~ HTTP Fables: Encoding Owl Saves the Day ~
        by Dave Gauer, December 2021

Once upon a time, there was a peaceful forest where all of the little animals
drank mead continuously and worshiped bees. In the forest there was a
particularly joyful resident named Timothy Squirrel. He loooooved to hop about
and chitter and consume his fine brand of mead and dance. Timothy loved life
and mead so much that he didn't even slow down and hibernate when it got cold
like the other squirrels.

Winter came and it was longer and colder than any that had come before. Like
all the wakeful woodland animals, Timothy shivered in his tree and wished for
the warm relief of spring. But the cold and dark remained and the ice covered
everything for as far as the eye could see.

At last, Timothy could take it no more. So he asked Mr. Owl, who was shivering
in the knot hole next door, to take a message to Shaman Bear. If Shaman Bear
could make the weather turn, Timothy would turn over 25% of his mead supply
until the next winter.

Mr. Owl went and returned. Shaman Bear wanted a sample of Timothy's mead and a
written promise of 30%.

"I can take a sample of mead or a written promise," said Mr. Owl, putting a
feather thoughtfully against his beak. "But not both. I won't Base64 encode
food items ever again. Not after what happened to Dr.  Beaver. And I won't
survive two more trips through this weather to Shaman Bear's cave. The wind is
rising."

Timothy's heart sank. Shaman Bear was a bear of absolutes. If he said we would
not perform the weather magic without both the sample and the promise, then
we would not. But what if...

"What?" said Mr. Owl when he saw the look on Timothy Squirrel's furry face.

"Multipart," whispered Timothy.

"Oh by the Great Horned One," said Mr. Owl. "It just might work." He returned
in a flash with his multipart form-data harness. "Give me the sample."

In the front, they strapped the binary mead sample in its protective vial. And
then a boundary delimiter with a CRLF, "--", and the value of the boundary:
"owlpelletsareskeletons". Finally, they attached the written promise.

"I'm off," said Mr. Owl as he carried his burden away.

Later that summer, Timothy Squirrel discovered acorn juniper mead and through
successful marketing, he became fabulously wealthy.

The End.