Story
The Crow, seeing the magnificent plumage of the Peacock, the brilliant colors of the Parrot, and the delicate wings of the Butterfly, became dissatisfied with his own plain black feathers. Day after day, he would gaze upon his reflection in the water and lament his lack of beauty.
One day, as the Crow sat upon a branch, a grand procession of birds came walking along the path, each adorned with feathers borrowed from others. The Peacock walked with borrowed ostrich plumes attached to his natural feathers. The Raven wore borrowed feathers from the Cardinal, dyed bright red. Even the humble Sparrow had adorned himself with borrowed feathers from the Finch.
The Crow, seeing this sight, felt a sudden desire to join in this display of borrowed magnificence. He began to collect feathers that the other birds had shed and molted—feathers of every color and kind. With great labor, he fastened these borrowed plumes to his own body, creating a patchwork of colors that made him appear almost unrecognizable.
Proud of his new appearance, the Crow walked among the other birds, expecting admiration and praise. Yet instead of admiration, he received only mockery and contempt. The birds laughed at his mismatched appearance, at the obvious falseness of his adornment, and at his vanity in thinking that borrowed feathers could create true beauty.
Moreover, the feathers he had fastened to his body were not properly secured, and they soon began to fall away. As they dropped, one by one, the Crow became increasingly ridiculous in appearance, until at last he stood naked and exposed, having lost even his original black feathers in the process of trying to secure the borrowed ones.
The other birds, seeing his pitiable state, took pity on him, but the Crow learned a bitter lesson: that false adornment brings only ridicule, and that the attempt to appear as something one is not results in losing even what one naturally possesses.
He waited patiently as his natural feathers grew back, and in his humility, he came to see beauty in his plain black plumage.