JUPITER DETERMINED, it is said, to create a sovereign over the birds, and made proclamation that on a certain day they should all present themselves before him, when he would himself choose the most beautiful among them to be king. The Jackdaw, knowing his own ugliness, searched through the woods and fields, and collected the feathers which had fallen from the wings of his companions, and stuck them in all parts of his body, hoping thereby to make himself the most beautiful of all. When the appointed day arrived, and the birds had assembled before Jupiter, the Jackdaw also made his appearance in his many feathered finery. But when Jupiter proposed to make him king because of the beauty of his plumage, the birds indignantly protested, and each plucked from him his own feathers, leaving the Jackdaw nothing but a Jackdaw.
言い伝えによると、ユピテルは鳥たちの上に君主を立てようと決め、ある日にみな自分の前に集まるようにとおふれを出した。その日に、ユピテルみずからが鳥たちの中でいちばん美しい者を選んで王にしよう、というのである。コクマルガラスは自分がみにくいことを知っていたので、森や野原を探し回り、仲間の翼から落ちた羽を集めて、体じゅうにくっつけた。そうすれば、だれよりも美しくなれると思ったのだ。約束の日が来て、鳥たちがユピテルの前に集まると、コクマルガラスもたくさんの羽で着かざって姿をあらわした。ところが、ユピテルがその羽の美しさゆえにコクマルガラスを王にしようと言いだすと、鳥たちは腹を立てて抗議し、それぞれが自分の羽をコクマルガラスからむしりとった。あとには、ただのコクマルガラスが残っただけだった。