A clever crow chances upon a huge castle, the home of the Peacock King, Pavo Cristatus, and wants to enter.  He is shooed away by the guards, but that only serves to strenghten his desire to enter it - by hook or by crook. 

Soon after, Pavo has a surprise visitor, cousin Cavo Pristatus from Africa, who looks like a peacock, but is not quite one.  Cousin Cavo delights the king and his guests with his stories and his knowledge about Africa. In the end his caw reveals his true identity, to the amusement of the other birds.

This story written by Nirupama Raghavan when she was just eight years old, truly captures the untainted imagination of a child. A cat may look at a king, comes to mind after going through this book. The story underlies similar themes without being preachy.

The eyecatching illustrations and the detailing of a menagerie of characters in each page would keep a child long occupied, after having read the book.

 This story is also available in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Bangla.