Mother West Wind How Stories

  X

  HOW THE EYES OF OLD MR. OWL BECAME FIXED

  Blacky the Crow had discovered Hooty the Owl dozing the bright day awayin a thick hemlock-tree. Blacky knew that the bright light hurt Hooty'sbig eyes and half blinded him. This meant that he could have no end offun teasing Hooty, and that Hooty would have to sit still and take itall, because he couldn't see well enough to fly away or to try to catchBlacky. Now if the day had been dark, as it sometimes is on cloudy days,or if the dusk of evening had been settling over the Green Meadows andthe Green Forest, matters would have been very different. Blacky wouldhave taken care, the very greatest care, not to let Hooty know that hewas anywhere around. But as it was, here was a splendid chance to spoilHooty's sleep and to see him grow very, very angry and do it withoutrunning any great risk.

  "Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!" yelled Blacky at the top of his voice, and atonce all his relatives came flocking over to join in the fun. Dear me,dear me, such a racket as there was then! They flew over his head, andthey settled in the tree all around him, all yelling as hard as everthey could. Everybody within hearing knew what it meant, and everybodywho dared to hurried over to watch the fun. Somehow most people seem totake pleasure in seeing some one else made uncomfortable, especially ifit is some one of whom they stand in fear and who is for the time beinghelpless.

  Most of the little meadow and forest people are very much afraid ofHooty the Owl as soon as it begins to grow dark, for that is when he cansee best and does all his hunting. So, though it wasn't at all nice ofthem, they enjoyed seeing him tormented by Blacky and his relatives. Butall the time they took the greatest care to keep out of sightthemselves. Peter Rabbit was there. So was Jumper the Hare and HappyJack the Gray Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Whitefoot theWood Mouse and Striped Chipmunk and a lot more. Of course, Sammy Jay wasthere, but Sammy didn't try to keep out of sight. Oh, my, no! He joinedright in with the Crows, calling Hooty all sorts of bad names and flyingabout just out of reach in the most impudent way. You see he knew justhow helpless Hooty was.

  Hooty was very, very angry. He hissed, and he snapped his bill, and hetold his tormentors what he would do to them if he caught them afterdark. And all the time he kept turning his head with its great, round,glaring, yellow eyes so as not to give his tormentors a chance to pullout any of his feathers, as the boldest of them tried to do. Now Hootycan turn his head as no one else can. He can turn it so that he looksstraight back over his tail, so that his head looks as if it were put onthe wrong way. Then he can snap it around in the other direction soquickly that you can hardly see him do it, and sometimes it seems as ifhe turned his head clear around.

  That interested Peter Rabbit immensely. He couldn't think of anythingelse. He kept trying to do the same thing himself, but of course hecouldn't. He could turn his head sideways, but that was all. He puzzledover it all the rest of the day, and that night, when his cousin, Jumperthe Hare, called at the dear Old Briar-patch, the first thing he did wasto ask a question.

  "Cousin Jumper, do you know why it is that Hooty the Owl can turn hishead way around, and nobody else can?"

  "Of course I know," replied Jumper. "I thought everybody knew that. It'sbecause his eyes are fixed in their sockets, and he can't turn them. Sohe turns his whole head in order to see in all directions. The rest ofus can roll our eyes, but Hooty can't."

  Peter scratched his long left ear with his long right hindfoot, a way hehas when he is thinking or is puzzled. "That's funny," said he. "Iwonder why his eyes are fixed."

  "Because his great-great-ever-so-great-grandfather rolled his eyes toomuch," replied Jumper, yawning. "He saw too much. It's a bad thing tosee too much."

  "Tell me about it. Please do, Cousin Jumper," begged Peter.

  Jumper looked up at the moon to see what time of night it was.

  "All right," said he, settling himself comfortably. "All the Owl family,way back to the very beginning, have had very big eyes. Old Mr. Owl hadthem. He could move them just as we can ours. And because they were sobig, and because he could roll them, there was very little going on thatMr. Owl didn't see. It happened one day that Old Mother Nature took itinto her wise old head to put the little people of the Green Meadowsand the Green Forest to a test. She wanted to see just how many of themshe could trust to obey her orders. So she lined them all up in a row.Then she made them turn so that their backs were to her.

  "'Now,' said she, 'everybody is to keep eyes to the front. I am going tobe very busy back here for a few minutes, but not one of you is to peek.I shall know if you do, and I shall see to it that you never forget itas long as you live.'

  "That sounded as if something dreadful might happen, so everybody satperfectly still looking straight before them. Some of them felt as ifthey would die of curiosity to know what Old Mother Nature was doing,but for a while no one thought of disobeying. Old Mr. Rabbit just itchedall over with curiosity. It seemed to him that he just must turn hishead. But for once he managed to get the best of his curiosity andstared straight ahead.

  "Now Mr. Owl had tremendous great ears, just as Hooty has to-day. Youcan't see them because the feathers cover them, but they are there justthe same."

  Peter nodded. He knew all about those wonderful ears and how they heardthe teeniest, weeniest noise when Hooty was flying at night.

  "Those, big ears," continued Jumper, "heard every little sound that OldMother Nature made, and they sounded queer to Mr. Owl. 'If I roll backmy eyes without turning my head, I believe I can see what she is doing,and she won't be any the wiser,' thought he. So he rolled his eyes backand then looked straight ahead again. What he had seen made him want tosee more. He tried it again. Just imagine how he felt when he found thathis eyes wouldn't roll. He couldn't move them a bit. All he could do wasto stare straight ahead. It frightened him dreadfully, and he kepttrying and trying to roll his eyes, but they were fixed fast. He couldsee in only one direction, the way his head was turned.

  "When at last Old Mother Nature told all the little people that theymight look, Mr. Owl didn't want to look. He didn't want to face OldMother Nature, for he knew perfectly well what had happened to his eyes.He knew that Old Mother Nature had seen him roll them back, and that asa punishment she had fixed them so that he would always stare straightahead. He didn't say anything. He was too ashamed to. He flew away homethe very first chance he got. For a long time after that, Mr. Owl nevercould see behind him at all. He could only turn his head part way, thesame as most folks, and he couldn't roll his eyes to see the rest of theway. It made him dreadfully nervous and unhappy. He felt all the time asif people were doing things behind his back. But he didn't complain. Hewas ashamed to do that.

  "Old Mother Nature was watching him all the time. After a long, longwhile, she decided that he had been punished enough. But she didn't wanthim to forget, so she kept his eyes fixed so that they would lookstraight ahead; but she gave him the power to turn his head farther thanany one else, so that he could look straight behind him without turninghis body at all. And ever since that time, all Owls have had fixed eyes,but have been able to turn their heads so as to make them look as ifthey were facing the wrong way."

  "Thank you, Cousin Jumper," cried Peter. "But there is one thing youforgot to tell. What was it that Old Mother Nature was doing when Mr.Owl rolled his eyes to look back."

  "That," replied Jumper, "Mr. Owl never told, and nobody else knew, so Ican't tell you."

  XI

  HOW IT HAPPENS JOHNNY CHUCK SLEEPS ALL WINTER