The Crow and the Dove
Once upon a time, proud doves lived on a white marble farm nestled in the lap of lush forests. In that palace-like nest, the white doves fed in abundance on sweet grains of wheat and glided about in peace. A jet-black crow, watching this magnificent table from one of the high branches, writhed with hunger and sighed with envy. Weary of his own hard life, the crow one day made a cunning plan to join the comfortable life of the doves. Dipping himself into snow-white lime mud, the crow turned white from head to toe and looked just like an elegant dove. The next morning, flapping his wings quietly, he slipped in among the white doves and calmly began to eat the grain.
The doves, looking at his outward appearance and thinking he was one of their own, accepted this new guest among them without any hesitation. For days he did not make a sound; he fed on plenty of wheat and enjoyed this comfortable life. But on a cheerful spring morning, the crow, overcome by his excitement, suddenly forgot his true identity. Cawing with joy, he began to shout as loudly as he could. The doves who heard his ugly voice understood at once that the bird before them was a stranger. Flapping their wings in anger, the white doves chased the crow out of the nest with their sharp beaks.
The helpless crow, not knowing what to do, fled quickly towards his old forest to save his life. But when he wanted to return to his old crow friends and take shelter beside them, a greater surprise was waiting for him. The crows who saw his snow-white feathers did not count him as one of their own kind and treated him as a stranger. "You are not one of us!" they said, and drove him away from them with their hard beaks. Because of the false identity he had gained by lying, he lost both the warm nest and his own friends. Left alone, the crow paid the price of looking like another all by himself, hungry and helpless. Whoever shows himself different from what he is loses in the end both his essence and the place he belongs to. He who rides a borrowed horse soon dismounts.