Explore "The Peacock Complaining to Juno" by Jean de La Fontaine on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The peacock[1] to the queen of heaven / Complain'd in some such words: -- / 'Great goddess, you have given / To me, the laughing-stock of birds, / A voice which fills, by taste quite just, / All nature with disgust; / Whereas that little paltry thing, / The nightingale, pours from her throat / So sweet and ravishing a note, / She bears alone the honours of the spring.'
[1]: The peacock was consecrated to Juno the "Queen of Heaven," and was under her protection.