Once upon a time, there lived a peacock in the forest of Rimouthoud.
Now, deep in the forest stood a tree, with many branches growing from it. Upon each branch grew nine twigs; for many years, many a weary one had stopped by this old tree to rest, or hide from the sun in the delighful shade under the swinging boughs.
One day, the peacock chanced upon the tree, and stopped to rest in its shade. Finding the spot pleasant, the peacock decided that the tree should belong to it, for most comfortable a place it was to rest and listen to the little sparrows chatter high in the branches. Happily, it declared to itself, 'This shall be my tree, it shall!' and spread out its bright tail feathers, strutting by the tree importantly.
Day after day, the peacock would come to sun itself by the tree, enjoying itself immensely. However, the peacock would not allow the other animals of the forest near it, chasing them all away with piercing shrieks. Ah, but then, one fine day, the peacock strutted happily to the tree as it was wont to do, only to find a snake coiled around it, blithely sunning itself. Its tail shaking with indignance, the peacock left in a huff, returning home in a very bad mood indeed, for it did not want to share the tree with anyone else.
Ah, but then, back at its own nest, the peacock could not rest at all, for the thought of the snake enjoying itself on the peacock's very own tree angered it to no end, and it decided to return to the tree and chase the snake away. So return it did.
By now, the snake had uncoiled itself and draped itself comfortably along the roots of the tree, taking a nap. Huffing its way up to the snake, the peacock flapped its wings and shook its tail hard, hoping to scare it away. Upon hearing the noise, the snake opened one eye. Finding the noise a nuisance and unable to fall asleep again, the snake decided to return to its burrow, and slithered unhurriedly away. Triumphantly, the peacock shrieked in delight and spread its tail in celebration of its victory, before settling down once again to listen to the sparrows gossiping above, now and then adding a shriek or two of its own.
Days passed quietly, and the peacock continued to visit the tree. Now then, one day, the peacock went down to the tree rather late, for a neighbour had come a-visiting, and the peacock had stopped to chat, before setting out to visit the tree. Imagine its anger at finding someone else there before it!
Ah, never has the forest seen such a furious peacock!
No other was it but the snake, lithely coiled around the tree trunk. Shrieking in a piercing voice, the peacock rushed up to the snake, and quite forgetting its manners, rudely pecked the snake as hard as it could. In anger, the snake raised its head to gaze upon the peacock with unblinking eyes, hissing dangerously. All the animals of the forest hid behind the bushes, gazing at the snake in shock, for none before it had dared to rebuff the peacock. Oblivious to the anger radiating from the snake, the peacock went on shrieking and flapping its wings. O, what a shock it was for the peacock when the snake spat back at it, sending a glob of venom its way. Alarmed, it finally ceased shrieking, at which the snake gave a final hiss before gliding away.
Shaken, the peacock returned to its nest to arrange its feathers, for the glob of venom had quite ruined it.
Ah, but the next day, when the sun rose over the sky, the peacock once again spread its feathers, making its way to the forest clearing. There, in piercing shrieks, it loudly called for justice against the snake. But did anyone heed it?
I know not. or all I heard,
'There it is yet, still calling away,
Never to stop, till its dying day.'
