Owl and The Bone Lady

Owl swooped down into the barn during the midnight hours of a cold autumn night. She let out a long hoot and when she looked back outside she could see the Bone Lady watching from a distant tree. The Bone Lady waved her white hand and Owl waved back with her wing. She and the Bone Lady had been friends for quite some time since the tragedy that befell Owl many years ago.

Owl could remember it like it was yesterday when she was just a baby owlet, innocent and without a care in the world.

In the mornings her parents would wake her up and she would learn how to fly, catch worms and mice, and chirp with her friends. In those days owls didn’t hoot, they chirped like other birds and would rarely ever go out at night. She could remember laughing and playing and flying so high in the sky that she could touch the clouds and chirp for miles so that the world could hear her cry. She truly was happy and everyone rejoiced in her exuberance.

However not all were so receptive to her youthful charm. Some resented her joyful spirit and the way she so freely expressed it, one in particular was none other than Owl’s brother.

He was a few years older than his sister and at one time was innocent and free like she was but overtime had become cold and bitter to the ways of the world. He resented Owl for being so happy and harbored an intense jealousy toward his sister because of all the attention that she received from friends and family. He could remember a time when he had received that same attention but now felt abandoned for his sister.

“One of these days,” he said “I’ll make her realize what misery is all about!” “ Why should she get to live happy? Who does she think she is anyway? Is she special?! Ha! We’ll see about that!”

One night Owl Brother flew into the barn where his sister was sleeping sound as a baby. As he inched closer towards her, his shadow slowly covered the moonlight reflecting off Owl’s face causing her to wake up.

“Owl Brother?” She said, slightly startled as she slowly opened her eyes.

“Hey sister!” He said in a starved voice. “My, how pretty you look all cuddled up and sleeping.”

He had a mad look in his eyes, it sent chills down Owl’s back.

”W-what is it?” She said in a tremulous tone.

Owl brother could smell the fear on her, it enticed him like a shark smelling blood in the water.

“You like to chirp, I can hear you up in the air chirping loud enough to wake the angels. Let’s see how well you can chirp without your voice!”

He then proceeded to move closer. Owl tried to move but couldn’t, Brother Owl’s serpent gaze had her paralyzed. Suddenly before she could even realize what was happening, she was pinned down on the floor with him on top of her.

“Stop!” She screamed. “Get off of me please, let me go!”

Owl brother snarled as he wrestled with her, “I’ll make sure you never chirp again!” “You WILL know misery!”

Then with a fatal slash of his talon he tore open Owl sister’s throat and dug in with his beak to find what he wanted to take. Owl sister’s eyes widened with shock as her brother snatched her voice out of her throat and carried it off with him flying into the night. Owl was devastated. Utterly destroyed. She tried her best to chirp but nothing came out, just empty soundless air. Immediately she began to cry.

For seven nights she hid herself in a tree outside the barn and wept nonstop, her tears soaking the dirt below. Then on the seventh night while she was crying, a voice entered her ears and stopped her.

“Why are you crying?” Said the voice.

Startled, Owl looked around but could see nobody.

“Down here!” Said the voice.

Owl looked down at the ground, the dirt started to move then suddenly a bony finger popped out followed by an arm and then a skull. Eventually an entire skeletal figure emerged draped in a beautiful, albeit dirty purple sequin robe. Owl stared horrified and amazed at the same time.

“How are you doing?” The figure asked in a surprisingly friendly and casual tone as it brushed the dirt off its clothes.

"Wh-who are you?" Mouthed Owl.

“I’m The Bone Lady, but you can call me Mrs. Bones. Is everything all right? Your crying woke me up out of my slumber. What’s your name?”

Owl shook her head and tried to signal to Mrs. Bones that she couldn’t talk.

“Oh you can’t talk huh, I can fix that.” She then proceeded to pluck a small bone from the tip of one of her fingers and placed it inside the hole in Owl’s throat and sealed it up.

“Now try to say something.”

Owl stuttered out, “I-I…I can talk!”

Her face filled up with joy and astonishment, Bone Lady smiled. Owl flew up in the air with glee and attempted to let out a chirp, only when she did what came out instead was a low gurgly sound which she had never heard before. Puzzled, she flew back down and perched on the branch in front of Mrs. Bones who read her reaction and said,

“Oh right, you won’t be able to chirp anymore. That noise is called a hoot.”

Owl was a little disappointed at hearing this, but nonetheless was grateful for the fact that she had her voice again. “Thank you so much.” She said graciously.

