A Guide Book to the Great Tree (13 page)

Leaders of St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls

SKENCH: (
deceased
) Female Great Horned Owl (
Bubo virginianus
). Skench was the tyrannical Ablah General of St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, a place where young owls were moon blinked and trained to forget their homes, their families, and their own true selves. She was
forced to join forces with the Guardians when St. Aggie's was taken over by the Pure Ones.

SPOORN: (
deceased
) Male Western Screech Owl (
Megascops kennicottii,
formerly
Otus kennicottii
). Spoorn was the first lieutenant to Skench, and second in command at St. Aggie's.

The Pure Ones

KLUDD: (
deceased
) Barn Owl (
Tyto alba
). Kludd was Soren and Eglantine's older brother. From birth, he was fascinated by power and was soon attracted to a group calling themselves the Pure Ones. The Pure Ones believed that Barn Owls were a superior species of owls, and that Barn Owls had been granted by nature the right to rule, tyrannically, over all the other species of owls. He was killed by Twilight in a fierce fight during the Guardians' invasion of the Pure Ones' stronghold.

NYRA: Barn Owl (
Tyto alba
). Nyra was Kludd's mate. After Kludd's death, she took control of the Pure Ones and imparted her viciousness to all her followers. She is the mother of Nyroc/Coryn, whom she intended to groom into the perfect Pure One, a new High Tyto. But her
son proved to be a poor student of evil. Coryn recently revealed that he suspects his mother is a hagsfiend.

WORTMORE: Barn Owl (
Tyto alba
). Wortmore is a Pure Guard lieutenant. He follows orders no matter how foul.

STRYKER: Barn Owl (
Tyto alba
). Stryker is a Pure One lieutenant major under Nyra.

UGLAMORE: (
deceased
) Barn Owl (
Tyto alba
). Uglamore was a Pure Guard sub-lieutenant serving under Nyra. He was not always comfortable following her orders and silently questioned the principle of
Tyto
superiority. His doubts led him into strange and dangerous territory, and to a destiny far nobler than any he could have imagined.

bisshen:
v.
(
Krakish
) to speak

bonk:
adj.
the strongest, most energetic fires

botkin:
n.
special bag for transporting ice weapons

breaklight:
n.
the meal owls enjoy at the end of the night, just before the break of dawn

chaw:
n.
a small team of owls with a specific set of skills; chaws at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree include navigation, search-and-rescue, weather interpretation, colliering, tracking, Ga'Hoolology, and metals

chaw-chop:
v.
to drop an owl from his or her chaw for an indefinite period of time, which is very humiliating

churr:
v.
to laugh

collier:
n.
a carrier of coals

creelies:
n.
heebie-jeebies

Deep Gray:
n.
just before dawn, when the black has faded but the sun has not yet spilled even the first sliver of a ray over the horizon

dwenk:
v.
(of the moon) wane; a progressively smaller part of its visible surface illuminated, so that it appears to decrease in size

fire blink:
v.
when an owl becomes transfixed by the light of a raging fire and goes yeep

firesight:
n.
the ability to see events that take place in faraway places or in the future in flames

fleckasia:
n.
the collective effect of flecks on the owl brain and gizzard

flecks:
n.
the smallest bits of an ironlike metal considered more precious than gold, prized by the owls of St. Aggie's and the Pure Ones for its ability to interfere with an owl's navigation abilities

flint:
v.
to have value

flint mop:
n.
the Ga'Hoolian form of punishment; roughly means to do something to pay back for the value that had been taken away

fliv:
v.
to flirt

frink:
v.
a rude word that means to severely irritate, as in “it frinks me off”

frisen:
n.
(
Krakish
) friend

fryke:
exclamation.
(
Krakish
) command for “freeze”

Ga:
n.
great spirit

gadfeather:
n.
an owl who travels from one region to the next with no planned destination and no real home; known for their singing as well as their garish ways

gallgrot:
n.
gall, mettle

gazooling:
n.
the noisy chatter of young owls

give it a blow:
exclamation.
lighten up

gizzard:
n.
considered the second stomach in owls, often called the muscular stomach, it filters out indigestible items such as bone, fur, hair, feathers, and teeth; it compresses the indigestible parts into a pellet; also an invaluable emotional guide, an owl's most profound feelings are attributed to it

gizzlemia:
n.
a blankness of the gizzard, which leads to a malfunction of the brain

gizzuition:
n.
the ability to understand something immediately from the gizzard without the normal reasoning processes

glaumora:
n.
owl heaven

Glaux:
n.
owls' Higher Being

gleek:
v.
to goof off; mess around; act up; as in “gleeking about”

