The Owl and the Birds
When the acorn first began to sprout, an owl, in her wisdom, counseled the birds to pull it up by all means out of the ground and not allow it to grow. It would, said she, produce the mistletoe from which a bird poison would be extracted, by which they would be captured.
The owl next advised them to pluck up the seed of the flax that men had sown, as it was a plant that brought no good to them.
Lastly the owl, seeing an archer approach, predicted that this man, being on foot, would contrive darts armed with feathers, which should fly faster than the wings of the birds themselves.
The birds gave no credence to these warning words, but considered the owl to be beside herself and said that she was mad. But afterwards, finding her words were true, they wondered at her knowledge and deemed her to be the wisest of birds. Hence it is that when she appears they flock to her as knowing all things; while she no longer gives them advice, but in solitude laments their past folly.