Evening journal., 1893-10-03
STORY TELLING OWLS
THEIR FUNNY YARNS MADE THE
AolRoNDAcKs RING WITH MlRTH.

"What amused our party most up in
the Adirondacks," said a Scranton man,
twas an entertainment given to us by q
flock Of story telling owls. Our camp
was away back in the wilderness Of
Herkimer county, and we had hardly
turned in for the night when a flock of
owls alighted on q tree over us and be-
gan to tell stories and laugh. Every
owl listened in silence TO the one that
was talking, and when the tale was fin
ished the whole flock laughed as though
they were tickled half to death.
"They reminded us of lot of drum
mers in a smoking car, and they had
such jolly fun it became contagious.
We all rolled and laughed over the fun
the big eyed birds were having up in the
tree, and before long the side splitting
contagion attacked some looms out on
the lake, which fairly yelled with de-
light whenever the fun loving owls guf-
fawed and shrielIed and shouted over a
right good yarn told by one Of their
number.
"Once in awhile a story was so funny
before the knob was reached that we
could hear two OF three Of the feathered
listeners snicker and chuckle under their
breath, and when the end came the en-
tire flock made the woods ring. The
iovial birds had met expressly TO swap
experiences of the night before, and
they talked so plainly that we could
easily keep q run Of their anecdotes as
we lay ON our beds of spruce boughs.
zone Of the owls told about how big
rat that he had caught by the back
yanked itself loose and showed fight.
The owl described how he had let the
rat fiatter itself that it was going to lick
him, how he finally bit his tail of at the
root, and how the rat then went squeal-
ing and zigzagging around with no rud-
der TO guide its movements. The picture
so amused the eager auditors that they
fell into the most violent fits of laughter,
some of them tumbling from their perch,
they were so tickled.
Another owl described the tussle he
had had with tough old jack hare in a
swamp. He said that the hare had car
ried him along through the rushes and
over logs for some distance after he had
got his claws in its back, and that he at
last brought the hareup standing by keep
ing one claw in its hide and catching hold
of bush with his other claw. The hare
rolled over and over as soon as the owl
LET 10 of the bush, and the owl said that
his feathers pointed in all directions
when he finally got the best Of the hare.
Peal after peal of laughter followed the
narrative.
"Anotherowl told about biting snakes
head of and trying TO swallow it. The
head stuck in his throat. and he would
| surely have chol1ed to death, he said, il
his mate hadn't come along Just ther
and pulled it out with her claw. The
story teller's predicament was such a
funny picture to the imagination Of the
listening owls that they responded with
yells of wild delight.
But the story that fairly upset the
whole party Of nocturnal roisterers and
made them hoot and screech and fluttel
all over the tree for at least five min.
utes was told by an owl with an alto
voice. He said that he felt like kicking
up some mischief the night before, so he
sailed out to the settlement. settled down
on the window sill of a house in which
there was no light and began to tap Oh
the panes with his bill. The folks wer,
asleep, so he fitted TO the opposite sid,
Of the house and tapped there. Nobody
stirred, and he kept going from one side
of the house TO the other till woman
got up, struck light and began to try
the windows to see if they We're fast.
w hen she camo TO his window. h,
peered in at her, and she started tc
scream so hard that in q moment hel
husband sprang outof bed, and four chill
dren in their nightclothes came running
down stairs and shouting, Mamma
what's thematterH The woman couldn't
tell what the matter was, although hel
husband and young ones kept coaxing hel
to, but at length she caught her breatl
long enough to say she had seen a spool
at the window.
"At that the man dashed out and be
gan to search around the house. and tn,
owl said he flew TO the top of a balsan
tree, where he sat till the man wen
back, when he alighted on the window
, sill again. The man was angry at hi
, wife for making such a rumpus abou
{ nothing, so he drove the children bacl
3 to bed and went to iawing her like six
! ty She jawed back, and they had j
hot and heavy till the man got up an,
cuffed her. Then she threw a dipper O
water on him in the bed, and in jumr
2 ing out at her he knocked the lamp OF
! the stand and put out the light. TIL
. owl said he listened TO their quarrelin
r and fighting in the dark till he coul
e stand it no longer, when he flew back (
d the woods. His recital filed his listen
g ers with merriment, and it was severa
minutes before they calmed down fo
7 another anecdote.
q "Well, sir. those jovial owls continue
to tell stories till o'clock, when we a
{, became so sleepy that we lost all intere:
is in their amusing tales. The looms ou
e ON the lake laughed like all possesse
ID whenever the owls did, and the tw
a gangs Of midnight merrymalzers kept u
j. their racket till we had to go ont an
y drive the owls away by firing our r,
r. volvers. Scranton Letter.