Jupiter announced that he intended to appoint a king over the birds and named a day on which they were to appear before his throne, when he would select the most beautiful of them all to be their ruler. Wishing to look their best on the occasion they repaired to the banks of a stream, where they busied themselves in washing and preening their feathers. The Jackdaw was there along with the rest, and realized that, with his ugly plumage, he would have no chance of being chosen as he was: so he waited till they were all gone, www.xiaogushi8.com and then picked up the most gaudy of the feathers they had dropped, and fastened them about his own body, with the result that he looked gayer than any of them. When the appointed day came, the birds assembled before Jupiter’s throne; and, after passing them in review, he was about to make the Jackdaw king, xiaogushi8.com when all the rest set upon the king-elect, stripped him of his borrowed plumes, and exposed him for the Jackdaw that he was.
朱庇特想在鸟类中指定一个王，便指定了一个日子，令百鸟全部都按时出席，届时他将挑选其中最美丽的鸟为百鸟之王。为了展现自己最好的一面，众鸟都跑到河里忙于梳理自己的羽毛，像那些有自知之明的鸟一样，寒鸦也意识到自己的丑陋，根本不可能被选为百鸟之王，于是他在河边等着众鸟散去，捡起他们脱落下的羽毛，小心翼翼地全固定在自己身上，结果他看上去比其他鸟都华丽。指定的日子来临了，众鸟都来到朱庇特的王位前。浏览了一遍眼前的众鸟，朱庇特决定立寒鸦为王，为了王位大选而来的其它鸟，纷纷从寒鸦身上拔下本属于自己的羽毛，暴露出寒鸦那丑陋的本来面目。