Talk:A Wise Old Owl

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[edit] Is this a nursery rhyme?

I can't find this in standard nursery rhyme collections. The oldest reference I can locate is a 1909 Indian Rights report (http://books.google.com/books?id=6vMZAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA139) in which it appears as

A wise old owl lived in an oak;

The more he lived, the less he spoke;

The less he spoke, the more he heard.

Now wasn't he a wise old bird?

Books.google.com also turns up references in 1918 (Life in a Tank p. 17) and 1921 (Correspondence Education p. 73.) There is considerable variation in the last line: "Why can't we all be like that bird?" or "Soldiers should imitate that old bird." Torkmusik 09:04, 21 October 2007 (UTC)