Fang Ye cited references in a flowing manner, "For a long time, owls were considered an unlucky symbol among the people, a type of bird that caused fear and loathing, known as 'night owls.' The related sayings were all prejudiced and derogatory.
"Things like 'when the night owl enters the house, good things won't come,' 'Wu Dalang playing with night owls—like attracts like,' 'I'm not afraid of the night owl's call, but I dread its laugh.'
"There is a legend about the laughter of an owl, that when a person who has been sick for a while hears an owl laughing outside the window, it is actually counting their eyebrows, and when it finishes counting, that person will die."