Lost Tales of Ga'Hoole

without ever introducing himself, he withdrew back into his burrow.
    The Great Grays had met their fair share of thugs, hooligans, and all-around bad owls in their lifetimes. But there was something about this owl that made both of them bristle.
    “Seems we got ourselves a new neighbor,” Tavis said to Cletus.
    “Guess so, brother. I guess so.”
    A few nights later, Cletus and Tavis got a visitor. It was an old Burrowing Owl named Hiram who lived beyond the sand dunes a ways south. Hiram was a kind old soul who enjoyed his peace and quiet. The old owl seemed very concerned.
    “Just wanted to check in with my fellow desert dwellers,” Hiram started after the three owls exchanged some pleasantries. “Notice anything…unusual around your part of the desert?”
    “Unusual how?” asked Tavis. While he didn’t say it right away, he immediately thought of his and Cletus’s encounter with their obnoxious new neighbor.
    “Well, you know how I dug my hollow on a piece of unexcavated land? I came out here looking for a place where I can be on my own. That’s what I had, until a few nights ago. Seems I got me some new neighbors.”
    Tavis and Cletus gave each other a meaningful look.
    Hiram continued. “I found the opening of a new burrow not ten pytes from my own. So I went to investigate. There were two Burrowing Owls in there. They were real off-puttin’, wouldn’t tell me their names.”
    “Your story is starting to sound awfully familiar, Hiram,” Tavis said.
    “We have a new neighbor, too,” Cletus piped up. “Burrowing Owl. Dug a burrow a pellet’s yarp away from here.”
    “What else did you find out about the ones near you?” Tavis asked.
    “Well, not much,” Hiram answered. “As I said, they wouldn’t tell me their names, hardly said a word to me, even though I was trying to be nice. Told me to mind my own business, else they might have to come over and mind it for me,” he added indignantly.
    The brothers felt bad for the old owl. He seemed truly troubled.
    “Oh, I almost forgot,” Hiram said, his voice growing in fervor. “It seems like they’ve been excavating night and day. I can hear ‘em from my burrow. How much space could two Burrowing Owls possibly need? I swear to Glaux they’re about to bust through my walls!”
    “I thought I heard some excavating these last few days, too.” Tavis turned to Cletus.
    “There’s definitely something odd about all this.”
    Tavis nodded with his brother in agreement. “I think we better figure out what’s going on.”
    Hiram seemed relieved. “I thought I should tell someone.”
    “I’m glad you came to us, Hiram,” Tavis assured him. “We’ll get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, keep your eyes open, and let us know if you see anything else suspicious.”
    Later that very night, Tavis and Cletus went on a reconnaissance mission. The two owls flew side by side, slow and low over the land. Their eyes searched the surface, sweeping from left to right and then back again. They scanned the desert from the southwestern corner to the northeast. It took them the rest of the night and into the dawn.
    The first thing they noticed was that there were a lot more burrows than there used to be. And most of the openings looked like they were freshly dug. When they looked closer, they realized that the burrows weren’t randomly scattered across the desert as they might expect. On the contrary, they seemed quite regular, forming a sort of network. The brothers nodded to each other. They would have to talk about this once they got home.
    As they neared their own burrow, they spotted something else strange. It was their new neighbor, the Burrowing Owl, dragging some food back to his hollow. But it wasn’t just some food, it was a whole lot of food!
    “How many mice do you think he’s got there?” Cletus whispered to Tavis.
    “Must be at least a dozen!” Tavis answered.
    It was hard to tell because the Burrowing Owl had tied the tails of all the mice together into a knot, and was dragging the lot of them across the sand. It was an appalling sight. The bundle of prey was far larger than the owl. And he looked to be using all his strength to move the bundle.
    “Well, that’s just plain wrong,” Cletus said.
    “Disgusting,” Tavis agreed.
    It’s an unwritten rule among owls that you never kill more than you can eat. Doing so was not only wasteful, but more important, it was disrespectful to the creature that gave its life. As far as