The Wise Parrot

This is the story 'The Wise Parrot' from your book, Santoor (Chapter 4). Here it is, told in short.

In a quiet village lived a rich merchant. He kept a clever, talkative parrot in a cage made of gold. The parrot made the merchant happy with its stories and songs, so it was his favourite. But deep inside, the parrot wished to fly in the open sky among green trees.

One day the merchant had to go on a long journey. He asked his parrot what he could bring back for it. The parrot said that it had tasted every fruit and chilli; what it wanted now was to fly in the sky. It asked the merchant to set it free. The merchant said no: the parrot was too dear to him. So the parrot sighed and asked him to carry a message instead: to tell its friends in the jungle that it sent them greetings from its cage.

In a forest far away, the merchant saw a flight of parrots the same colour as his pet. He gave them the message. At once, one of the wild parrots dropped from the tree like a stone and lay on the ground. The merchant was very upset and hurried away.

At home, he told his parrot all about his journey, and sadly told it how one wild parrot had fallen down. As soon as he finished, his own parrot fell from its perch to the floor of the cage and lay still. Thinking it was dead, the merchant gently took it out and laid it on the windowsill. The moment he stepped back, the parrot stretched its green wings and flew away into the open sky. It called out that its friend had shown it how to escape. The wild parrot had only PRETENDED to be dead, to teach it the trick!