Tommy Smith didn’t think the owl had said anything so very wise, but he had used a word twice which he didn’t know the meaning of, and so he said, “Please, Mr. Owl, what does being ‘nocturnal’ mean?”
“To be nocturnal,” said the owl, “is to wake up and see at night, and go to bed in the daytime, which is what we owls do.”
“Oh yes, I know,” said Tommy Smith; “and if an owl ever does come out in the daytime, a lot of little birds fly after him and”—
“Yes,” said the owl. “It is very grand, is it not, to be attended in that way? Common birds have to fly about by themselves, but, of course, when one is a great owl, it is natural that people should make a fuss about one.”
“But, Mr. Owl,” said Tommy Smith (he really couldn’t help saying this, though he was afraid the owl might be angry), “don’t the little birds fly after you because they don’t like you, and”—
“Dear, dear!” said the owl, “what funny notions little boys do get into their heads. Not like me, don’t they? That is very ungrateful of them, because I like them very much. Sometimes I like them almost as much as a mouse, you know. But, after all, what does it matter whether they like me or not? The important thing is to have a retinue, all the rest is of no consequence. Why do you suppose”—The owl stopped all of a sudden, as if he had just thought of something, and then he said, “But, perhaps, hearing so many wise things, one after the other, in such a short time, may be bad for you,—too much strain on the brain, you know. What do you think?”
“Oh, I don’t think it will do me any harm,” said Tommy Smith.
“Very well,” said the owl; “in the cool of the night, perhaps, it may not, but I wouldn’t answer for it in the daytime, if the sun was at all hot. Well, now do you suppose that if all the people in the world who had retinues were to know what their retinues thought about them, they would be any the happier for it?”
“I don’t know,” said Tommy Smith.
“Well,” said the owl (I really cannot tell you how wise he looked as he said this), “I do.”