TALES OF THE OWL: THE LIBERTY ISLand

Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Illustrations by Barbara Brun

(Hachette, 28 pages, 2021)

After years of success as a novelist, author Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt comes back to his first love: philosophy. With the help of illustrator Barbara Brun, he imagines a society free of rules, with endless freedom. The sharp-sighted owl, Minerva, a symbol of philosophy and recurring character, introduces little ones to philosophy and brings a moral to the tale.

Two rabbit kits, Lily and Danilo, who are brother and sister, only want one thing: to play all day long. They don’t like living in the Blue Forest, since they are forced to go to school and do chores. One day, as they are playing outside their hole, they meet Minerva. The two young rabbits climb onto her back and fly to Liberty Island, a place with no rules. They start playing, only to discover that since nothing is forbidden, the other animals are doing whatever they want, too. While the young rabbits are having fun in a basin below a waterfall, a hippopotamus comes and pees in it. While they are playing hide-and-seek, monkeys point out the player to the seeker, spoiling the fun. While they are gamboling in a wide meadow, they meet a billy goat, ready to fight them if they don’t leave his land.

Quickly they start copying the behavior of other animals in an environment where the strong prevails over the weak. Lily goes to a bee and says, “If you don’t agree, we fight.” The tiny bee stings her hard. Life becomes awful and, on their own, Lily and Danilo realize they need rules after all. They won’t have as much freedom as want but they will still be free. Minerva magically appears and explains to them the difference between natural liberty and civil liberty, which is necessary to live in society. Then Minerva brings the homesick siblings back to their parents in the Blue Forest, where they live more happily.

Insightful and entertaining, the moral of the tale conveys a powerful message about the importance of behaving well in society. Tales of the Owl: The Liberty Island is a clever child-oriented fable, full of wisdom, where Schmitt’s talent shines from every page.

Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt is a renowned Franco-Belgian novelist and playwright. Most of his works are published by Europa Editions in English.

Barbara Brun is an illustrator, specializing in children’s books.