Prevod

Zeus, wishing to appoint a king over the birds, set a day on which they were all to appear before him, so that he might choose the most beautiful of them to rule over the rest. The birds went to a river to wash themselves. But a jackdaw, aware of his own ugliness, went and gathered the feathers the other birds had shed, arranging them about himself and fastening them to his body. In this way he became the handsomest of them all. When the appointed day arrived, all the birds came before Zeus. Zeus was about to name the jackdaw their king on account of his splendid appearance, when the indignant birds each plucked away the feather that belonged to them, and the jackdaw was once again merely a jackdaw.

The fable shows that debtors and those who enrich themselves with borrowed wealth seem to be people of consequence so long as they retain what belongs to others; but when it is demanded back, they are revealed for what they were before.