How peacock got its feathers - An Aesop's fable

 

Today’s story is from the Aesop’s fables about how peacock got its feathers.

Do you know which is our national bird? Yes, its peacock. It was in 1963 that peacock was declared as the National bird of India.

Peafowls are of 3 kinds - Indian peafowl, Congo peafowl and Green peafowl. In India we have the Indian peafowl.

Let me tell you few interesting things about peafowls. The male bird is called the Peacock, the one with long and slender blue neck and beautiful colourful feathers that are decorated with eye-like pattern in bright blue and brown. The female bird is called Peahen. Peahens are brownish in colour and slightly smaller than the male and they also lack the beautiful coloured tail. Baby peafowls are called peachicks. A male peachick looks almost like a female baby and only after 6 months the birds colour starts changing and by 3 years the beautiful colourful feather grows. Do you know what peacock feathers are called? They are called ‘train’!

Have you seen a white peacock? It is yellow in color when born and turns white as it grows.

Peafowls mostly live in groups. A group of peafowl is called a Muster or Party! A family of peafowl is called a bevy (Beh vee).

Hmmm peacock is a bird so can peacocks fly? Yes, peacocks can fly high but not very far though.

Peacock also holds a special place in Indian Hindu religion. It is the Vahana/ vehicle for Lord Karthikeya and Goddess Saraswathi while Lord Krishna is always seen wearing a peacock feather on his head.

Now, let us move on to the story of how peacock got his feathers.

The Peacock was an ordinary bird with a small bunch of normal feathers. One day, the Peacock visited Juno, the Goddess of Protection. He prayed to her that he wished to look grand and beautiful. Juno looked at the peacock and smiled. She liked him as he was a good bird.

The Peacock then described the long train of brightly coloured feathers that he wanted to trail behind him. He also wished to be the loveliest of all the birds!

To his great joy, Juno agreed.

WOWWWW!!!! What a wonderful tail he got! Blue and green with a jewel-like pattern, opening like a fan. The common birds looked at him in surprise! Even the pretty long tailed pheasants felt jealous!

Peacock felt very happy and proud and looked up at the blue sky. He saw an Eagle soaring high up in the blue sky. Those days even peacocks used to fly. This peacock too since he always used to fly, slowly lifted his wings and tried to rise from the ground. He could fly high till a certain height but could not fly long distances. He tried, tried and tried but failed because now his train was very heavy. The Peacock was shocked! He realized that by trying to have a beautiful and magnificent train, he has actually lost an inborn ability to fly long distances.

Moral - Think well before you choose what you want in life. Believe in yourself and develop your talent rather than wishing for something that is of no use to you.

Follow the story on : https://youtu.be/-zN7cvV-5Ew