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14Aesop's Fables¹  

The vain Jackdaw

By Rob John

One day a king was sitting in his garden watching a pair of peacocks walking proudly across the lawn. 

‘See how beautiful those birds are,’ he said to the Queen. ‘Our pea-cocks with their blue and green feathers and long shiny tails are the most beautiful birds in the whole world.’

Just then a swan flew over the gar den² and landed gracefully³ on the King’s lake.

‘No,’ said the Queen. ‘I think the swan with its long neck and silky white wings is the most beautiful bird in the world.’ 

‘Peacock!’ said the King‘Wrong’ said the Queen. ‘Swan!’

The King didn’t like being told he was wrong so he decided⁴ to hold a competition. All the birds were ordered to come to the palace garden on Saturday afternoon. 

There the King and Queen and their friends  would decide which one was the  most beautiful. 

‘There’s no point,’ said the  Queen. 

‘The  swan is bound to win.’

‘Peacock!’ said the  King as he sent out his orders.

The birds were very excited when they heard about the competition and there was much polishing of beaks⁵ and combing of feathers as they all made themselves look beautiful for the great competition. 

All that is except for the jackdaws.

‘No point,’ said the Chief Jackdaw. 

‘We’re not going to win this. Every -one knows that we  jackdaws aren’t beautiful.’

‘I’m not bad looking,’ said a young jackdaw. ‘I might be in with a chance.’

‘Don’t make me laugh. Look at yourself. Your feathers are all grey and black, your beak⁶’s too long for your head and you look like you haven’t had a bath in a month. 

You’re a scruffy⁷ little  jackdaw like us. We’re clever and cunning and cheeky but none of us is ever going to win a beauty competition.’

The young Jackdaw was upset. 

‘Right,’ he said. ‘ I’ll show ’em.’

Next day the young ja ckdaw flew to the King’s garden where he found two long green and blue peacock feathers lying in the grass. 

He picked them up in his beak and carried them back to his nest. 

Then, down by the King’s lake, he found three beautiful white  swan’s feathers and carried them off too. 

Soon he had lots of brightly  col-oured feathers from all sorts of birds and he started to work. First he stuck bright red and green par-rot feathers onto his wings. Then on his tail he tied the beautiful long peacock feathers. 

For his head he made a hat from the silky white feathers of the swan and when his outfit⁸ was finished he looked at himself and said, ‘Who’s scruffy now?’

On the day of the competition the King and Queen and their friends sat in the garden as the birds paraded past. Last to appear was  a  strange brightly-coloured bird that no-one had ever seen before.

‘What on earth is that?’ said the King

‘I don’t know,’ said the Queen, ‘I’ve never seen anything like it before but it’s very very beautiful.’

‘Yes it is,’ said the King.

‘Yes I am,’ said the  young  jackdaw walking up and down in front of the crowd and showing off his fine colours. 

There was no doubt about it.  The King announced that this new bird was the winner. 

The peacock and the  swan both looked very cross as the young jackdaw bowed to the cheering crowd. Then something terrible happened. His hat fell off.

‘Just a minute,’ said the  swan. 

‘Aren’t those my feathers?’

‘And those wings,’ said the  parrot looking closely at the jackdaw. 

‘Didn’t they used to belong to me?’

‘And that tail,’ said the  peacock. ‘I’d know that tail anywhere.'

Soon the young jackdaw was sur-rounded by birds pecking at his beautiful costume. They pulled away their lovely coloured feathers until his costume had all gone.

‘It’s just a  jackdaw,’ said the King.

‘A scruffy little  jackdaw,’ said the Queen.

The young  jackdaw walked back to his nest very slowly. 

‘I just wanted to be special,’ he said. 

‘You don’t become special just by putting on fine clothes,’ said the Chief Jackdaw. 

‘I know that. I know that now,’ said the  young  jackdaw.

But the other jackdaws weren’t listening to him. They’d already flown away and left him all alone.

1 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句

2 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

3 gracefully   

ad.大大方方地；优美地

参考例句：

• She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 beaks   

n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者

参考例句：

• Baby cockatoos will have black eyes and soft, almost flexible beaks. 雏鸟凤头鹦鹉黑色的眼睛是柔和的，嘴几乎是灵活的。 来自互联网
• Squid beaks are often found in the stomachs of sperm whales. 经常能在抹香鲸的胃里发现鱿鱼的嘴。 来自互联网

6 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

7 scruffy   

adj.肮脏的，不洁的

参考例句：

• Despite her scruffy clothes,there was an air of sophistication about her.尽管她衣衫褴褛，但神态老练世故。
• His scruffy appearance does not reflect his character.他邋遢的外表并不反映他的性格。

8 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。