Glowworm:
n.
a particular kind of coal valued for its density of heat

gollymope:
n.
a depressed state or one in such a state

goodlight:
exclamation.
what owls say to one another just before going to sleep for the day

graymalkin:
n.
bad owl

grog tree:
n.
a tree where owls gather to drink and socialize

grot-ghot:
n.
(
Krakish
) native

gunden:
adj.
(
Krakish
) good

hagsfiend:
n.
demonlike bird from the time of legends, thought to be extinct; larger than most owls and having some characteristics of crows; believed to have powers of nachtmagen

hagsmire:
n.
owl hell

hireclaw:
n.
an owl who lives apart from other owls, not belonging to any particular kingdom, who hires him- or herself out for battles

Hoolespyrrs:
n.
swirling, deceptive winds over the Sea of Hoolemere

Hoolian:
n.
the common language of the Southern Kingdoms

hordo:
n.
(
Krakish
) snake

hordonphonk:
n.
(
Krakish
) supremely beautiful snake

hukla-hukla:
exclamation.
snake-speak for “young owls will be young owls”

issen:
n.
(
Krakish
) ice

issen blauen:
n.
(
Krakish
) blue ice, used to make goggles; also the goggles themselves

issen vintygg:
n.
(
Krakish
) deep ice

kerplonken:
adj.
(
Krakish
) all over; broken; useless

kraal:
n.
(
Krakish
) pirate

Krakish:
n.
the ancient language of the Northern Kingdoms

lochinvyrr:
n.
(
Krakish
) a code of honor between the hunter and the hunted

moon blink:
v.
to expose for long periods to the full shine of the moon, forcing owls' minds to become confused and incapable of making simple decisions; to destroy an owl's will and individual personality, making him or her perfectly obedient

mu:
n.
a very soft metal that blocks magnetic fields

nachtmagen:
n.
bad magic originating in the time of legends

new:
v.
(of the moon) wax; have a progressively larger part of its visible surface illuminated, so that it appears to increase in size

Nimsy Night:
n.
the festival held on the shortest night and longest day of the year

nooties:
n.
flavorful nuts that grow on the Great Ga'Hoole Trees during the time of the Copper-Rose Rain

owl stone event:
n.
an event of great significance in the development of a young owl

owlipoppen:
n.
little owl dolls made from down and molted feathers for chicks to lie with in the hollow; also used as decoys by the Guardians during the invasion of the canyonlands

pyte:
n.
a unit of measurement roughly equal to the wingspan of a Whiskered Screech

racdrops:
exclamation.
short for raccoon droppings; one of the worst curse words an owl can say

riffle:
v.
to ruffle one's feathers so as to accentuate the white spots (Spotted Owls only)

ryb:
n.
teacher

scroom:
n.
the disembodied spirit of an owl who has died but has not made his or her way to glaumora

scroomsaw:
n.
owl soul

shatter:
v.
to expose an owl to flecks under “certain conditions” that cause the owl to become massively disoriented and lose his or her sense of self; the gizzard becomes like a stone, and the owl becomes incapable of sorting out emotions and feelings, sometimes causing delusions

Short Light:
n.
in the Northern Kingdoms, the two days surrounding the longest night of the year, when the sun never rises more than the tiniest bit above the horizon

shred:
v.
to dart in and out of the edges of a fire, a colliering flight maneuver

skog:
n.
(
Krakish
) singer, storyteller

slipgizzle:
n.
owl spy, secret agent

sliptween:
n.
a nest-maid snake and member of the harp guild who leaps from one octave to another while playing the great grass harp

smee holes:
n.
natural steam vents in the Earth, found in the Northern Kingdoms

sprink:
v. and exclamation.
the worst owl curse word

spronk:
n.
forbidden knowledge

starsight:
n.
the ability to see the future in dreams

thronkenspeer:
n.
threat display

trufynkken:
adj.
(
Krakish
) drunk

turnfeather:
n.
owl traitor

turnscale:
n.
snake traitor

tween time:
n.
dusk; the time between the last drop of sun and the first shadows of the evening

tweener:
n.
the evening meal; the first food owls consume after waking

twixt time:
n.
dawn

wilf:
v.
when an owl becomes frightened and his or her feathers lie flat, making him or her seem smaller

williwaw:
n.
a sudden violent wind

yarp:
v.
to cough up a pellet

yarpie barpies:
n.
owl diarrhea

yeep:
adj.
when a bird loses its instincts to fly, its wings lock mid-flight, and it suddenly plummets to the ground, as in “going yeep”

yoiks:
adj.
crazy; loony; out of one's mind

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Text copyright © 2007 by Kathryn Lasky and Kathryn Huang Knight
Cover art by Richard Cowdrey
Cover design by Steve Scott

Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
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Design by Steve Scott
Illustrated by Richard Cowdrey

First printing, October 2007

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