In western fairy tales, owls often appear as the cleverest characters because of owls.

This question involves the symbolic significance and source of the fairy tale image of owl in western telephone stories, and is explained in detail as follows:

Owls are similar to humans mainly because they have big eyes but a face. Owls have eyes in front of their heads, and most owls have face plates. In this way, owls have faces (most birds have eyes on both sides of their heads), and they are really similar to people.

The expression of always thinking is also because of the above point. Owls don't roll their eyes (cross-eyed), but they have big eyes and sleep during the day. People often sleep when they see it, and then look at people with one eye open, with a calm expression, like a fortune teller in a temple.

So people think owls are smart. In ancient Greece, the owl was sacred to Athena, the goddess of wisdom (all gods had multiple roles at that time, indicating that there was no fine division of labor). The image of the god of war should be the same as that of a saint in holy garments, and Nick, the goddess of victory, should be used instead of an owl. This is also a source where owls are considered as smart birds.