Prince Peter was on a quest to rescue his sister who was the most beautiful girl in the kingdom. She had been captured by The Goblin King who wanted her for his wife.

Peter was strong and wise and had no doubt that when he found the tower she was imprisoned in, he would be able to free her and take her safely home. The Goblin King knew this too, and his only defence was to keep the location of his tower secret. As long as he could do this he was safe.

Peter eventually came to a treeless circle in the woods he was travelling through, but saw that ten different paths led from the clearing. He knew that his sister would be married in the morning and despaired, as there was only time to explore one of the paths. But which one?

Then he saw a movement in a huge hollowed out tree. Inside were an owl and a dormouse. The owl had on a fine waistcoat, with a handsome watch on a chain poking out of a small pocket, and on his beak were a pair of gold pince-nez.

The dormouse had on an old woolly jumper which needed a wash and a few minor repairs. His eyes were blurry and full of sleep and a half empty gin bottle was by his side.
“Good morning fine Sir,” said the owl, in a deep rich voice.
“Hiya mate,” slurred the dormouse.
“Good morning to you both,” said the Prince who went on to explain how desperate he was to find his sister. “Do either of you know which path I should take to find the Tower?”

“I think I do,” said the owl, “but let me just check.” With that he went to his bookshelf and consulted the largest volume there. “I was right,” said the owl, “take the path by the fallen birch and it will lead you straight to the Tower.”

The owl seemed most certain, but something made the Prince pause. “What say you, dormouse, is that your advice too?” asked the Prince.

The mouse looked puzzled and scratched his head. “Actually, I can’t say why, but I’ve a feeling that you would be better taking the path by the stream.” And with that it took a swig of gin and fell fast asleep.

“Don’t listen to him,” said the owl, “when he’s not drunk he’s asleep. While I checked my book remember.”

But somehow the owl just looked too sure of himself and The Prince took the path by the stream to save his sister.

Of course it was the wrong path.

Moral: Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover