The Peacock
Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s “The Peacock” takes the form of a mock chapter from an unknown variant of Aesop’s fables. In a deliberately archaic, parable-like style, it tells of a crow who disguises himself with peacock feathers and is destroyed by the other birds for his arrogance. Yet the fable turns darker when a real peacock appears and is killed for the same reason: the crowd cannot distinguish genuine excellence from imposture. The final moral is sharply satirical rather than comforting. Akutagawa uses the familiar machinery of animal fable to expose the stupidity of collective judgment, suggesting that society often punishes both pretension and true talent with equal violence because it lacks the discernment to tell them apart.
This is a chapter from a variant text of The Fables of Aesop. No one yet knows this book.
“A certain crow, proud of his own importance, found some peacock feathers and decked himself out in them here and there. Then he flew about, greatly scorning all the other birds and declaring that none could be above him. The birds, unable to endure this, said, ‘You are not even a true peacock. Why do you look down on us?’ They surrounded him and beat him mercilessly. His feathers were plucked out, his legs were broken, and, grown limp and helpless, he breathed his last.
“After that, a real peacock came along. But the birds thought this one too must be a crow, so they beat and kicked him as well, and killed him. Then the birds said, ‘If only we were to meet a true peacock, we would show him every possible courtesy. Alas, alas, how many false peacocks there are in the world.’
“Moral: All the people under heaven are fools. They cannot tell talent from the lack of it.”