Storytelling Week 1: "The Owl and The Grasshopper"

In a forest far from civilization, there was an old owl.  The owl had grown cranky with age.  She would grouch and yell at other forest creatures that annoyed or angered her.  This was especially true when her sleep was disturbed, which was often because owls sleep during the day.

One day in the midst of her sleep, the owl was awoken by a grasshopper singing a loud, happy song.

Spotted owl peeking out from den. Source: Wikipedia

Infuriated, the owl yelled “What are you doing? I’m trying to sleep! Go away if you want to sing!”

“No.  I want to sing a beautiful song right here.  You can’t make me leave,” the young grasshopper laughed.

Seeing the grasshopper’s stubbornness, the old owl decided that arguing further would lead to no peaceful resolution.  She decided the only way to get the grasshopper to stop would be to eat him, but she could not fly down to him because of her poor eyesight during the day.  Due to this, the owl came up with a cunning plan.

“Well, since you won’t leave and let me sleep in peace come closer so I can fully enjoy your beautiful song.”

Upon hearing such flattery from the old grump, the grasshopper was pleasantly surprised and immediately started jumping towards the owl’s home in the oak tree.  However, about half way there, the grasshopper thought the owl’s change in attitude was odd because of her sour reputation known throughout the forest.  For this reason, he stopped and began to sing again.

“Oh, that is not close enough for me to fully appreciate your musical talents.  Please, come closer,” begged the owl sweetly.

Once again, this flattery struck the grasshopper, who was often shunned by his family and friends for singing too loud.  As a result, the grasshopper quickly began to hop closer to the owl’s home.

Still suspicious, the grasshopper just stopped short of being directly in front of the opening in the tree and once again began to sing.

“Oh no, you must let me see you as you perform.  A skilled musician such as yourself can only be truly appreciated when seen up close.  A live performance is just ruined when the performer cannot be seen.”

Instantly, the grasshopper threw away all of his previous concerns because he was so flattered and excited to finally be appreciated by others.  He immediately jumped in front of the opening and even hopped inside.  Before he could even begin to sing, the owl gobbled him up.  Content and full, the owl fell fast asleep.

Author’s Note

The original plot of “The Owl and the Grasshopper” is similar to my retelling.  A grumpy, old owl becomes irritated when a grasshopper interrupts her sleep by singing.  She asks him to stop, but he will not.  She then decides the only way to get back to sleep is to eat the grasshopper, but her eyesight is terrible during the day.  For this reason, she must trick him into getting close enough so that she can eat him without moving.  The owl decides to do this through flattery.  Once he is complimented, the grasshopper immediately goes into the owl’s home and is eaten. 

I decided to add more detail to the story such as giving some background information on the owl and expanding how much flattery the owl gives in order to trick the grasshopper. Within the original story, the owl only compliments the grasshopper once, but I decided to create more dialogue and attempts at flattery.  For this reason, I added the grasshopper’s skepticism towards such out of character flattery as well as describing the grasshopper as someone who is not often appreciated for his musical talent.

Bibliography

“The Owl and the Grasshopper” by (anonymous), illustrated by Milo Winter from Aesop for Children (1919). Web Source: The Project Gutenberg