The Tale of the Bat
Since time immemorial, the bats had been a great and distinguished family dwelling in darkness. In those days, the animals had not yet learnt to distinguish their various kinds, and the ability to fly through the heavens was itself a mark of standing in the animal kingdom. Birds had therefore always been the envy of the other creatures, and the bats were no exception. Indeed, the bats could fly even on the darkest nights, a feat before which even the sharpest-eyed eagle had to admit defeat. Naturally, this made the bats one of the most illustrious families in the animal kingdom. Their close relations, the mice, though unable to fly themselves, took pride in the connection.
In those days, the headmastership of the School of Flight had always belonged to the bat family. Who else could fly swiftly through darkness without colliding with anything? And what other family was so numerous and influential in the night sky? The wise owls, the deceitful snakes and foxes, the familiar hare and tortoise, and even the North Wind and the Sun all regarded the bats as creatures of the keenest night vision, and as nobles endowed with the power of flight.
The bats therefore declared proudly to the other birds:
'To see by daylight is the most ordinary thing in the world. Only such lowly creatures as earthworms are incapable of it. But the special gift of seeing at night — ha! — that belongs to us alone. Possessing so exceptional a standing in the animal kingdom, we may rightly say that the night is ours.'
The headmaster himself once declared:
'All birds sleep standing upright. We alone sleep hanging upside down.'
No sooner had these words been spoken than animals everywhere rushed to sleep in caves and tombs, even attempting to imitate the bats' inverted posture.
Then came the fateful day.
Doctor Owl, the deputy headmaster of the School of Flight — an entirely worthy appointment, since owls too were accomplished nocturnal fliers — happened to see a deaf bat careering wildly through the night. It narrowly missed the great tree at the very centre of the forest, the landmark of the entire animal kingdom.
Only then did the owls discover that bats possessed no extraordinary power of night vision. Indeed, they could not see at all.
The deputy headmaster announced to his family that bats flew merely by listening to the sound of the wind. That, he said, was why they had taught the birds to fly by listening to the wind. Yet it now appeared that, once a bat could no longer hear, it could not even recognise the great tree at the centre of the forest.
Lately, Doctor Owl's family had been telling the other animals, 'Bats cannot see.' In time, the words reached the bats themselves.
The various birds began whispering among themselves:
'We can see, but bats cannot. Perhaps they are some strange kind of creature, not truly one of us birds.'
Meanwhile, a great outbreak of plague had killed millions of human beings. For the sake of the animal kingdom's reputation, the King of the Forest pronounced mice unhygienic and held them responsible for the calamity.
The bats, being close relations of the mice and resembling them in colour, shape, and size, inevitably suffered by association.
At first, in recognition of the bat headmaster's considerable contributions, the King merely demoted him to flying instructor, appointing the owl, a skilled catcher of mice, as the new headmaster.
But the bats' former arrogance had left many animals thirsting for revenge. Amid the clamour of public opinion, the King was compelled to convene an assembly to consider the standing of the bat family. Both the owls and the mice were invited.
When the assembly opened, the mouse, much as in the race of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, was first to leap forward. He sprang before the great tree at the centre of the forest and began to speak.
Small though he was, his voice was anything but faint.
'Your Majesty, venerable elders, we are mice, creatures of the ground, like the other beasts. From ancient times we have made our homes in dark and sheltered places, and there we dwell to this day. There is nothing unhygienic about our homes. We shall not abandon the lands and customs handed down to us by our forebears. It is you who now despise us for our black fur. That is not our fault. Whatever you decide, under my leadership as Count Mouse, we shall never leave our homes!'
The birds nominated the owl and the eagle to reply.
'Such an attitude on the part of the mice violates the balance of the world. They therefore cannot be permitted to remain in our kingdom. And the mouse among birds is the bat. Since bats are related to mice, they too should at least be banished to the borders of our realm.'
The King of the Forest spoke.
'From this day forth, we must welcome a new age. The power of judgement shall belong to the leaders of the animals. Let us now vote upon the matter!'
After the vote, the King announced the result.
'Mice spread disease, harm human beings, and inhabit dark, concealed places which are utterly unhygienic. The assembly has therefore resolved that, from this day forth, Count Mouse shall be stripped of his title and his estates confiscated. Henceforth the mice shall dwell in dark corners and shall not gather in numbers to trespass upon the territories of other animals.'
Count Mouse was not to be intimidated.
'In that case, our people shall build walls around ourselves. Henceforth we shall have nothing to do with you!'
