ὄστρακα

A Parliament of Owls

"State your business!"

The owls looked down from their roosts into the clearing below. There were two figures standing before them: one male, one female, both young. They were bundled up against the cold, night air, their cloaks wrapped tightly around them. The speaker of the parliament - an eagle owl known as L'Hibou Grand-Duc - huffed then spoke again. "State your business!"

"Grand-duc," the young woman began. The owl puffed itself up, pleased that the humans standing before it had had recognised its status. "Grand-duc, we have come to seek a boon of you."

There was a muttering from the other owls in the trees around the clearing. L'Hibou Grand-Duc fluttered its wings to silence them. "A boon, you say? What kind of a boon do you seek?"

The young man looked the owl in its eyes. "We have come to seek the wisdom of your parliament. We have come to ask for the knowledge that you learnt on the shoulder of Pallas Athena."

Again, the other owls muttered amongst themselves, their eyes glinting in the moonlight. L'Hibou Grand-Duc waited for them to finish before speaking again. "There are many kinds of wisdom. There is the wisdom of the gods, which they keep to themselves. There is the wisdom of the mortals, which they keep to themselves. It is only the owls, who fly by moonlight between Olympus and Earth, who know the secrets of both. Tell me, whose wisdom do you seek and what do you wish to know?"

"We seek the service of one of your parliament, for a year and a day," the young woman declared. "It may be whichever one you choose. It shall serve us faithfully for that period and then shall be free to go. During that time, it shall advise us to the best of its ability."

The speaker of the parliament chuckled. "That is indeed a boon, and one that we may not be inclined to grant. By what right do you make this request?"

"I am Marie," the young woman said.

"And I am Marcel," the young man said. "We are the children of Chrétien, Duc d'Averoigne. We ask you in the name of the ancient pact between our family and the owls of the forest. We ask you as nobles of equal rank."

"Hah." L'Hibou Grand-Duc shifted on its perch. "And do you have proof of your lineage?"

Marcel flourished his cloak, and produced from beneath it a wand of bone and oak. At the top of the wand, bound together by a thread of silk, were a feather and a lock of air. "This is the evidence of our pact."

The owl peered down. "L'Hibou Moyen-Duc - if you please?"

A smaller owl - a long-eared owl - opened its wings and dropped down onto Marcel's shoulder. It took the wand in one claw and turned it this way and that, examining it. After a moment or two, L'Hibou Moyen-Duc announced, "It is genuine. It is the pact."

Once more the owls muttered amongst themselves. L'Hibou Grand-Duc nodded. "Very well. We shall honour the pact between your family and the owls of the forest." Marie and Marcel looked happily at each other. "But," the eagle owl continued, "we shall debate the owl we send to advise you. Return tomorrow night."

Marie and Marcel bowed and walked out of the clearing. Behind them, the owls began to hoot amongst themselves.