VENGEANCE

Once upon a time, it was the tradition of the king to organize a big feast for all his subjects. All the birds in the air and all the animals on the ground, all the fish in the sea and all the living creatures that lived below were invited, for they were all subjects under the king’s rule and they had to obey him. Of all his subjects, the king found his favorite in the hawk for the hawk could travel very quickly.

The hawk had served the king dutifully for many years and so a few days to his retirement, the king asked him what he wanted for years of devotion. The hawk told the king that he was getting too old and as such tired of flying and hunting. He wished for sustenance to be delivered to his doorstep everyday for the rest of his days. The king saw his request as a reasonable one and told the hawk to go out and bring to him any living creature, animal, fish, or bird. Any animal that he picked would become his sustenance for the rest of his days.

So the hawk went hunting. He flew over every crevice of the world, going from forest to river, mountain to valley, searching for his perfect life meal. At last, the hawk found a young owl that had fallen out of its parents’ nest. “That’s the one I want,” the hawk said to himself.

Swooping down, the hawk captured the young owl and brought it to the king as the animal he wanted to eat for the rest of his days. The king asked if he was sure and the hawk said yes. Certain of his choice, the king approved the hawk’s request and the hawk went flying away happy to tell his friends of his good news.

When the hawk told his friends what he had done, his wisest friends said to him, “When you seized the young owl, what did its parents say?”

The hawk replied that neither the mother nor the father of the young owl had had said anything. They were both quiet.

The wise friend then advised the hawk to return the young owl to his parents for he, the hawk, could never tell what the owls would do to him come nightfall.

“But I like this young owl,” the hawk said.

“That is not reason enough,” the wise friend said. “Take up an animal that walks in the daytime for at nighttime they would be asleep and of no disturbance to you. The owls are the kings of the night, quiet and deadly. They will certainly plot great mischief and revenge against you.”

Still the hawk didn’t listen, for he was too hungry for the owl. Ignoring the warnings of his friend, the hawk flew away just as the sun was about to go down.

The next morning, the king woke up with a message to deliver to his townspeople. He summoned the hawk as he usually did but the hawk did not respond. Worried, the king sent a personal messenger to fetch the hawk, but upon getting to the hawk’s house, the messenger found it empty. Immediately the king heard this, he declared a worldwide search for the hawk.

The townspeople searched a hundred days and a hundred nights but the hawk was never found.

Quickly, the story of the missing hawk became the mystery of the town. Everyone talked about it, everyone speculated about it, everybody gossiped about it.

But the owls never said a thing.

For they alone knew what had happened to the hawk and for the rest of their lives, they were never going to say.