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Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)

319. THE TRAVELLERS AND THE CROW
Perry 125 (Chambry 170 *)

The crow was jealous of the raven's power to reveal signs to mankind by means of omens, since the raven was always being consulted to find out what was going to happen. When the crow saw some travellers passing by, she flew up into a tree and perched there, squawking loudly. The men turned towards the sound in alarm, but then one of them said, 'Hey, let's go! It's just a crow, whose squawking doesn't mean a thing.'
The story shows that people do the same thing: when someone tries to imitate his superiors, he will both fail in his attempt and become the butt of jokes.

Source: Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
NOTE: New cover, with new ISBN, published in 2008; contents of book unchanged.