Owl (Winnie-the-Pooh)

Owl is a fictional character in A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh books and in Disney's Winnie the Pooh cartoons. Owl's character is based on the archetype of the "wise old owl", although in the books, the quality of Owl's "wisdom" is sometimes questionable.

Profile

Owl is a good friend of Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, and all the other inhabitants of the Forest. He is always happy to offer his opinions, advice and anecdotes — whether or not they are actually wanted. Owl also enjoys telling stories about his relatives, including his Aunt Claire who laid a seagull's egg by mistake whilst visiting her opera-singing cousin, his Uncle Clyde who didn't give a hoot for tradition (and was based on The Owl and the Pussycat) and his Uncle Robert who once survived a very blusterous day (his Disney counterpart has been known to go on like this for hours, such as "Owl talked from page 41 to page 62!").

Owl can spell his name ("Wol") and the word "Tuesday" (so that you know it isn't Wednesday), but his spelling goes all to pieces over delicate words like measles and buttered toast. He can also read, although only if no-one is looking over his shoulder. However he has very poor reading comprehension skills, which on occasion have led to the animals thinking that something had happened to Christopher Robin (Like going to "Skull" when Christopher really went to "school", and being kidnapped by a "Backson" when really Christopher would be "back soon")

In the Winnie-the-Pooh book, Owl lives in a tree known as The Chestnuts, located in the middle of the Hundred Acre Wood and described as an "old world residence of great charm" which is grand enough to have both a door-knocker and a bell-pull. That house is blown down by a storm in the eighth chapter of The House at Pooh Corner. Eeyore eventually discovers what he believes is the perfect new house for Owl, apparently without noticing that it is actually Piglet's house. Nonetheless, Piglet offers the house to Owl, and he presumably moves in. Owl made a sign indicating that he planned to call his new house "The Wolery".

Unlike most of the original cast of the books, the illustrations of Owl look more like a live animal than a stuffed one. This idea is also supported by Rabbit's comment to him, "You and I have brains. The others have fluff." In Ernest H. Shepard's illustrations, Owl appears to be about a head shorter than Pooh, and a little below hip-height to Christopher Robin. He is sometimes but not always drawn wearing reading glasses. When the illustrations show him writing, he holds the pen in his talons, not with his wing.

Owl appears in chapters IV, VI, VIII, IX, and X of Winnie-the-Pooh. He also appears in chapters V, VIII, IX, and X of The House at Pooh Corner, and is mentioned in several other chapters.

Disney Cartoon version

The original voice of Owl in the Disney films was Hal Smith. After his death, Andre Stojka replaced him as the voice of Owl. Craig Ferguson will provide the voice for Owl in the 2011 film.

In the Disney cartoon, Owl speaks with an English accent.

Owl appeared in the movies:

• Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966)
• Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968)
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
• Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983)
• Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997)
• Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (1999)
• The Tigger Movie (2000)
• Piglet's Big Movie (2003)
• Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Name

Wol is a Kentish and Sussex dialect word for Owl,^[1] which Milne would have been familiar with, living on a farm at Hartfield at the time he was writing Winnie-the-Pooh.

The W3C Web Ontology Language has the acronym OWL rather than WOL. This is sometimes, but incorrectly,^{[citation needed]} assumed to be a reference to Owl's misspelling.

References

1. ^ "GLOSSARY: What would you say?". BBC Radio Kent. http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/voices2005/dictionary.shtml. Retrieved 2008-03-31.