The Talking Parrot

The Talking Parrot

Once upon a time in a city, there lived a fowler named Timm. He would catch birds for a living. One day, he caught a parrot. When Timm tried to cage the parrot, the parrot replied, “Please! Let me go. If you let me go then a rare parrot will come to your net and you can catch it.” Timm was astonished. He exclaimed, ” You are so valuable! You can talk and I would be a fool to let you free but still I will set you free.”. He let the parrot free.

Timm waited eagerly and soon a very rare parrot fell into the net. Timm put the parrot in the cage and admired the rare parrot. He decided that instead of selling it to regular people, he would sell it to the King himself. Timm then went to the palace and the King came out. Timm showed the very rare parrot to the King and asked if he’d buy it. The King said that he would take it if it learns to talk. Soon, the parrot started to talk and the king bought it.

Meanwhile the Minister was watching and was suspicious of Timm and thought of him to be a danger to him. Hence, he hatched a plan to send Timm on an expedition from where he could never return. One day the King and the Minister were looking at the parrot when the minister said, “Oh King! A unique bird and an ordinary gold cage?” The King was stunned. He said that’s the best one can get. The Minister said that golden cages are common and instead, an Ivory cage would be good. So the Minister called for Timm and told him that if he couldn’t get enough Ivory he would be beheaded. Timm went to the forest where he again met the talking parrot. The talking parrot told Timm “ Go East and there will be a herd of elephants!”. Timm went East as directed by the parrot and finally, he saw a herd of elephants. Timm went to the king elephant and asked for help. The king elephant said that he understood what Timm needed but there was a lion in that part of the forest which was harassing elephants. The King Elephant said that if Timm could drive the lion away from the forest, the elephants would give him as much Ivory as he wanted.

Timm decided to trick the lion so he got mirrors and placed them on opposite sides but facing each other. Then Timm made sounds to call on the lion. The lion came to eat Timm but Timm behaved brave as if he was not scared and said, “I am a big game hunter of lions and already killed many lions, if you want to see them come here.” So the lion followed Timm to the center of the mirrors and looked at them. He saw many of his reflections and thinking that they are dead lions, the lion ran away from the forest forever. The elephants came and gave the ivory to Timm and Timm brought the Ivory to the King. Then the King gave him the job of being the chief of the Mauhts.

The Minister’s plan had misfired. He hatched another plan. One day the parrot started to cry and the King thought that the parrot was missing its old master. So the King asked the Minister to get the parrot’s old master. The Minister then told Timm to bring the parrot’s old master and that if he did not succeed in doing so, he would be beheaded. Timm went to the forest again. The talking parrot came to Timm and told him what to do as always. Timm went to a secret temple and got on a flying horse there and flew to an island. There Timm saw a princess just like the talking parrot had told him. He took the princess to the king and informed the king that the princess was the old owner of the parrot. The King found the old owner and the princess found her parrot.

The King then gave Timm a job of being the Chief of the Army. Soon the King and the Princess married each other. One day, the Queen fell ill and no physician could cure her. The queen then said that once she had a friend who knew the remedy but long back in anger she turned her into a parrot. Then the Minister told Timm to go and get the parrot. Timm went to the forest again. The talking parrot came to Timm and told him to take her to the queen. Timm took the talking parrot to the queen. The queen then touched the parrot and it turned into a beautiful girl. The queen was cured. Timm and the beautiful girl married each other and Timm became the new Minister. The envious Minister left the city forever.

The End