Once there was a lush green forest, nestled in a fertile valley. A deep river ran through this valley, sparkling and clear, filled with life. The birds splashed in the shallows, the trees were tall and strong, and all the animals had enough to eat.
Then, one summer, a terrible thing happened: the river began to shrink away. It grew narrower and shallower, from a stream to a weak trickle, until finally there was only a track in the mud. What could be wrong? There had been plenty of rain! Now the trees began to wilt, and the lush grasses began to die.
The animals gathered to discuss what might be done. Soon the forest was filled with their quarreling. Why was this happening? What should they do?
The badgers grunted, "Maybe we should dig a well!" The birds twittered, "We should all fly to another forest!" Soon they began to blame one another. The squirrels pointed at the bears. "It's your fault! You ate too many fish!" The bears shouted back, "It's all your digging around that's done it!"
Suddenly a voice cut through the arguing. "I know what we need to do!" It was the peacock. He fluttered down from his favorite branch and began to pace back and forth before them all. "I know exactly why this has happened!"
"It's your fault!" he snapped, turning and looking pointedly at the mice. They backed away. "You drank too much water. YOU"RE the reason our river has gone dry!"
The animals all looked at each other in confusion. How could mice drink up a river? The bear raised his paw to object, but the peacock ignored him. "It's all their fault! " He looked about and spied a mole peering up at him. He pointed at it and shouted, "And the moles, too!" Dirt flew as the trembling mole dove out of sight. An ant ran over the Peacock's foot, and he twitched in irritation. "And the ants! They're all to blame!"
Now the peacock strutted into a beam of sunlight and spread his magnificent tail. As the sun shone on his rich, colorful feathers, the animals all murmured in admiration. He preened himself proudly. "You need someone in charge, and I'm obviously the best choice," he cooed. He paced around the clearing, waving his tail so the feathers shimmered in the sunlight. "I will rid our forest of all these unwanted rabble, and soon the river will return again. I'll make our forest beautiful again!"
And so it was decided. The peacock would be their king.
The peacock set up his nest in the clearing, demanding the finest branches and claiming the prize spots to sun himself. He brought his family to join him, and soon they were gobbling the few berries left on the bushes and the last of the grasses. He invited his closest friends, the vultures, to join him, too, and they filled the peaceful forest with their raucous laughter and crude jokes. He gathered the most foolish of the animals as his admirers, and they followed him everywhere, flattering him and agreeing with his every word.
The peacock kept up his spiteful accusations. He began to chase away all the small animals, shouting that they were to blame for the loss of the river. The poor mice crept into their holes and trembled, and the moles and the hard-working ants dug deep down and hid themselves away.
The peacock, for all his fine looks, was short-tempered and vain. Whenever any of the animals dared to object or question him, he ran at them, biting and clawing and chasing them away.
Now the situation was growing desperate. All the other animals were starving, but no one dared to challenge him.
A sparrow, tending her hungry brood, watched all this with impatience. She was a sensible bird, and it seemed to her that all this fuss over the peacock and his fine feathers had done nothing to solve their problem. If the river has dried up, we should find out why, she thought, and so one day she flew up the river to see. Farther and farther up the valley she flew, until below her she spotted the answer. Lo and behold, a boulder had fallen, blocking the river!
As fast as she could the sparrow flew back to the forest. The peacock was holding court with all his followers gathered around him, while the other animals listened doubtfully from a distance. The sparrow landed, gasping, in their midst. "I know why our river has dried up!" she cried.
The peacock glared at her. "How dare you interrupt me, you drab, ugly little nobody?" he shouted. He began to advance toward her, ready to strike.
Just then the owl spoke up, hooting in his deep voice, "What did you say?" The sparrow, ignoring the peacock, fluttered to a branch and told them all she had seen. They all turned to the peacock. "Well?" said the owl. "You have said many times that you will fix our problem. Now we know what caused it. What should we do?"
There was a long silence. The peacock gulped, and then gathered his dignity. "Obviously, we'll just have to wait for rain - ah, or perhaps, well -"
"I have an idea!" the sparrow spoke up. But immediately the peacock's flatterers began to drown her out, and the peacock, enraged, charged at her, brandishing his claws. The brave sparrow stood her ground, fluttering above him.
But the animals had had enough. The birds flew down from their branches at the peacock, the badgers and the bear ran at him, claws out, and even the mice darted out from their holes and bit at his feet. The peacock fled, and with him his family and all his flatterers.
When they were gone, the owl fluttered up to the sparrow. "Now, my dear, what do you think we should do?"
And so it was that the next day the strongest of the animals and the best diggers, the badgers and bear and the beavers, made their way upriver, following the sparrow as she flew. They dug a new route for the river, freeing it to run once more into the forest. Soon the trees grew green and lush again, and there was enough food for all. The sparrow was honored for her good sense for the rest of her days. And the peacock, sulking in his shabby nest, never again tried to be king.
Moral: Look for good sense in your leaders, not fools in fine feathers!
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