JUPITER DETERMINED, it is said, to create a sovereign over the birds,
and made proclamation that on a certain day they should all present
themselves before him, when he would himself choose the most beautiful
among them to be king. The Jackdaw, knowing his own ugliness, searched
through the woods and fields, and collected the feathers which had fallen
from the wings of his companions, and stuck them in all parts of his body,
hoping thereby to make himself the most beautiful of all. When the
appointed day arrived, and the birds had assembled before Jupiter, the
Jackdaw also made his appearance in his many feathered finery. But when
Jupiter proposed to make him king because of the beauty of his plumage,
the birds indignantly protested, and each plucked from him his own
feathers, leaving the Jackdaw nothing but a Jackdaw.
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