The Day the Crow Turned Black

Once upon a time, the crow was white and the peacock was pale yellow. They were invited to attend Lord Tiger’s wedding and they thought about decorating themselves. They stole the paint from the workman who built the king’s house.

Peacock insisted that crow painted him first, so crow covered his breast in beautiful blue and green, and covered his tail in intricate designs.

Peacock was so proud of the beautiful way he looked and decided he did not want crow to share his beautiful colors. Instead he called out a warning to crow that eagle was coming and pretended to run away. He accidentally knocked all the paint into the river.

Crow looked into the sky and did not see eagle. He told peacock that everything was alright and asked how he could paint him now that all the paint was in the river. Peacock produced a single paint and assured him that everything would be alright. Crow let him paint him without realizing that it was jet black. When crow saw his reflection in the river, he realized he had been deceived. He let out a scream of anger but it stuck in his throat. That is why crows are now black and can only utter a hoarse cry.