Once upon a time there lived a wealthy peasant. He had a large plot of land and many, many chickens. The chickens roosted in the trees and settled there for the night. And then a forest cat got into the habit there. He kept watch in the garden in the evening, and when the chickens fell asleep, he stole one of them and ate it. So every morning there was one less chicken. And the surviving chickens could not understand where their friends had gone?
One evening an owl flew into the garden. The chickens thought that she was to blame for their troubles, and began to cackle: “The enemy is here, the enemy is here!” Hide, whoever can, hide!” “I’m not your enemy at all,” the owl said intelligibly. – Your enemy is a forest cat. I'm your friend and I want to help you. What kind of trouble happened to you?
The chickens began vying with each other to tell the owl that for several days in a row they had been missing their friends in the morning. Perhaps these are really the tricks of a forest cat, but how to protect yourself from him?
And then the owl said:
– The forest cat is cunning and dexterous, and climbs trees well. I advise you to sit not in the middle of the branch, but closer to the end. Then, if the cat decides to attack you, the branch will begin to sway and you will wake up. This way you will be able to avoid misfortune.
The next night the cat, as always, came for the kill. However, the chickens followed the owl's advice. And as soon as the cat jumped onto the branch, it began to move, and the chickens woke up. They cackled and woke up the peasant. He came running with a bow, took aim, and his arrow hit the cat right in the tail. So the cat barely dragged his legs away.
The chickens moved into the peasant’s house, and since then all the chickens hide under a canopy at night.
And the savvy cat guessed that this could not have happened without the owl’s advice, and decided to take revenge on her. But no matter how hard he tried to watch for the owl and deal with it, he failed. Then the cat decided to pretend to be the owl’s friend and spoke in an unctuous voice: “Sister, when do you go to bed?”
The owl immediately guessed his cunning.
“Every evening I shout “cuckoo, cuckoo.” And when I get tired of screaming, I fall asleep (the fact is that owls call “peek-a-boo” when they sleep).
The cat is alert and listening.
When the “peek-a-boo” sounded loudly through the forest, the cat immediately climbed up the tree. And as soon as silence fell, he began to approach the owl. Imagine his surprise when he saw that the owl was not sleeping at all, but was looking at him with all her eyes.
Since then, when the owl sleeps, it always crows, and when it wakes up, it looks into the darkness with wide open eyes, fearing the appearance of a forest cat. That's why owls have round eyes.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru