You’ll probably figure out pretty quickly that this story isn’t really about a barnyard fight. It’s a picture of WWI. You can think of Crow and Owl as a journalist and a historian. Like any good observer, Crow tells Owl everything he saw. Let’s listen in to what Owl and Crow are saying.
Owl: “Hoo-hoo! What happened here?”
Crow: “I can tell you. I caw-caught the whole thing.”
Owl: “Hoo-who started it?”
Crow: “Everybody says it was that guy.”
Owl: “Hoo-who? The bald sheep asleep in the dirt?”
Crow: “That's right!”
Owl: “Hoo-how did it happen?”
Crow: “It's caw-complicated! Germany the Sheep was grazing with a couple of his buddies—another big sheep named Austria-Hungary and a smaller sheep named Italy. Then a little rabbit called Serbia hopped up out of nowhere and bit the big sheep Austria-Hungary in the leg! The three sheep got all upset, but then the rabbit's pal—a big old hog by the name of Russia—came over and started grunting at the sheep to leave Serbia the rabbit alone.”
Owl: “Hoo-how perplexing!”
Crow: “The story gets trickier from there. Soon five more animals jumped into the fray—the two cows from the next field who answer to England and France, the chicken called Belgium, the Turkey, and Australia the Ostrich. Everyone was mad at somebody else. The barnyard became a battle field! Feathers and fur were flying everywhere!”
Owl: “Hoo-How did it all end?”
Crow: “America the Bull showed up from the far pasture. He strode in and tossed Germany the Sheep into the air with his horns. When Germany hit the ground, all the fight had gone out of him. So the bull, cows, and smaller sheep decided Germany was at fault. They fleeced him of his wool while he was unconscious. All the birds went off to recover from their wounds. And Serbia the rabbit? I'm not sure what became of him.”
Owl: “Hoo-hoo! What a battle! It sounds like a fight to end all fights.”
Crow: “I don’t know about that, Owl. We’ll see.”
