The Jackdaw and the Birds

Zeus, wishing to appoint a king of the birds, fixed a day for them all to appear before him: he would choose the most beautiful of all to reign over them. The birds went to the bank of a river to wash. Now the jackdaw, who was aware of its own ugliness, went about gathering up the feathers the birds let fall, then fitted them on and fastened them to itself. So it came about that it was the most beautiful of all. The appointed day arrived and all the birds presented themselves before Zeus. The jackdaw, in its motley finery, presented itself too. And Zeus was about to give it his vote for the kingship, on account of its beauty; but the birds, indignant, each plucked off the feather that had come from them. The result was that the jackdaw, stripped bare, was found to be a jackdaw again.