Aesop's Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
327. THE JACKDAW AND THE RAVENS
Perry 123 (Chambry
161)
There was a jackdaw who was bigger than the other jackdaws. Scorning
his fellows, he joined the company of the ravens, having decided to spend
his life as a member of their flock. The ravens, however, did not recognize
the voice of this bird or his appearance, so they attacked him and drove
him away. Rejected by the ravens, he went back again to the jackdaws.
But the jackdaws were angry about his presumptuous behaviour and refused
to accept him. The final result was that the jackdaw had nowhere to go.
This is also true of someone who leaves his homeland, preferring to
live elsewhere: he is treated with contempt abroad and is rejected by
his own people for his presumptuous behaviour.
Note: For the Greeks, the jackdaw was a bird who was supposed to stick
to his own flock. The equivalent of the English proverb 'birds of a
feather flock together' was koloios poti koloion, 'the jackdaw (stands)
next to the jackdaw' (e.g., Aristotle,
Nicomachean Ethics 1155a).
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.
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