“Don’t mention it.” Said Mrs. Bones. Owl then thought for a moment and said inquisitively to Mrs. Bones, “Excuse me but did you say that my crying woke you up?”

“Yes I did.”

“How exactly did I manage to do that when I couldn’t make any sound?” Owl asked.

“Wasn’t the sound.” Said Mrs. Bones.

“It was your tears.” She said, pointing down to the puddle around the moist soil from which she protruded. “Hard to sleep when someone is constantly crying waterfalls onto your head.”

“Oh…” Said Owl bashfully, “sorry about that.”

“No worries,” said Mrs. Bones, “I needed to get some air and stretch my legs anyway. So…why were you crying, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Owl then proceeded to recount what had happened with her brother, how he had mercilessly stole her voice and flew off with the intention of leaving her forever mute.

“Hmmf!” Mrs. Bones scoffed. “What an idiot. He thought that by giving you his misery he could then trade it off for your happiness, however he is surely mistaken because all he really did was add on more misery than he had before. A miserable idiot indeed!”

“Yeah that may be so, but still…” Owl said sullenly “Even though I have my voice back, the fact that my OWN BROTHER could do something like that. The fact that a hatred of that kind exists in this world is something I can never forget and I know that I will never be able to go back to the way I was before...He did give me MISERY.”

“But you overcame it.” Said Mrs. Bones.

“I did?” asked Owl.

“Yes you most certainly did. You experienced it and overcame it and because of that, you now not only know of misery, but also how to overcome misery, therefore it will never be able to triumph over you again.”

Owl thought about it for a moment and then said, “I guess you’re right.” Mrs. Bones replied, “Of course I am, I mean I’m only as old as time itself.”

“Really?” Asked Owl.

“Well…maybe not that old.” Mrs. Bones chuckled “But still pretty old.”

“But I wouldn’t even have overcame it in the first place if you hadn’t helped me.” Said Owl. Mrs. Bones replied, “A lot of times all we really need to overcome, is a helping hand…or finger…bone…whatever, you know what I mean.”

Owl marinated on those words for a moment and slowly but surely began to feel content. A deep sense of gratitude shown across her face and she thanked the Bone Lady again for her helping her. Mrs. Bones looked at her scrutinizingly for a moment and then said, “You know…if you want I can make you the wisest of all living creatures.”

Owl responded with a dumbfounded look, “Wisest of all creatures? What do you mean?”

Mrs. Bones responded, “Well technically you’re already the wisest of all living creatures, you just don’t know it yet.”

“I don’t follow.” Replied Owl.

“Well let me explain,” said Mrs. Bones. “When I gave you my bone to bring your voice back, I gave you a part of me as well. That sound that you now make, the hoot that I mentioned earlier, is actually a bone-call that you can use to talk to me whenever you want.”

Owl listened intently, “So I can talk to you whenever I want?” She asked. “Yes.” Said Mrs. Bones

“As a matter of fact you can talk to just about anyone from beneath the ground. You see, it’s not just me down there. There’s PLENTY of us sleeping and waiting for someone to talk to from the other side.”

Owl looked confused, “Plenty…of…us?”

“That’s right…us.” She said.

“The bones of every living creature that ever walked this earth, that ever breathed life on this planet and took their last breath…us.”

Thoroughly perplexed, Owl gave an interrogative look to the Bone Lady and asked “Well…ok but…how exactly does that make me the wisest of all creatures?”

Mrs. Bones paused for a moment and then replied,

“Because unlike everyone else, YOU have a direct line of communication with all those who came before. See, we were once living, breathing creatures just like you. We made the same mistakes that you’re gonna make, we’ve enjoyed the same pleasures that you’re gonna enjoy, we’ve felt the same pain that you are going to feel, we've already walked in the same shoes that you’re going to walk…over and over again.”

Owl was beginning to now appreciate the magnitude of what was being revealed to her.

“You see, everyone else in the living world can’t hear us, in fact many of them aren’t even aware that we exist so they have no other choice but to figure things out on their own.”

Mrs. Bones then pointed to Owl’s throat,

“But YOU on the other hand, can hear us and YOU can talk back! That’s what gives you the edge over everyone else. THAT’S what makes you the wisest of a ll living creatures! Many will fear you for it it, some will envy and hate you for it and others may even love you for it. But one thing for certain is that all will RESPECT you for it, guaranteed.”

So from that day on, Owl and the Bone Lady became the best of friends which in turn made her the friendly consort of all the other bone people beneath the earth. And to this day you can still hear her descendants hooting in the night and getting information from the bone people about everything there is to know.

And true indeed, The Owl is still the wisest of all living creatures past, present and future.