Pick your enemies.
猫头鹰和鸟
The Owl and the Birds
从前，有一只非常聪明的猫头鹰给了其他鸟儿很多建议。他要他们在栎树刚开始发芽的时候就要把它连根拔起，以免它继续生长，因为栎树会长出用来制造粘鸟胶（人们捕鸟的主要工具）的槲寄生。接着，猫头鹰又建议鸟们要把人们种植的亚麻种子拿走，因为这种植物对于鸟儿来说是不好的预兆。最后，猫头鹰看到一个弓箭手，就郑重其事地对鸟儿们说：“你们要千万小心这个人，因为他会发射带有羽毛的武器。这种武器飞行的速度比我们快多了。”可是，鸟儿们却对猫头鹰的警告毫不在意，认为他是疯了才会胡言乱语。
但是不久之后，鸟儿就发现猫头鹰的话是正确的，因此他们一致认为猫头鹰在鸟类中最有知识和智慧，也是无所不知的。但是，猫头鹰没有再给他们任何建议，只是在哀悼他们的愚蠢。
要毁灭掉邪恶的种子，否则它长大后将会后患无穷。
An Owl，in his wisdom，counseled the Birds that when the acorn first began to sprout，to pull it all up out of the ground and not allow it to grow. He said acorns would produce mistletoe，from which an irremediable poison，the bird-lime，would be extracted and by which they would be captured. The Owl next advised them to pluck up the seed of the flax，which men had sown，as it was a plant which boded no good to them. And，lastly，the Owl，seeing an archer approach，predicted that this man，being on foot，would contrive darts armed with feathers which would fly faster than the wings of the Birds themselves. The Birds gave no credence to these warning words，but considered the Owl to be beside himself and said that he was mad.