The Crow and the Eagle

It was a bright spring day. The sun shone in the clear blue sky. A flock of sheep grazed happily on a hillside, while their lambs played nearby. The shepherd, seeing that everything was peaceful, lay down to rest under a big tree and soon fell asleep.

High above, an eagle was flying in the sky. Suddenly, it swooped down and picked up a little lamb in its sharp claws. Before the other lambs could even make a sound, the eagle flew away with its catch. The shepherd heard nothing—he was still fast asleep.

Up in the tree, a crow had been watching everything. He was amazed.

"Wow!" thought the crow. "That was clever. What a smart way to get food! Why do we crows always eat old scraps when we could be like the eagle?"

Feeling bold, the crow decided to copy the eagle. "It looks easy," he said to himself. "All I have to do is choose a sheep, grab it, and fly away!"

Just below the tree, a big old ram was grazing. He had strong horns and thick wool.

"Aha!" thought the crow. "That one looks tasty. He’ll be my lunch!"

The crow flew down quickly and landed on the ram’s back. He dug his claws into the ram’s wool and flapped his wings, trying to lift him.

But the ram was far too heavy!

The crow flapped harder and harder, but nothing happened.

The ram turned his head. "What are you doing, you silly bird?" he said, annoyed.

The crow kept flapping, but still couldn’t move the ram.

"Get off me!" said the ram, shaking his body and trying to throw the crow off. "Leave me alone!"

The crow got scared. "Oh no!" he thought. "This wasn’t such a good idea after all!" He tried to fly away—but his claws were stuck in the ram’s thick wool.

He pulled and flapped, but the more he tried, the more stuck he became.

The crow began to cry out in fear. "Caw! Caw! Help!"

The ram started running around, angry and confused.

The noise woke the shepherd. He sat up and saw the ram running around with the crow stuck on his back.

The shepherd laughed out loud at the funny sight.

Then he stood up, caught the ram, and calmed him down. Taking a pair of shears from his bag, the shepherd gently cut the wool and freed the crow.

"Trying to be an eagle, were you?" said the shepherd, still laughing.

The crow was too embarrassed to reply. He just wanted to fly away and hide.

Finally, the shepherd let him go. The crow flew off quickly without looking back.

As he flew, the shepherd called out, "Next time, pick someone your own size!"

The crow felt foolish. He told himself, "I’ll never pretend to be an eagle again. I’ll just stick to being a crow."

Moral: Be yourself. Don’t try to copy others without knowing your own limits.