<Tr> <Th> Songwriter (s) </Th> <Td> Unknown </Td> </Tr> <P> "A Wise Old Owl" is an English language nursery rhyme . It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7734 and in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, 2nd Ed. of 1997, as number 394 . The rhyme is an improvement of a traditional nursery rhyme "There was an owl lived in an oak, wisky, wasky, weedle ." </P> <P> A wise old owl lived in an oak The more he saw the less he spoke The less he spoke the more he heard . Why can't we all be like that wise old bird? </P> <P> This version was first published in Punch, April 10, 1875, and ran as follows: </P>

A wise old owl lived in an oak meaning