Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot, Part A

Miemun and Khojisteh:

• Miemun bought a parrot that predicted many travelers of a caravan coming to the city and buying spikenard, so he bought it all and sold it to them himself

 Khojisteh and the Parrot:

• Khojisteh wanted to sneak out and see a prince while her husband was away and killed the second bird in anger when she was denied. The parrot knew he would die if he did not agree with her, so he piqued her interest by mentioning a story

 The Parrot of Ferukh Beg:

• The Parrot tells a story that is exactly like Khojisteh's situation in real life in which she and the Parrot are both thrust from their home, though the Parrot is believed to be dead, and he pardons the wife and reunites her with her husband
• When the Parrot in the story tells the wife to shave her head and wait 40 days, it could be fun to expand on that and create more ridiculous things that the parrot makes her do simply for laugh

The Goldsmith, the Carpenter, the Taylor... Wooden Woman

• A carpenter fashioned a wooden figurine, a goldsmith bejewelled her, the taylor sewed her clothes, and the hermit brought her to life upon which all the men fell in love with her 
• They asked the Tree of Decision who she should belong to and she was swept back up into the wood, from which she came
• Could add that the Tree of Decision was unable to divide and let her in, so she was stuck as a woman and the men had to settle the argument with someone winning

The King of Kinoje and his Daughter

• The poor dirveish loved the king's daughter and he could have her if he brought an elephant load of gold, so he asked the royroyan, who was generous enough to give it to him
• Then he was to bring the royroyan's head, but the royroyan was so generous that he offered to be dragged in with his body attached to his head. Then he was given the princess instead
• Could change it so that he did bring just his head, but the royroyan lived without his body

The Fowler, the Parrot, and her Young Ones

• The Parrot was taken from her nest by the Fowler and taken to the king to cure him of illness, but the Parrot flew away after half-curing him

The Merchant and His Wife

• The merchant was gone for six months and when he returned, he asked for a mistress to be fetched for him that turned out to be his own wife 
• Could tell this story from the point of view of the neighbor who helped them reconcile

The Old Lion and the Cat

• The lion commissioned the cat to stand watch and keep the mice away while he slept, but one day the cat's kitten killed all the mice and the lion dismissed the cat

The Commander of the Frogs and the Snake

•  The frog king, Shapoor, was banished by the other frogs and asked a snake to help him get revenge by eating them
• When all of the frogs in the well were gone, Shapoor ran away and left the snake alone waiting

Four Rich Persons Who Became Poor

• Four men walked with balls on their head and dug in the ground wherever their ball fell. 
• They found copper, then silver, then gold, but the fourth man thought there would be more and continued on only to find an iron mine.
• Could have the fourth man actually stumble upon the jewels instead of the iron and reward his patience and persistence

Besheer and a Woman Named Chunder 

• Besheer and Chunder were having an affair and her husband took her away so Besheer had to bring his friend the Arab to seek her out
• The Arab suffered a beating when he posed as Chunder to the husband while Besheer and Chunder were together, but stayed the night with Chunder's sister

(The magical parrot from Commons Wikimedia)

Bibliography: Tales of a Parrot, an early 19th century English version of the Tutinameh and an adaptation of an earlier book written in Sanskrit