The Old Owl, the Fox and the Ant; A Modern Day Parable (based on a true story)

The forest burns down and several animals must decide what to do. Do they invade sagebrush country so they "will be secure in peace and prosperity" and killed "for the good" of their way of life? Or will they follow the ant and hope for a new future?

There once was a forest out West where there live several animals including an Old Owl, a Fox, a Hawk, a Weasel and some mice. One day, as it happens on occasions, a terrible fire broke out and the forest burned down. All the animals that survived gathered together amongst the rubble to decide what to do.

“We need to move to a better place where there is more food,” said the Old Owl.

“But, where will we go?” asked the Fox.

“The sagebrush,” said the Hawk, with authority.

“Yes! the sagebrush. There’s lots of food there!” agreed the Weasel enthusiastically.

“But what about the animals that live there already?” asked the mice in their little, squeaky voices.

Both the Hawk and the Weasel answered in unison, “We will declare war on them and soundly defeat them!”

“And then we will be secure in peace and prosperity,” added the Old Owl.

“We agree, let’s do that,” also said the Fox.

Now, as all the other animals became caught up with their plans for attacking the sagebrush, there came a small, little, tiny voice from somewhere on the ground.

“Why can we not just replant the forest from the seeds that survived?”

Everyone stopped and wondered who asked that question. They discovered that a little black ant had asked it.

“Why would we want to do that?” asked the Weasel.

“I think it’ll be easier attacking the sagebrush,” said the Hawk.

“What an absurd idea. A waste of time and effort,” said the Old Owl, “I mean, who will do all of the work?”

“We ants will. We will gather up all the seeds and plant them in the ground for everyone and when the forest grows we can all share its fruits,” answered the ant.

All during the discussion the mice were heard muttering, “yes, yes the Hawk and the Weasel are right” and “but the ant makes good points” and swaying back and forth in their opinion as to what they should do.

 Finally, the Old Owl spoke up in the best wise voice he could muster and said, “Let us decide through a competition. Those who agree with the foolish ant’s plan may help him in his laborious endeavor. Those others who wish to join us in our glorious war against those evil creatures that threaten OUR (he emphasized “our” here) mutual security can join us. Whose ever plan succeeds will be declared the 'Wisest of all Animals'. Is it agreed?”

All but the black ant cheered. When the time came to decide as came to no surprise that only the ants agreed to gather and plant the seeds while all the rest went to fight the animals of the sagebrush.

Then the mice began to complain, “If the ants gather up all the seeds there will be no food for us for the long journey to the sagebrush!”

“We can’t have that,” said the Old Owl, “That just wouldn’t be a fair contest. You ants would have clear advantage over us for we will grow hungry and starve long before our plan succeeds.”

The ant spoke up with a reply, “Then let us divide the seeds equally, the mice getting half and we will plant the rest.”

And so it was agreed.

As the ants worked hard gathering up all the seeds (for the mice preferred to ready themselves for the coming battle) the others plotted as to how to take the sagebrush effectively. The mice grew fat (they had eaten all of their seeds at once and had begun to dig up the ant’s allotted amount from the ground) and the rest readied themselves for the fight to come. It was during this time that some of the animals in the forest began having doubts about the Hawk’s idea, but dissension was soon quelled as those who did not agree were imprisoned and later killed “for the good of OUR (it was the Weasel who emphasized “our” this time) way of life” . On the day of the attack the Old Owl noticed the ants hard at work and was heard by some say, “Foolish! Just a plain waste of seeds.”

At first it looked as if the War of the Sagebrush had succeeded, but it was soon got bogged down by pockets of resistance. Still, although the struggle was not over, the Weasel declared, “Victory!”

During all this time the ants still continued their hard work.

One day, the Old Owl walked up to the black ant and said, “Why do you continue so? Can’t you see you have the competition? Come, stop what you’re doing and join us in the sagebrush.”

“Even though what we do here may not fruit within my, nor my children’s, life time we know that we can make the forest green again,” answered the ant.

“Foolish! Just plain foolish,” scoffed the Owl as he just walked away.

So, the animals set out to the sagebrush. Once they got there they discovered that the place was not the ‘promised land’ that the Weasel had said it to be and soon they all grew hungry.

The Old Owl, the Fox, the Hawk and the Weasel ate the mice until there were no more and then they ate each other.

As for the forest that the Black Ant had planted, well, we’ll have to wait and see who really won the title of 'Wisest of all Animals'.