Story | Emi And The Owl

Emi was a special swan who lived near a beautiful lake in a thick forest. He liked to search for food and swim in the clear and cool water of the lake. One day, Death came to see Emi, but disguised as an owl. When Emi saw the owl, he asked, "Oh wise one, why have you come to this forest? Where do you come from?" The owl replied, "Emi, I have come to meet you because I have heard about your goodness in my land." Emi welcomed the owl to stay with him by the lake for as long as he wanted. They became best friends and spent their days together by the lake.

But one day, the owl told Emi, "My dear friend, I must go back to my home in Lotus Grove. Please visit me whenever you want." After a few days, Emi started missing his friend, the owl. He thought to himself, "Now that I am old, I have only seen this lakeside in the forest. I should see the world before I become too old to move. I really miss my friend."

The next morning, Emi flew to Lotus Grove to meet the owl. He searched everywhere but couldn't find him. Finally, he saw the owl resting in a tree hole, as owls do during the daytime because they can't see well then. Emi called out, "Dear owl, it's me, Emi, your friend. Please come out and meet me." The owl replied, "Dear Emi, I'm glad you're here, but I can only see in the dark. Let's meet at sunset."

At sunset, Emi and the owl finally met again. They had a nice meal together and talked about the time they were apart. The tired swan then fell asleep at the base of the tree. But unknown to them, a group of travelers called gypsies had set up camp nearby. In the early morning, the leader of the gypsies blew a shell to wake up his friends. The owl responded to the sound with a loud hoot. The owl flew away from the tree hole just as Emi was soundly asleep. The gypsy leader, considering the owl's hoot to be a bad omen, ordered his archer to shoot an arrow at the source of the sound. The skilled archer quickly aimed and shot an arrow at the tree. Unfortunately, the old king-swan, who was sleeping there, was hit by the arrow. And so, Emi met his end because Death had come in the form of the owl.

The moral of the story is that Death comes unexpectedly and can't be predicted.