r29 BEAUTIFUL BIRDS 
sui.beam. But one day, as they were dancing upon 
the waters of the sea, they heard the fishes saying 
to each other: ‘‘ How beautiful are the sunbeams! 
Is there anything so beautiful as they? Our scales 
flash out brightly, but compared to them they are 
dull, even on the sunniest day. We should envy 
them, were they alive like us, but of course, as it is, 
it is different.” ‘Are we not alive?” said the 
sunbeams, and they felt sad and did not dance on 
the waves any more that day. Then, another day, 
they were dancing on the leaves, and falling through 
them on to the shady ground underneath, chequer- 
ing it with gold. ‘‘How glorious are the sun- 
beams!’ said the leaves to each other, ‘‘ more 
glorious even than the birds or the butterflies that 
perch amongst us. Would that we were as 
beautiful!’ ‘‘Do you envy them?” said a butter- 
fly, who had overheard and felt annoyed; “they 
have neither sense nor breath, are neither born nor 
die. Envy us, if you will, who have all these 
advantages, and are so beautiful as well—much more 
so than yourselves—but do not, however plain you 
may be, envy what is not alive.” ‘Are we not 
alive?’ said the sunbeams, and they were discon- 
tented and the clouds hid them, so that neither 
the trees nor the birds and butterflies within them 
seemed to be alive any more. And, again, the 
