Why does the crow move as if it were dancing? Once, a crow saw a dove that walked in a very elegant manner. The crow so liked the way the dove walked that he said, “I will walk the way she does.” He almost killed himself trying to walk like the dove.

The other birds made fun of him. The crow was embarrassed and said, “I will walk the way I used to.” He tried to walk the way he did before, but couldn’t because he had forgotten how.

And so he remained like a dancer—he could not walk the way he used to, or the way he did afterwards (when he was imitating the dove.)

-- Ben Sira’s Alphabet, in Eisenstein, p. 48

NOTES