- This everyday expression means people who act in a self important way, risk being made to look very foolish.
- The expression comes from one of Aesop's Fables, ‘The Eagle and the Cockerels’. Aesop lived between c. 620-560 BCE.
Aesop Fable ‘The Eagle and the Cockerels’
- Two Cockerels were fighting in a farmyard and eventually one of them won.
- The loser hid in a corner, whilst the winner flew onto the top of the chicken house, and crowing as loud as his voice could, told the whole world about his victory.
- An Eagle passing overhead, hearing the Cockerel crowing, dived down and carried him off to his lair.
- The moral of the story is that pride comes before a fall.
Everyday Expressions that come from Aesop