A Guide Book to the Great Tree Read Online Free PDF

indeed it was. You know, that might be my favorite rhyme of his yet.
    STRIX STRUMA
    No book about the Great Ga’Hoole Tree would be complete without the tale of Strix Struma. She was the venerated navigation ryb and a respected member of parliament for years. Not long ago, she gave her life in defense of the great tree in the fight against the Pure Ones when they besieged us. I fought at her side as a member of Struma’s Strikers. She was my mentor and my inspiration, and I loved her well. She shared with me this story as we prepared for battle against the Pure Ones.

    The daughter of Strix Hurth, a retired instructor at the Kielian Military Academy, and Strix Otulinn, a respected weathertrix, Struma grew up in a stand of pines just north of Broken Talon Point. She came from a long line of well-bred owls who contributed greatly to the culture of the Northern Kingdoms. She was named for Strix Strumajen, an owl of great courage from the time of the legends.
    Struma’s parents had high expectations for their daughter from the day she hatched. They tried to provide her with an education befitting her lineage—with lessons in classical literature, music, and etiquette. They hoped she would become a well-rounded and refined young owl and find herself a suitable mate. But Struma
    was a poor student from the start. (Yes, it’s true—I could scarcely believe this myself when I heard it.)
    â€œGlaux, was I ever lazy!” Strix Struma told me. “Slept well beyond tween time; some nights, wouldn’t even get up until it was First Black. Hardly ever lifted a talon to do anything around the hollow. Thought the sun and moon should rise and set to my liking. You see, Otulissa, I was a smart chick, started counting and reading before my First Meat-on-Bones, if you can believe it. Every grown owl who met me was so impressed…‘Oh, look what little Struma can do! Such an advanced owlet for her age, so gifted!’ So by the time I was fully fledged, I thought I had it all figured out. I wouldn’t have to do any work, I would just let my ‘natural talent’ carry me through. Nothing interested me at all, I just wanted to gleek about all night and all day. Some fledgling I was.” I still remember her shaking her head and churring abashedly as she related the story.
    As Struma got older, her parents’ concern for their daughter turned into disappointment. Not only did she seem disinterested in everything, she became downright defiant. She would leave the family’s hollow for days at a time, never telling her parents where she had been. Once, she even returned home with her feathers painted like a kraal! Strix Hurth was hags-bent on setting his daughterstraight. Having been an instructor in the Academy, he devised a plan.
    Deep in the H’rathghar mountains, at the northern edge of Glen Hoole, was a little military camp that the owls of the Kielian League called Little Hoole. Little Hoole was considered a strategically important location in the War of the Ice Claws because it was home to the ruins of an ancient fortress built by the Others called Ghareth’s Keep, which, most owls agreed, was impenetrable in the best of conditions. Control of Little Hoole meant control over the vast mountain ranges of H’rathghar. Little Hoole was in a steep, bowl-shaped depression amid the mountains. In fair weather, it was difficult to access, requiring owls to fly over the highest peaks of the mountains. During the winter, when storms incessantly pounded the region, it was all but cut off from the world by swirling winds, snow, and never-lifting fog. With no safe and easy way to leave, owls stationed at Little Hoole would stay there all winter, essentially trapped by weather.
    Strix Hurth knew Little Hoole well. The place was run by one of his oldest friends, General Kai, a Snowy from Dark Fowl Island. Strix Hurth himself had been stationed there for a full year as a young owl. It had