The Peacock and the Crane
- 2 minute read
- Ages 6-10
- Aesop's Fables
A peacock met a crane at the edge of a field, and could not resist.
He walked a circle round her, and then spread his tail.
It came up behind him in a great fan, blue and green and gold, with the eye of each feather catching the light, and he turned slowly so she could see all of it.
The comparison
"Look at that," he said. "Now look at yourself. Grey. Grey from your beak to your feet. Not one colour anywhere on you."
"That is true," said the crane.
"When I walk into a field," said the peacock, "everything stops. Nobody has ever stopped to look at you in your life."
"Probably not," said the crane.
The peacock was enjoying himself enormously.
"Have you nothing to say for yourself?"
Up
The crane took two steps, opened her wings, and went up.
She climbed past the top of the trees. She climbed past the roof of the farmhouse and kept going, in wide slow circles, until she was a grey mark against the cloud and then not even that.
The peacock stood in the field with his tail spread and his head right back, watching her go.
He could not follow her. He has never been able to. Whatever else that tail is, it is far too heavy to lift.
Moral of the story
What looks impressive and what is actually useful are often not the same thing. Ask what a quality is for before you envy it.
Questions and answers
- What did the peacock do when he met the crane?
He walked around her and spread his tail to show off its blue, green and gold colours.
- What did he say about the crane's appearance?
That she was grey all over with no colour anywhere, and that nobody had ever stopped to look at her.
- How did the crane reply to his insults?
She agreed with them calmly and said very little.
- What did the crane do at the end?
She opened her wings and flew high into the sky until she disappeared from sight.
- Why could the peacock not follow her?
A peacock's tail is far too heavy for real flight. The thing that made him beautiful is what kept him on the ground.
Word meanings
- fan
- A shape that spreads out wide from a narrow point.
- envy
- To want something that someone else has.
- resist
- To stop yourself from doing something.
- circles
- Round paths, as a bird makes when climbing on air.
Questions about The Peacock and the Crane
What is the moral of The Peacock and the Crane?
The moral is that beauty and usefulness are different things. The peacock's tail is the most impressive thing about him and also the reason he cannot fly.
Can peacocks really not fly?
They can fly short distances, usually up into trees to roost, but their long tail feathers make sustained flight impossible.
Why does the crane not argue?
Her silence is the point. She lets the comparison stand and then answers it with an action instead of words.
What is a good lesson for children here?
That showing off usually invites a comparison you may not win, and that the quietest person in a group is not the least capable.