Once upon a time, in ancient times, a raven and a peacock were friends with each other. Why? Yes, because both the raven and the peacock matched each other. Look, their feathers are gray and spotted, as if someone had rolled in the mud. Yes, it’s not like it is now: the raven is very black, and the peacock is painted like a picture. The raven and the peacock in those days knew that they were both unprepossessing, and they did not offer their friendship to anyone. And the peacock seemed ugly to the crow, you couldn’t imagine anything uglier: the head was tiny, but the body was huge. The head sticks out on a long curved neck; once you look at it, you won’t want to look at it again.
One day a raven says to a peacock:
- Carr! I know the house where the draftsman lives. He has paints of all colors. Let's steal them and paint each other's plumage! We will become such handsome men in no time!
The peacock listens and nods his head. That same day both birds went to the draftsman's house. They look, the painter himself is resting after lunch, and his paints and brushes are scattered here and there - he was painting vases, but did not have time to finish the job before lunch.
The bird grabbed a brush and some paint in its beak. But how much can you carry in your beak? They returned again, again taking away one paint at a time in their beaks. When they returned for the third time, they saw that the draftsman woke up. The birds had to get away with nothing. At home, they saw the stolen goods: a brush, black ink, green paint and gold paint.
- Carr! OK! - said the raven. - That's enough. Let's get down to business.
The raven ordered the peacock to lie down on the ground, and he began to work. The raven was a jack of all trades: he painted the peacock's neck and body with green paint, and tinted the head with gold. Then he began to paint the tail.
- Carr! Open your tail like a fan, brother,” said the raven to the peacock. - I want to show you all my art.
The raven began to draw a circle on each feather and outline it with black ink and golden paint. If you look at this work, you will fall in love!
The raven was pleased: he had done a good job.
- Carr! Now, brother, stand in the sun,” he said, “and dry out properly.”
When the peacock dried out, it was time for him to get down to business. But he was incompetent and lazy, and besides, the green and golden paint had run out, all of it went to the peacock’s plumage. All that's left is mascara.
The peacock stands there and doesn’t know how to paint the crow. And then suddenly a mountain raven, a cousin of our raven, flies in. In those ancient times, the mountain raven was white, like lime. Before he had time to fall to the ground, he raised a cry:
- Carr! Carr! Brother Raven! What are you doing there? Hurry to the east! Fly east!
- For what? Why are you so alarmed? - the raven asks his cousin.
- Carr! Carr! We're flying east, we're flying quickly! Loot awaits us! Rich loot!
The raven heard about the prey, perked up, began to fuss, his eyes lit up with greed.
- Wait a little, brother! - shouts. - I'm coming now! Just paint me a little, and we’ll fly together.
- No time to wait! - answers the mountain raven. - We need to get to the place before nightfall!
“If so,” the raven turned to the peacock, “hurry up, brother, paint me as you have to!”
Here the mountain raven looked at the peacock more closely:
- Carr! Brother Raven, it turns out that you and the peacock are skilled draftsmen. Do me a favor and sign me up too. I also want to become handsome!
- OK. Let's divide the remaining mascara like brothers: half for you and half for me.
The peacock grabbed the mascara, glad that the raven was in a hurry and there was no need to try at all, and he doused the raven from head to toe. And he took a brush and even covered the raven’s beak and paws with ink. The raven became very black, just like a burnt firebrand.
Now it’s time to paint the plumage of the mountain raven. The peacock doused him with mascara from head to toe. But the mountain raven managed to retract its neck, so it became all black, only with a white collar around its neck.
The raven looked at what the peacock had turned the plumage of a mountain raven into, and only croaked in annoyance: they say, what kind of idiot did I entrust such an important matter to? But what's the point: nothing could be fixed. The raven and his brother scolded the peacock, and then they parted ways. The friendship between the raven and the peacock ended.
Since then, the peacock has been showing off in a beautiful outfit. You probably saw: he walks smoothly, and even says:
- The peacock is good! The peacock is beautiful!
And the raven family always wears black, only the mountain raven has a white collar on its neck. The crows are ashamed of their black dress and croak from time to time:
- Carr! It's bad! Carr! It's bad!
Listen, you will probably hear the raven complaining about his fate.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru