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Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)

179. The Peacock and the Crane (Perry 294)

A PEACOCK spreading its gorgeous tail mocked a Crane that passed by, ridiculing the ashen hue of its plumage and saying, 'I am robed, like a king, in gold and purple and all the colors of the rainbow; while you have not a bit of color on your wings.' 'True,' replied the Crane; 'but I soar to the heights of heaven and lift up my voice to the stars, while you walk below, like a cock, among the birds of the dunghill.'
Fine feathers don't make fine birds.


George Fyler Townsend's translation of the fables, first published in 1867, is in the public domain and can be found at many websites, including Project Gutenberg. Illustrations come from: Aesop's Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867, at Google Books.