But the guests confronted her with claws and beaks so ready and so formidable that she did not like to come to close quarters.
"Nor, indeed, when the Little Villager himself arrived was the situation very much altered.

One of the owls turned and faced him, whereupon he, too, lost his resolution and confined himself to threats.
The two owls, for their part, seemed to consider it wise to stand on the defensive rather than to force a battle to a finish with their unwilling hosts.

For some minutes, therefore, the war of threats and bad language went on, without fur or feathers actually flying.

Then at last the Little Villager, who was by nature an easy-going, unresentful soul, chanced to glance aside from his adversary; and it flashed into his mind that, after all, there was some room to spare in the burrow.
Anyhow, he was tired of the argument.

He turned away indifferently and began to nibble at some tough grass stems which he had brought down in case of a rainy day.