OTHER BIRDS’ FEATHERS.
A GANDER and a cock lived on the same farm. They were young and handsome birds, each well satisfied with himself, but, unfortunately, jealous of the other. This made them always ready to pick a quarrel. Chancing one day to meet beside a brook that ran by the farmhouse, the cock straightened himself up and said:
“Look at my long and graceful tail-feathers, and compare them with the short stubby quills in your tail.”
To which the gander replied:
“Look at the soft white down on my breast, and compare it with the frowsy black stubble on yours.”
“I can crow,” said the cock, “but you can’t.”
“I can swim,” said the gander, “and you can’t.”
“I can!” “I can!” cried both birds in a rage; and with that the cock jumped into the water and nearly drowned himself in attempting to swim, and the gander strutted up and down trying to crow.
Just then a goose, with her brood of goslings passing by, looked at them, and said:
“My children, take warning from these two fools. Be content, when you grow up, to wear your own feathers, and to let other birds wear theirs.”
There are always persons about us who possess some gifts that we lack. To deny them credit for these only makes our defects more plain, and brings disgrace on what good qualities we have.