Prancing Peacock
These four commission work pieces - Thukeri, The Emperor and the Seed, The Prancing Peacock and The Good Samaritan - display universal values and morals through a variety of religious and cultural stories.
At the bottom of this page you will find the original Prancing Peacock story (be aware - it is a little different to the one in the songbook - read it first yourself before thinking about reading it to your class). Click on the green button to see the lessons for this piece of music. |
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What is a Prancing Peacock?
Many students may not have had the opportunity to know what it means when a peacock is 'prancing' - this video is a good one to show your class if there are students who have not seen this before.
Did you know the name 'peacock' only refers to the male of the species? The name 'peahen' refers to the female. If you want to talk about the species (both males and females) you can use the term 'peafowl'. Only the males have the beautiful tailfeathers. The females are light brown in colour. |
Story of the Prancing Peacock
Please read through the story yourself before reading it to your students - this original story is a little bit different!
Once upon a time, a very long time ago, the four-footed animals made the lion their king. There was a gigantic fish that roamed the oceans, and the fish made him their king. The birds were attracted to beauty, so they chose the Golden Swan as their king.
King Golden Swan had a beautiful golden daughter. While she was still young, he granted her one wish. She wished that, when she was old enough, she could pick her own husband.
When his daughter was old enough, King Golden Swan called all the birds living in the vast Himalayan mountains of central Asia to a gathering. The purpose was to find a worthy husband for his golden daughter. Birds came from far away, even from high Tibet. There were geese, swans, eagles, sparrows, humming birds, cuckoos, owls and many other kinds of birds.
The gathering was held on a high rock slab, imn the beautiful green land of Nepal. King Golden Swan told his lovely daughter to select whichever husband she wanted.
She looked over the many birds. Her eye was attracted by a shining emerals-green long-necked peacock, with gorgous flowing tail feathers. She told her father, "This bird, the peacock, will be my husband".
Hearing that he was the lucky one, all the other birds crowded around the peacock to congratulate him. They said, "Even among so many beautiful birds, the golden swan princess has chosen you. We congratulate you on your good fortune".
The peacock became so puffed up with pride, that be began to show off his colourful feathers in a fantastic strutting dance. He fanned out his spectacular tail feathers and danced in a circle to show off his beautiful tail. Being so conceited, he pointed his head at the sky and forgot all modesty, so that he also, showed his most private parts for all to see!
The other birds, especially the young ones, giggled. But King Golden Swan was not amused. He was embarrassed to see his daughter's choice behave in this way. He thought, "This peacock has no inner shame to give him proper modesty. Nor does he have the outer fear to prevent indecent behaviour. So why should my daughter be shamed by such a mindless mate?"
Standing in the midst of the great assembly of birds, the king said, "Sir pracock, your voice is sweet, your feathers are beautiful, your neck shines like an emerals, and your tail is like a splendid fan. But you have danced here like one who has no proper shame or fear. I will not permit my innocent daughter to marry such as ignorant fool!"
Then King Golden Swan married his golden daughter to a royal nephew. The silly strutting peacock flew away, having lost a beautiful wife.
The moral is: If you let pride go to your head, you'll end up acting like a fool.