Owl mother means the true love of a mother, who does not see any imperfection in her children. Designates a very zealous mother, concerned about her children and who protects them in all situations.
The expression came up with the fable "The Owl and the Eagle", by the French writer La Fontaine, also rewritten by Monteiro Lobato and other authors.
The fable tells that the owl found the eagle and told him:
- O eagle, if you see some very beautiful birds in a nest, with very well made beaks, look there, don't eat them, they are my children!
The eagle promised her that she would not eat them. She went flying and found a nest in a tree and ate all the chicks. When the owl arrived and saw that his children had eaten him, he went to have a conversation with the eagle, very distressed:
- O eagle, you were false because you promised me that you would not eat my little children, but you killed them all!
He then said to the eagle:
- I found some small birds in a nest, all plucked, without beaks and with their eyes covered, and I ate them. And as you told me that your children were very beautiful and had well-shaped beaks, I understood that they weren't those.
- Well, they were the same ones, said the owl.
- Well then I'm not the one who's wrong, you deceived me with your blindness.Moral of the story: In the eyes of mothers, children are always perfect and beautiful. The saying goes "Whoever loves the ugly, it looks beautiful".