A towel is about the most massively useful thing an owl can have. Partly it has great practical value. It can wrap it around for warmth ; it can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches, inhaling the heady sea vapors; it can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert ; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy river; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round its head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the other animals; it can wave its towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry itself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.