He swelled out his chest till he could not see his ugly feet. Out he spread slowly his shining blue and green tail with its hundreds of eyes. It came up around his head like a gorgeous frame.
All the little boys and girls in the crowd held their breath until it came out in a great "Ah!" The peacock let them look a whole minute. Then he lowered his tail and strutted away.
HOW THE ROOSTER WAS DECEIVED
The rooster with the reddest comb perched himself up on the gate-post to crow. As he stretched his neck he caught sight of another rooster higher up on the barn.
"I'll have no one in this barnyard higher than I," said he; "I am master here." And he flew up at the rooster. But his wings were so short that he barely reached the edge of the roof. Had he fallen he would have been disgraced before all the fowls in the barnyard. He was so furious at the thought that he rushed up the sloping roof and pecked at the rooster savagely. The rooster never budged.
"Ha, ha, silly cockscomb!" screamed Poll, the parrot, shaking with laughter. "It serves you right. Did you hurt your beak? He isn't a live rooster at all. He's only a weathervane."
