34. The Owl Persecutors

34. THE OWL PERSECUTORS (37)

A young man traveling about was told something he did not believe. An old man said that if he swallowed a crawfish and whooped like an owl, numbers of owls would come and bite him, pull his hair all out and put out the fire. The young man did not believe this and said, "I can whip and kill all of them." So he swallowed a crawfish at night and imitated the cry of an owl. Forthwith quantities of owls came. They wet their feathers, shook them over the big fire he had built up, and put it out; and they pulled all the hair out of his head.