an owl moved into that village from a neighboring woods, and the first night after he moved all the birds in that village could not sleep because he had been hooting all night long.  On the next morning a magpie who lived in the tree next to him complained to the owl about his hooting, and he promised that he would try not to hoot at night.  On the second night, however, he would try not to hoot at night.  On the second night, however, he did not break his old habit of hooting, and hooted again.  So not only the magpie, but also many birds began to feel discontented with him and some of them complained.  One fine morning a wise crow who lived in the same woods saw the owl was packing up his sundries and asked why he was packing.  Then the owl said, "Nobody in this village loves me like before, so I am going to move to another woods where more friendly birds live."  After the crow listened to him, he said to the owl. "There will be no more friendly village than here, once you stop hooting at night."  And he added, "Love and be lovely to be loved."

-unknown