Once, a vulture noticed that his feathers were falling off. When he asked other birds, they said, “You are losing feathers. Don’t worry; new feathers would grow soon.” However, the vulture was very upset. Soon, he became thin and sickly with worry about his feathers. The other birds pitied him and each of them gave him a feather to stick on his body. When all the birds had given him their feathers, the vulture became a beautiful bird with the feathers of all colours. He then became very arrogant. Showing off his ‘borrowed’ feathers, he declared that he was the most beautiful of all the birds. He became so proud that he asked the birds to recognise him as their king. The angry birds pecked off the feathers that they had given him and took them away. That is why even to the present day, the vulture is a grim, ugly and bald bird!
The Bald Vulture
