# The Peacock and the Crane

_Retold by Talerie (talerie.com) from Aesop’s Fables: a new translation_ · 1 min read · ages 4+

A peacock mocks a crane for her plain gray feathers and spreads his brilliant tail to show how much finer his colors are. The crane does not dispute that his are brighter, but she answers that she can soar up into the clouds while he stays down on the ground like any barnyard rooster.

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Once a peacock met a crane, and for no reason at all he began to make fun of her plain gray feathers.

He spread his tail wide. “Look at my brilliant colors,” he said, “and see how much finer they are than your poor feathers.”

The crane did not argue. “I won’t deny that yours are far brighter than mine,” she said. “But when it comes to flying, I can soar up into the clouds, while you stay down on the ground like any barnyard rooster.”

**Moral:** What you can do matters far more than how fine you look.

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- Read online: https://talerie.com/en/tales/the-peacock-and-the-crane
- Author's country: Greece (https://talerie.com/en/tales/country/greece)
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q54310844
- Tale type: Perry 294 (per Wikidata)
- Source: Aesop's Fables: a new translation, tr. V. S. Vernon Jones (1912) (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11339)
- Public-domain basis: Talerie contemporary retelling (CC0 2026), based on: Aesop's Fables: a new translation, tr. V. S. Vernon Jones (1912) — translation: author died 564 BC (+70 passed); translator V. S. Vernon Jones died 1955 (+70 passed)
- License: CC0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)