The Jay and the Peacock
A free B1-level English story for language learners, readable online in 7 languages, with an option to listen via the free Storyteller app.
When Jupiter offers to crown the most beautiful bird king, a drab jackdaw disguises himself with other birds' cast-off feathers to win the crown — with humiliating results.
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.
Júpiter anunciou que pretendia nomear um rei entre as aves, e marcou um dia em que todas deveriam se apresentar diante de seu trono, quando ele escolheria a mais bela de todas para ser seu governante.
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.
Querendo estar com a melhor aparência na ocasião, dirigiram-se às margens de um riacho, onde se ocuparam em lavar e alisar suas penas.
The Jackdaw was there along with the rest, and realised that, with his ugly plumage, he would have no chance of being chosen as he was: so he waited till they were all gone, 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.
O Gaio estava lá, junto com as demais, e percebeu que, com sua plumagem feia, não teria nenhuma chance de ser escolhido como estava: então esperou até que todas tivessem ido embora, e recolheu as penas mais vistosas que haviam caído, prendendo-as pelo corpo, de modo que ficou com aparência mais vistosa do que qualquer uma delas.
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, when all the rest set upon the king-elect, stripped him of his borrowed plumes, and exposed him for the Jackdaw that he was.
Quando chegou o dia marcado, as aves se reuniram diante do trono de Júpiter; e, depois de passá-las em revista, ele estava prestes a fazer do Gaio o rei, quando todas as outras se lançaram sobre o rei-eleito, arrancaram-lhe as penas emprestadas e o expuseram como o Gaio que ele era.
