"The Owl Who Was God"
Once upon a starless midnight there was an owl
who sat on the branch of an oak tree. Two
ground moles tried to slip quietly by, unnoticed.
"You!" said the owl. "Who?" they quavered, in fear
and astonishment, for they could not believe it
was possible for anyone to see them in that thick
darkness. "You two!" said the owl. The moles
hurried away and told the other creatures of the
field and forest that the owl was the greatest and
wisest of all animals because he could see in the
dark and because he could answer any question.
"I’ll see about that, "said a secretary bird, and he
called on the owl one night when it was again
very dark. "How many claws am I holding up?"
said the secretary bird. "Two," said the owl, and
that was right. "Can you give me another
expression for ‘that is to say’ or ‘namely’?" asked
the secretary bird. "To wit," said the owl. "Why
does the lover call on his love?" "To woo," said
the owl.
The secretary bird hastened back to the other
creatures and reported that the owl indeed was
the greatest and wisest animal in the world
because he could see in the dark and because he
could answer any question. "Can he see in the
daytime, too?" asked a red fox? "Yes," answered
a dormouse and a French poodle. "Can he see in
the daytime, too?" All the other creatures laughed
loudly at this silly question, and they set upon the
red fox and his friends and drove them out of the
region. They sent a messenger to the owl and
asked him to be their leader.
When the owl appeared among the animals it
was high noon and the sun was shining brightly.
He walked very slowly, which gave him an
appearance of great dignity, and he peered about
him with large, staring eyes, which gave him an
air of tremendous importance. "He’s God!"
screamed a Plymouth rock hen. And the others
took up the cry "He’s God!" So they followed him
wherever he went and when he bumped into
things they began to bump into things, too.
Finally he came to a concrete highway and he
started up the middle of it and all the other
creatures followed him. Presently a hawk, who
was acting as outrider, observed a truck coming
toward them at fifty miles an hour, and he
reported to the secretary bird and the secretary
bird reported to the owl. "There’s danger ahead,"
said the secretary bird. "To wit?" said the owl.
The secretary bird told him. "Aren’t you afraid?"
he asked. "Who?" said the owl calmly, for he
could not see the truck. "He’s God!" cried all the
creatures again, and they were still crying "He’s
God" when the truck hit them and ran them
down. Some of the animals were merely injured,
but most of them, including the owl, were killed.
Moral: You can fool too many of the people too
much of the time.







From: James Thurber, Fables for Our Time and
Famous Poems Illustrated (New York, 1940), pp.
35-36.

First read this in Greene's 48 Laws Of Power.