The Story of the Sparrow and the Owl

As the last lights of the Old Sun began to pass way to the blackness of the Night World, the Owl came out on his perch, and greeted the Sparrow who had only then returned to his nest.

"Hail, brother Sparrow. How finds the Day Side?" asked the Owl.

"Hail, brother Owl. I have seen in my travels a Man that lay Dying in a field, and I went to comfort him," answered the Sparrow.

"Truly," nodded the Owl. "Was it you who carried him?"

"No, brother Owl," answered the Sparrow. "He has not passed, and so I have been tarried. Who will carry him as I must rest this night?"

"Take me to him, and I will watch over him until morning," offered the Owl.

And so the Sparrow and the Owl flew, and they came to the field, and the Sparrow motioned to the Dying Man.

"He waits," said the Sparrow, "but See, brother Owl, how the Old Sun now passes?"

"Truly," answered the Owl, looking down at the Dying Man. The Dying Man moaned fearfully, for he knew that his time came fast.

"Sparrow, I would carry this one, if he would allow me, and if you would tell me the way," said the Owl.

The Sparrow nodded his assent, and so told the Owl of the Way to the Land of the Dead; and the Dying Man, fearing he would be left to stay in his death in the Night World, allowed himself to be carried by the Owl.

And so it is to this time that, in the hours of day, the Sparrow carries the dead to their final peace, and in the hours of night, the Owl carries them.