In the silent night, red flames of torches were visible from a distance. Out there, in the middle of lonely fields, a crowd had gathered. They stood next to each other, row after row, in a disciplined way.
The torches lightened up the outer faces but not those standing in the middle. There were animals of all different species coming together. In front of them, in a yellow robe, an owl stood. As the wind crawled through his clothes, he spread out his wings to silence the whispering among his followers. The air became filled with his thunderous words. “My fellow outside dwellers, we stand here today united in face of a common danger.” Eyebrows tilted upwards, his chest stretched out. The owl knew how to speak in front of a crowd.
“We have to meet in the dark, because our enemies eyes are everywhere. They come from the south, year after year they come”, the owl said while pointing towards the sky behind his audience. “Those animals have come to steal our homes, our seeds and our lives.” The crowd became louder “Don’t let them take our seeds!” a small mouse yelled. “Hush now my friends! We all know who I’m talking about of course. It are those filthy sparrows, small birds but always with enormous troops.” “Kill them all! Kill them all!” the crowd started to yell.
“But this year my friends, we’ll have a little surprise for them! We have managed to devise a plan that will set in motion the extermination of those lazy flying rats!”, the owl exclaimed. “Hey, nothing wrong with being a rat”, a faceless creature yelled from the middle of the crowd. “Ssshhhtt!”, his fellow followers said. “Just saying you know”, the creature defended himself.
“We will use the humans!” The Owl spread out his wings yet again, his eyes opened up wide. “Oooooh, the humaaaans”, the crowd whispered. “Yes, those killing machines will become our weapon… Do you want to hear the plan?”, he asked his followers. “Yes, Yes, tell us the plan!” “The humans have shiny vehicles they drive around with. They wash them every week, making sure no dust remains on it. We will attack those treasures, meaning we will defecate on them. But… there is more.” The Owl looked into the faces in front of him. “We will make sure they are only small shits, so the humans think it comes from the sparrows.” Raising his head, the Owl was still proud of producing this plan.
The crowd was silent, and the leader knew now was the time to get them. “You”, he pointed to a small rat in a purple robe. “You, what do you think of the plan?” The rat had two shiny little teeth, and a long tail coming from under his robe. He clapped his little paws together and said “Yes, I like the plan…” “He likes the plan!”, the Owl yelled with a smirk. “… But I don’t see why we need to kill them all. I mean, is there no other way?” The Owl stopped smirking, and turned his head sideways. “Of course there is no other way. They are the enemy my friend, we need to get rid of them.”
“Oh yes, they are quite a nuisance, but they are also very pretty to look at”, the rat said. “What… No no, they are not pretty to look at, they are the enemy of our entire society!” The Owl couldn’t believe his ears. “Now just wait, when I’m out in the fields and they are flying over me, those sparrows are actually nice, they never steal from me.” “They steal when you don’t see it! How many seeds have gone missing from our fields this year? That’s not because we take too much, but because the sparrows eat it all!” The crowd yelled “yes yes, they steal it all!”
“But we still have enough, don’t we? I mean, nobody of us is starving or dying”. The rat couldn’t help himself, logic had struck his little brain. “No, not yet you mean”, the owl pointed upward with his long feather. “Because we have learned to defend ourselves. We have learned to hide the food that belongs to US, AND NOT TO THOSE DAMNED IMMIGRANTS”. His followers threw their fists in the air, exclaiming “DEATH TO THE IMMIGRANTS!!” “Now, that’s another thing that strikes me as weird. We call them immigrants, but they come back every year. So are they truly immigrants?” The Owl stood baffled. “Of course they are immigrants. They’re even worse. The American squirrels were once immigrants as well, but they adapted and learned our values of hard work. The sparrows simply come when our food is in abundance, they eat it all and then when the cold swarms over the land, they leave for better weather!” The rat thought about it. His tongue sweeping over his two teeth, and his tailing waving gently behind him.
“So there is the solution”, he said. “Solution to what?”. The Owl was getting irritated, how could this rat possible think to have solved such a problem? “To all our suffering of course. It’s true, when the snow comes the sparrows leave, and we are left with cold feet and hard nuts. But what if we act like them? What if we simply migrate south as well? Maybe the sparrows aren’t the problem, but the solution.” The rat smiled, he had found a way out of the killing!
The Owl, however, watched his opponent with hatred as if the last sparrow in the world was standing in front of him. He clinched his wing, and pointed his right feather to the insurgent. “Kill him. Kill all the rats! They are spies of the enemy!”, he commanded.