The Purple Birds Trick the Tricky Owl

Or: He who rolls a stone, it will roll back on him.

Once upon a time, there were two purple birds: a momma and a daddy. One night, they were snuggled close in their nest, sleeping, when who should come swooping through the night but the tricky owl.

Now, everyone knows that owls are awake at night and asleep during the day, and the tricky owl liked to use this to his advantage to play tricks on birds who were asleep. He saw the purple birds who were sleeping and he had an idea for a wicked trick.

“I will glue their beaks shut!” said the tricky owl. “They won’t be able to talk at all! It will be very funny.”

So the tricky owl took out his glue bottle and glued their beaks shut. He was very quiet so they wouldn’t wake up. Then he swooped into a nearby tree to watch.

When the daddy bird woke up, he said “Good morning, Momma bird.” Well… he tried to say “Good morning, Momma bird,” but his beak was glued shut! So it came out as Mmhmm-mm, Mmm-mm hmm.

The daddy bird was so surprised. The momma bird tried to say, “Daddy bird, what’s wrong with your voice? It sounds a little bit … funny.” Of course, her beak was glued shut too! So she said mmmhmm hmm, hmmhmm hmm mmm hrmm mrm … hrmm-m.

The tricky owl saw this commotion and thought it was extremely funny. Hooooo! Ha ha! Hooo Hoo! hooted the tricky owl.

Then the daddy bird got a washcloth and washed the glue off his beak and the momma bird’s beak, so they could talk again.

“Who did this to us?” asked the momma bird.

“It must have been that tricky owl,” said the daddy bird. “I heard him hooting and laughing in the trees.

“He has played one too many tricks on us,” said the momma bird. “I think we are going to have to teach him a lesson.

Now, everyone knows that owls sleep during the day and are awake at night. So one night, while the tricky owl was out of his nest, the two birds sneaked into it.

First, they stuck pokey bits of straw all over his nest.

Then, they found his oatmeal jar and put sand in it.

And then they took every one of his books on his bookshelf and they turned it upside-down.

The purple birds left the owl’s nest and went back to sleep.

That morning the owl swooped into his nest for some sleep. “I’m very tired from playing tricks on birds all night!” said the tricky owl. “It’s time for some sleep!”

The tricky owl was just settling into his nest when he felt something poking him on the bottom. “Ow!” he said. “What’s poking me?”

The tricky owl scooted to the left a little. But something was pokey there, too. “It’s poking! It’s poking!” hooted the tricky owl.

He moved forward. “Ahhh! Poking!” said the owl. He squirmed all around. “Poking, poking! There is poking straw everyone! HELP!” hooted the owl.

He finally fell asleep because he was so tired, but he did not sleep very well. He woke up at dusk and decided to make himself a nice bowl of oatmeal. He got everything ready and then took a big bite.

Crunch, crunch went the oatmeal in his beak.

“Oatmeal is not supposed to be crunchy!” said the owl. Then he felt the sand in his mouth. “Yech!” said the owl. He spit out the sand.

“I’ll try another bite,” said the owl, and he did. “BLEAH!” said the owl. “Sand in my oatmeal! Gross, gross, gross!” he hooted.

The owl was becoming very frustrated. He washed his breakfast dishes and decided to start the day with a good book. He pulled out a book from his bookshelf. It was his favorite book because it was a story about someone playing a trick on some penguins.

But when he opened it up, he could not read it. “What’s wrong with my book?” asked the tricky owl. “All of the letters are upside down. I can’t read upside down!” He turned a page. “And all of the pictures are upside down too!”

“I’ll try another book,” said the tricky owl.

But that book was upside down, too. “This book ALSO has upside down pictures and letters!” said the owl. “And this one! This one also! All of my books are broken!”

The owl threw the books all over the floor and sat down on a chair and felt very sorry for himself.

Then he saw that there was a little note on his table, next to the chair. It read:

Dear tricky owl,

We’re sorry that we played mean tricks on you! It was not very nice of us. Will you please forgive us? We will forgive you for your mean tricks too, and maybe we can become friends.

Love,
The Purple Birds

The tricky owl flapped over to purple birds’ nest immediately.

“I’m so sorry for all of my mean tricks,” he said. “Now I know that it isn’t fun to have a mean trick played on you. Will you forgive me?”

“We’re sorry too,” said the purple birds. “Even though you played mean tricks on us, it was wrong of us to play them on you! Will you forgive us?”

The birds all forgave each other, and then they had a delicious meal together. It was dinner for the purple birds, and breakfast for the owl. They became very good friends, and did not play mean tricks on each other ever again.