One day the Crow and the Peacock’s cousin were sauntering through the Malay woods when they met the Peacock face to face.  The Crow looked defiant and stood jauntily; but the Pheasant tried to shrink out of sight.  The Peacock, however, had spied his poor relative, and was filled with cousinly resentment at his appearance.

He stopped short.  He stood upon one leg.  He puffed and ruffled himself, spreading out his thousand-eyed tail so that its colors flashed wonderfully in the sunshine.  He frilled his neck feathers and snapped his mean little eyes maliciously; then turning his back on the shabby couple said, as he stepped airily away,—­

“Ah, I have dropped some of my old feathers back there a little way.  You can have them if you like, Pheasant.  They will freshen you up a bit; you really are looking shockingly seedy.  But for mercy’s sake don’t wear them in my presence!  I can’t bear to see any one parading in my cast-off elegance.”  Then the Peacock minced away.

The Peacock’s cousin stamped on the ground and flapped his wings with rage.  If he had been a girl he would have burst into tears.  “I cannot stand this,” he cried.  “To be treated as if I were a beggar!  To be given old clothes to wear!  Crow, Crow, if you were any kind of friend you would help me.  But you stand staring there and see me insulted, without turning a feather!  What is the use of all your wisdom that you learned from King Solomon if you cannot help a friend in need?  I tell you, I must have some better garments, or I shall die of mortification.”

“Don’t be excited,” said the Crow soothingly.  “I have been thinking the matter over, and I believe I can do something.  Listen.  Yesterday I found brushes and a box of colors in a room of the King’s palace.  They belonged to the Court Painter.  Now they belong to me, for I have hidden them away in a hollow tree where no one else can find them.  I thought they might be useful, and I think so still.”

“Well, well!  What do you propose to do with paints and brushes?” cried the Peacock’s cousin impatiently.

“I propose to paint you, to varnish you, to gild you,” patiently answered the Crow.

“Oh, you dear Crow!” exclaimed the other, clapping his wings.  “You will make me brilliant and beautiful!  You will make me worthy of the Peacock, will you not?  How clever of you to think of such a thing!”

“Yes,” replied the Crow; “I watched the Court Painter at work in the garden one day, and I know how it is done.  I will make you as gorgeous as you wish.  But you must return the compliment.  If you are to be an ornament of fashion, so must I be; for are we not inseparable cronies?  And when you become beautiful it would not do for you to be seen with such a dowdy as I am.”

“You dear creature!” said the Peacock’s cousin affectionately; “of course we will share alike.  I will paint you as soon as I see how you succeed with me.  Ah, I know your skill in everything.  You will be a fine artist, my friend!  But come, let us get to work at once.”