THE SHOE
(A man once left his shoe in the woods. The beasts found it.
They had never seen anything like it before, so they came together and began to talk about it.)
Bear. It must be the husk or the outside of some fruit.
All the Birds. O, just hear him!
All the Beasts. O, just hear him!
Wolf. No, that is not it. It is some kind of nest. See! Here is the hole at the top, for the bird to go into, and here is the place for the eggs and the young birds.
Birds. O, just hear him!
Bear. Just hear him talk!
Goat. No, you are both wrong. It is the root of some plant.
(He showed them the shoe string hanging at the side.)
See this long, fine root. Surely it is a root!
Birds. O, just hear him talk!
Beasts. Just hear him!
Bear. I tell you it is the husk of a fruit.
Wolf. And I tell you it is a nest.
Goat. And I tell you it is a root. Surely it is a root!
Owl. Let me speak. I have lived among men, and I have seen many such things as this. It is a man's shoe.
Bear. What is a man?
Goat. What is a shoe?
Owl. A man is a thing with two legs. He can stand up like a monkey, he can walk like a bird, but he cannot fly. He can eat and talk, and he can do many things that we cannot do.
Beasts. O, no!
Birds. No, no!
Bear. How can that be? How can anything with two legs do more than we, who have four?
Birds. And this thing you call a man cannot be good for much if he cannot fly.
Goat. But what does the man do with this root?
Owl. It is not a root. I tell you it is a shoe.
Wolf. And what is a shoe?
Owl. It is what the man puts on his feet. He puts one of these shoes on each of his feet.
Birds. Hear the owl talk!
Beasts. Who ever heard of such a thing as a shoe?
Goat. Hear that! The man puts them on his feet!
Wolf. It is not true!
Bear. No, it is not true! The owl doesn't know.
Wolf. You know nothing, Owl. Get out of our woods. You are not fit to live with us.
Bear. Yes, Owl, go away!
Beasts. Leave us! Go away!
Birds. Leave us! Leave us, Owl! You surely don't know what you are talking about!
(The beasts chase the owl out of the woods.)
Owl. (Going off) But it is a shoe, anyway.