One dusky evening, as the stars began to twinkle, a big bird with fluffy feathers and enormous, round eyes found itself a bit lost. It flew this way and that, until it spotted a cozy-looking barn in a small village. "Perfect!" it thought, and swooped inside to rest.

Now, the people in this village had never, ever seen an owl before.

When a farmer peeked into his barn to check on his cow, he saw this strange creature perched on a beam, staring back with glowing eyes. He yelped! "A monster! A monster in the barn!" he shouted, running into the village square as fast as his legs could carry him.

Soon, everyone was gathered outside the barn, whispering and pointing.
"What is it?" asked a baker, dusting flour from his apron.
"It has feathers like a chicken, but its face is so strange!" said a woman.
"And those eyes! They shine in the dark!" gasped a little boy.

One man, who thought he was very brave, puffed out his chest. "Don't worry," he announced. "I'll go in and see what this creature is!"
He tiptoed into the dark barn. The owl, a bit annoyed by all the fuss, ruffled its feathers and blinked its big eyes, which seemed to glow in the dim light. Then it let out a soft "Hoo-HOO!"

The man jumped. "What was that sound?" he whispered.
The owl hooted again, a little louder this time, "HOO-HOO!"
The man scrambled out of the barn, his face pale. "It's a terrible beast!" he cried. "It makes dreadful noises and its eyes shine like fire! It will surely bring us bad luck!"

The villagers were now truly terrified.
"We must get rid of it!" someone shouted.
"But how?" asked another. "It looks quite fierce."
Then, the mayor had an idea, though not a very good one. "What if we set the barn on fire?" he suggested. "That will surely scare the monster away, or... well, get rid of it."

It seemed like a drastic idea, but they were so scared, they agreed. They gathered dry straw and wood and piled it around the barn. The farmer whose barn it was looked a little sad, but he was scared too.

Just as one of them was about to light the fire, with a great WHOOSH of wings, the owl flew out of the barn door! It soared up into the night sky, its big eyes looking down at the astonished villagers. They watched, mouths open, as it gracefully disappeared over the trees.

"It... it can fly?" one person stammered.
"And it didn't look so scary when it flew, did it?" said another, feeling a little bit silly.
The farmer sighed with relief that his barn was safe.

They realized their "monster" was just a bird they hadn't seen before. The barn was safe, and the owl was free. And from that day on, if they ever heard a "Hoo-hoo" in the night, they just smiled, remembering the night they almost burned down a barn because of a perfectly normal, if a little unusual, owl.

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