Can owl be the king

Sham S. Misri

One day all the birds, the parrot, the cuckoo, the peacock, the eagles , and the pigeon held a meeting. The peacock said, “Each one of us feels as if we are without a king."

The swan said, “ Let the eagle  be our king”.

"But he is the king only in the name. We hardly see him or meet him. If he does not serve us, what is the use of such a king?”  “Now it is high time we select a new king,” said the peacock.

All other birds agreed with the suggestion of the peacock. The peacock then said, “I think we should crown the owl as the new king. He has got a scary face; his face can scare away even the mightiest enemy.”

All  the birds welcomed the idea of making the owl their new king. Now the coronation of the owl had to be done. A big throne was made. The parrots had to chant the prayers and the cuckoo had to sing a song. Finally, it was the time of the owl to ascend the throne. The owl walked proudly towards the throne. As he was about to sit on the throne he heard a crow cawing loudly. “What is going on here?”

“The owl is being crowned as the new king.”

The crow said in harsh words, ”How can the owl be made the king?” He cannot see in broad daylight. He is not fit to be the king”

The owl was stunned. He could recognize the cawing of the crow. He felt like attacking him. But he thought, “I can rush in the direction from which I hear the cawing and attack the crow. But the clever crow will fly away. He will take advantage of the fact that I cannot see during the day and thus peck me with his beak during the day.”

“And now I am the future king ” Said the owl to himself. “It will not be fit for me to be angry and rush to attack the crow myself, except the crow all other animals support me. Therefore, I should ignore the crows protest.”

But the  crow  continued his protest saying, ”Think about it, is  the owl fit to be the king.? Look at his features. He has a crooked nose, big eyes, a broad head, and he looks so ugly!”

“The eagle is our king,“ said the crow. “He is so famous, so helpful, “  All the birds now agreed what the crow said. One by one all of them flew away quietly. The owl could now only hear the noise of the flapping of the wings. After some time the noise died down,  It was quiet all again.

“What about my coronation?” thought the owl.

After waiting for some time the owl said,” Why is everybody quiet?”

The crow said, “Every bird has flown  now to their nests.”

The owl said, ”O crow, “Why did you do this to me,?  Why did you not allow me to be the king of birds? from today you are my enemy”, said the owl angrily .

“Caw, Caw, Caw, Cawed the crow happily and flew away.