| Owl | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Owl |
|
First Appearance |
Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) |
|
Original Publisher |
Methuen (London) / Dutton (US |
|
Created by |
A. A. Milne & E. H. Shepard |
Origin[]
Owl is the stuffy and talkative friend of Winnie-The-Pooh as well as the eldest of the group. He presents himself as a mentor and teacher to the others. Unlike Pooh, Kanga, and the others, He was not based on a stuffed toy, so in the illustrations he looks more like a live animal.
In the books, Owl has a superior but kindly manner towards the others. He can be cross and easily annoyed, especially when his friends ignore or interrupt his long-winded speeches. He sometimes wears reading glasses, and uses his talons for hands, as opposed to his wings in the Disney version.
He lives in a tree known as The Chestnuts, described as an "old world residence of great charm". The house is blown down by a storm in the eighth chapter of The House at Pooh Corner. Eeyore eventually discovers a new house for Owl, but it turns out to actually be Piglet's house. Nonetheless, Piglet offers the house to Owl, who calls his new home "The Wolery".
Owl likes to present himself as very knowledgeable, and is perceived by the other animals as such, but like most of the other characters, he does not spell very well; he even spells his own name "Wol". When Rabbit (who is quite literate) comes to Owl to discuss a notice that Christopher Robin has left, Owl cannot read the notice. But rather than admit this, Owl anxiously bluffs his way through the conversation until he finally tricks Rabbit into reading the notice out loud, at which point Owl resumes his wise demeanor as if he had known all along what it had said.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)
- The House at Pooh Corner (1928)
Notes[]
- As a work first published in 1926, Winnie-the-Pooh entered the public domain in the United States on 1 January 2022 and The House at Pooh Corner entering the public domain in the US on January 1, 2024.
- The Winnie the Pooh franchise is trademarked by the Walt Disney Corporation. In order to use the characters' names, they can only appear in the interior of the story.