Certainly the little boy with his simple bow and his lack of skill at handling this toy would not have been able to seriously harm any of the birds - in which case he would not have been able to do any harm to the disciple hidden in these birds as you all know from your own experience,” said the owl now, turning towards all those present, ”yet the decision of the little boy had still its full impact; for he was all sure that it was real and that he could have been successful as a shot.

“At his very own discretion he renounced the personal victory which every shot knows, suppressed his play instinct - which is sometimes the highest for children - and decided to save the children of the birds: mind you, the children, not the birds themselves. They had asked him to save their children.

In this way these birds gave the boy three times in a row a shining example of someone in a serious situation of real life who cares first of all for the wellbeing of others, and only then maybe for his own.