"The cocks journeyed for one whole day without finding anything to help them in their trouble, but towards evening they came to a wild, rocky mountainside, full of caves and clefts, and made up their minds to stay there for the night; so they crept into a hole under a ledge of rock, put their heads under their wings, and went to sleep. "In the middle of the night they were roused by the sound of flapping wings, followed by a whispering voice, saying, 'whish--ish,' which soon broke out into a loud 'Whoo--hoo! whoo--hoo!' They popped their heads out of the hole to see what was the matter, and they perceived a great owl sitting on a stump, flapping its wings up and down, and rolling its great round eyes about, which glared like red-hot coals in its head. "'Mice here! Mice here! Whoo--hoo!' it shrieked. "On hearing this the cocks nudged one another, and said, 'We are in luck's way at last.' Then as the owl still continued to call for mice, one of them plucked up courage and addressed it: 'If you will only come with us, sir, you shall have as many mice as you can eat--a whole house-full, if you like.' "'Who may you be?' hissed the owl, and glared with its fiery eyes into the cleft. "'We come from Hencastle, where there are hundreds of mice, who devour our corn day and night. "'Whoo--hoo! I'll come, I'll come,' screamed the owl, snapping its beak with pleasure. "In the grey of the dawn the fowls sat on the roof-tree, listening to Mark, the watchman, who stood on the top of, his chimney, and cried, "'What do I see? Here come the three! And with them, I reckon, A bird with no neck on.' "Thereupon the owl and the three messengers flew up with a rush to the top of the castle. "'Ha! ha! I smell mice,' shrieked the new comer, and dashed through a hole in the roof, from whence it shortly reappeared with a mouse in its claws. "This sight filled all the fowls with joy; and as they sat on the edge of the roof in a row, they nudged each other, and remarked, "'This has indeed been a happy venture.' "For a few days everything went as smoothly as possible, but after a time the mice began to find out that the owl could only see really well at night, that it saw badly by day, and hardly at all when the midday sun was shining through the window into the loft. So they only came out at noon, and then dragged enough corn away into their holes to last them till the following day. "One night the owl did not catch a single mouse, and so, being very hungry, drove its beak into some hen's eggs that lay in a corner, and ate them. Finding them more to its taste than the fattest mouse, and much less trouble to catch, henceforth the owl gave up mouse-hunting, and took to egg-poaching. This the fowls presently discovered, and the three wise cocks were sent to tell the owl to go away, as it was no longer of use to anybody, for it never caught mice but only ate eggs.