Eulogy for an Owl

Eric Chun ericchun at hotmail.com
Tue Nov 20 21:30:14 CET 2001


Eulogy for an Owl

--

His name was Walter Elias, a city boy by
birth, the son of a building contractor.

Before Walter was five, his parents
moved from Chicago to a farm near Marcel-
ine, Missouri.  And it was there on the
farm that Walter would have his first
encounter with death.

Walter was only seven that particular
lazy summer afternoon not much different
from other afternoons.  Dad was tending
to farm chores, Mother was in the house.

It was the perfect day for a young fellow
to go exploring.

Now just beyond a grove of graceful
willows was an apple orchard.  There
Walter could make-believe to his heart's
content: that he was lost, which he
never was, or that he had captured a
wild animal, which he never had.

But today was different.

Directly in front of him, about thirty
feet away, perched in the low-drooping
branch of an apple tree and apparently
sound asleep -- was an owl.

The boy froze.

He remembered his father telling him
that owls rested during the day so
they could hunt at night.  What a
wonderful pet that funny little bird
would make.  If only Walter could
approach it without awakening it, and
snatch it from the tree.

With each step, the lad winced to hear
dry leaves and twigs crackle beneath
his feet.  The owl did not stir.

Closer ... and closer ... and at last
young Walter was standing under the
limb just within range of his quarry.

Slowly he reached up with one hand and
grabbed the bird by its legs.  He had
captured it!

But the owl, waking suddenly, came
alive like no other animal Walter had
ever seen!  In a flurry of beating
wings, wild eyes and frightened cries
it struggled against the boy's grasp.
Walter, stunned, held on.

Now it's difficult to imagine how
what happened next, happened.  Perhaps
the response was sparked by gouging
talons or by fear itself.  But at some
point the terrified boy, still cling-
ing to the terrified bird, flung it
to the ground -- and stomped it to
death.

When it was over, a disbelieving
Walter gazed down at the broken heap
of bronze feathers and blood.  And
he cried.

Walter ran from the orchard but later
returned to bury the owl, the little
pet he would never know.  Each shovel-
ful of earth from the shallow grave
was moistened with tears of deep re-
gret.  And for months thereafter,
the owl visited Walter's dreams.

Ashamed, he would tell no one of the
incident until many years later.  By
then, the world forgave him.

For that sad and lonely summer's day
in the early spring of Walter Elias
brought with it an awakening of the
meaning of life.

Walter never, ever again, killed a
living creature.

Although all the boyhood promises
could not bring that one little owl
back to life, through its death a
whole world of animals came into
being.

For it was then that a grieving
seven-year-old boy attempting to
atone for a thoughtless misdeed,
first sought to possess the animals
of the forest while allowing them
to run free -- by drawing them.

Now the boy too is gone, but his
drawings live on in the incomparable,
undying art of Walter Elias ...
Disney.

Walt Disney.

And now you know THE REST OF THE
STORY.

-- Paul Harvey, Jr.


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