Fable: The Jay and the Peacock [1]
One day, a lonely jay entered a yard where peacocks often roamed.
There he found lovely peacock feathers on the ground. The jay thought that he would look very pretty if he tied the feathers to his body. So he tied all the feathers to his tail and flew towards the peacocks who were dancing in merriment. They were angry at what the jay had done and called him a fraud and a cheat.
They decided to teach him a lesson. They pecked him and one-by-one plucked away his peacock plumes. The jay felt embarrassed at what he had done. The other birds, including some fellow jays, were also looking over at him and laughing.
He went back to his band of jays, who were very annoyed with him for his silly behavior. They said that he had brought disgrace to the other jays.
Moral of the story: It takes more than fine feathers to be a fine bird, or birds of a feather stick together.
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[1] http://shortstoriesshort.com/story/the-jay-and-the-peacocks/
Henry E. Hooper 