The Staretz [St. Silouan] used to say that there was no end to the pretensions of pride. In his notes I found [this is written by Elder Sophrony] the following fable:

A certain huntsman liked stalking the woods and fields for game. One day after he had been climbing up a steep hill for hours tracking his prey, exhausted, he sat down on a large boulder to rest. Seeing a flight of birds soaring from one summit to another, he began to think, “Why didn’t God give wings to man, so that I could fly?” Just then a humble hermit walked by, divined the huntsman’s thoughts and said to him,

“There you are, sitting and complaining to yourself that God has not given you wings; but if you had wings, you would still be discontented and say, ‘My wings are feeble and I can’t fly to heaven with them to see what it’s like there.’ And were you then given wings strong enough to lift you to heaven, you would still be dissatisfied and say, ‘I don’t understand what goes on in heaven.’ And were you to be given understanding of this, you would again be discontented and say, ‘Why am I not an angel?’ Were you to be turned into a cherubim you would say, ‘Why doesn’t God let me rule over heaven?’ And if it were given you to rule over heaven you would still be dissatisfied and, like another we all know, insolently seek more. There I tell you, humble yourself at all times, and be content with the gifts you are given, and then you will be living with God.

The huntsman saw that the hermit spoke the truth and thanked God for sending him a monk to give him understanding and set him on the path of humility.

From Saint Silouan the Athonite