【英】《伊索寓言》第43集：The Peacock and the Crane

Once a peacock walked to the edge of a small pond for a drink. He saw a crane poking around in the mud for a meal. The peacock spread out his fine tail so the crane could see it and be amazed.

“Do you like my beautiful colors?” the peacock asked. “I’m so sorry that you must live with such plain feathers. You are nearly as dull as the mud where you eat.”

The crane looked at the peacock’s beautiful tail and said, “Your feathers are very beautiful. But when I am done eating, I will soar up into the sky. My feathers will carry me anywhere I can imagine. You can barely fly to the top of a wall. I cannot imagine being tied to the earth like a common chicken.”

The peacock stormed away in a huff, but he could never quite enjoy his colorful feathers as much after that. He often turned his eyes to the sky to watch other birds soar over him and sighed, “Beauty isn’t everything.”