12. The Orphan And The Owl

12. THE ORPHAN AND THE OWL

Some men started off hunting. They traveled along and camped at a certain place. They had an orphan boy to look after their camp. Just before light they started out hunting, and while the orphan still sat in camp an Owl sitting on the top of a tree said, "A bear is hidden in the ăsawe tree standing there. Tell the man who is good to you; let him kill it and eat."

After the Owl had gone away the orphan sat about until the hunters came back one by one, but that one that liked him had not come. He came back last, and the orphan said to him, "An Owl came and said to me, 'A bear is hidden close by. Let him kill it for you and then you eat it.'" So they two started out. When they reached the place the bear was there as had been foretold, and the man killed it and skinned it, and they brought it back. When they got to camp they had a quantity of meat.

That night the Owl came again and sat on a tree. When it made a noise, one of the hunters said, "What does he say?" That orphan boy said to him, "He says to you 'Someone else is going with your wife.'" ¹ That is what he told him.

Footnotes

95:1 Prophetic powers were attributed to owls.