The King continued:
'As for the bats, they have not yet had an opportunity to speak, and you have not reached a consensus. Their standing within the kingdom shall therefore be preserved for the time being, and they shall retain their ability to fly through the sky. Their standing among the birds, however, shall be determined by Headmaster Owl.'
After their expulsion, the mice established a kingdom of their own in opposition to the animal kingdom. They instituted strict laws and severe punishments.
Headmaster Owl once examined those laws and exclaimed:
'Such laws could never exist in our enlightened animal kingdom!'
The bats, meanwhile, had not been expelled. Yet their resemblance to mice was so striking that, after the assembly, the other animals increasingly shunned them.
Only the mice offered them companionship.
'Since we are of the same kind,' they said, 'give up flying. We can depend upon one another.'
But the bat replied:
'Flight is the very mark of my standing in the animal kingdom. You, who were expelled long ago, had better return to your dark corner.'
The bat then went to the School of Flight to petition Headmaster Owl for the restoration of his honour among the birds.
'After all, I can fly, and I am one of you. Pray restore my good name.'
The owl answered:
'You are not birds at all. You resemble mice far more than you resemble us. You cannot see properly. You cannot see as far as the eagle, nor possess my ability to see at night. Even the way you sleep is different. You have no rightful claim to the standing of birds.
'We are not birds who fly about blindly by listening to the wind. We fly because we can actually see. His Majesty has not ordered you to crawl upon the ground. Do not presume upon his generosity by demanding further privileges.'
The bat thought to himself:
'Though I cannot recover my former standing, at least the ability to fly must count as a kind of unwritten privilege.'
One day, a sage watched the bat flying above the beasts.
'I fly like a bird!' the bat declared, basking in the admiring glances of those beneath him.
Then he flew to the dark corners inhabited by the mice.
'I am just like the birds!' he proclaimed, congratulating himself upon having preserved his citizenship.
The bat told the mice:
'With an attitude like yours, you will never recover your former standing! Follow my example. Move freely among them, and take to the air now and then so that they may see how accomplished I am. I even submit a petition every single day. In time, my family will surely regain the headmastership of the School of Flight!
'Since I am both bird and mouse, leave this task to me.'
But the mouse replied:
'There is no need! Our people have done nothing wrong. The wrong lies with them. Why should we have to behave in such a manner?'
The mice continued writing in their diaries:
'Day 30 since the King's wrongful expulsion of our people. Overcast...'
The bat turned to the sage.
'The birds discriminate against us because they rely upon sight to fly, whereas we navigate by listening to the wind. Their exclusion of me is their own wrongdoing. But I shall certainly never be as unfriendly as the mice.
'Since neither side regards me as one of their own, perhaps from now on I shall belong neither to the mice nor to the birds.'
The sage answered softly:
'Did you not just say that you were both bird and mouse? Believe me, in a few decades neither side will believe you any longer. And the punishment awaiting you will be more severe than that suffered by the mice!'
The sage returned home and set about editing the story. Taking up his pen, he wrote:
Then the sage wrote another passage. This, he reflected, was how the bats imagined their own story:
Several decades passed, and the sage's prediction came true.
The bat family was stripped of its standing among the birds. Headmaster Owl nevertheless permitted those bats which had learnt to fly by daylight to retain the status of birds.
Naturally, most bats could not fly by day and consequently lost that status.
Yet pride and the bitterness of their historical grievances prevented them from joining the mice. They swore that they would sooner perish than do so.
At last, however, a day came when the bats, having no other choice, sought out the mice.
By then the mice had grown accustomed to life upon the ground, and even to dwelling in mouseholes.
The mouse looked at the bat and said:
'Do you wish to join our family? We insist upon living on the ground. Your manner of life, never keeping your feet firmly upon the earth, is certainly wrong. If you are prepared to live entirely upon the ground from now on, we may allow you to join us.'
The bat thought indignantly:
'What! It was precisely because I refused to live upon the ground that I would not join you when you were expelled from the animal kingdom. And now you expect me to join you and live as you do? Impossible!'
Today, the sage looked back through his diary and smiled faintly.
Daytime was the bustling hour of the animal kingdom.
At night, apart from Doctor Owl, who patrolled the skies to keep watch over the birds in the course of his duties, there remained only two families unable to return to the animal kingdom: the bats and the mice.
One dwelt upon the ground, the other in the air, and neither would compromise.
The sage read his completed account aloud to the King of the Forest and his ministers in broad daylight, provoking a burst of laughter.
The King asked:
'Master, what lesson are we to learn from this tale?'
The sage sighed.
'Ah, Bat! You know only the tale of the weasels. Yet it is the other tale that the world knows by heart.'
Written by the lakeside, summer 2015.