Oban's Myths & Legends
Why Owls Stare (Part 3)
Native American - Choctaw Story
retold by Sanjit
As the pigeons landed in the trees, the owls had to shuffle closer together. Branches broke when too many pigeons tried to land at once.
The owls couldn’t believe their eyes or their ears. The noise of flapping wings and scratching feet was deafening.
The owls stared, moving their heads from side to side to watch the pigeons land all around them.
And still the pigeons kept coming, circling down from the sky looking for landing space. The owls could not believe there were so many pigeons.
Their eyes grew wider and wider as they moved their heads from side to side, trying to keep track of the pigeons. More and more of them swooshed in.
Some of the owls started to feel nervous. Being surrounded and squashed by so many pigeons was a bit scary. They began to hoot to each other “Tooooowoooo, we’re being trampled. Let’s get out of here!”
One by one the owls took off, darting up between branches and diving away from the still incoming pigeons.
The owls fled into the sky, their staring eyes flattened even wider open by the wind rushing past them.
No-one did any counting.
The pigeons settled themselves all over the Big Woods, cooing and calling to each other, celebrating their win.
Since then, owls have always traveled at night when pigeons are asleep.
They stare at everything around them, watching out for pigeons.
The End
