465. Noctua et Cornicula. Aliquando, cum dies nondum composita esset, noctua e tristi cavo egredi ausa est et se per auras paulo longius ferre. Quam simul adspiciunt, aves innumerae undique advolant et circum volitant, certatim ipsam ambiunt et studio perstrependi gestiunt. Tunc illa secum, “Fatentur scilicet me suam reginam, et salutant, et his motibus et his cantibus gloriosis colunt.” Hinc ergo superbit. Quod videns, cornicula “Fuge, stulta,” dixit, “et cavum tuum repetere propera. Non modo tibi honos nullus habitus est, at ipsa facta es ludus et iocus.”
M0465 (not in Perry). Source: Desbillons 12.9 (adapted into prose). This fable is not in Perry’s catalog; Desbillons cites John Gay as his source, although Gay's fable “The Owl and the Farmer” has a farmer instead of a crow rebuking the owl. For a fable where the monkey thinks she is the queen, see #115.
