There was once a swallow that lived in the green forest.
He was handsome.
He had pretty feathers.
The girl birds would say: "Oh, he is so handsome!
His feathers are beautiful."
The swallow was proud of his good looks.
And every day, he looked into his mirror.
"Look at my feathers!
They are so soft and beautiful.
I am a lovely bird."
One day, a crow was flying by.
He heard the swallow singing.
"I am so wonderful.
I am so beautiful.
I have the best feathers in the world."
The crow stopped and looked at the swallow.
"What are you singing about?"
"I am the prettiest bird in the sky.
You must be very jealous.
You are not pretty like me."
The crow became very angry.
"Ha! You think that you are so great.
My feathers are much better than yours."
"You are joking!
Your feathers are black and thick.
Mine are light and beautiful."
The crow and the swallow began to argue.
They argued about who had better feathers.
They argued and argued and argued.
"Your feathers may be light and beautiful, but mine are much better."
"Nonsense, only a fool would say your feathers are better than mine."
The crow was clever.
He could prove that his feathers were better.
"All right! Let us go to the wise bird of the North.
We will ask her who has better feathers."
"I will go because I like to hear other birds tell me how wonderful my feathers look.
The wise bird will choose me."
So the two birds flew north to see the wise bird of the North.
On the way to see the wise bird, the crow and the swallow passed many birds.
All of the other birds thought that the swallow was very handsome.
"Oh, look at him. He is handsome."
"He sure is.
He is the most handsome bird."
As the birds flew north, the air became cooler.
"I am getting cold.
It is very cold here in the North."
"Yes, it is.
The North is very cold.
We should hurry to the wise bird's house."
"Yes, let's hurry."
As the birds flew even further north, it started to snow.
Now it was very cold.
The swallow had to stop flying.
"I am freezing. I cannot fly anymore."
"The problem is that your feathers are not very good.
My feathers are strong and thick.
They keep me warm."
The crow helped to warm the swallow with his feathers.
"You are right! Your feathers are warm.
They are very warm."
"Whose feathers are better, mine or yours?"
"I guess yours are better.
I was too proud of my feathers."
When the birds returned home, the swallow told everyone what had happened.
"Crow saved my life with his wonderful feathers."
"Hurray for Crow!"
"Oh, Crow! You do have nice, thick, black feathers.
They are excellent!"
From that day on, the swallow never flaunted his feathers in front of others.