The Parrot and The Jackal
There once upon a time lived a very clever parrot in a country. The parrot had three chicks. She had a nest on the top of a very big tree. In the hollow of the same tree, there was also a jackal family. When the mother jackal went for hunting, the baby parrots went to the house of the jackal family to play with baby jackals. But the mother parrot was not happy with this. One day, she told her children:
“My dear children! You should make friends with your own kind. I fear that the jackals will hurt you.” But the baby parrots didn’t listen to their mother. One night, the mother jackal went out to find food. In meantime, a wolf came to her house and ate her cubs. When the mother jackal returned, she couldn’t find her children. She became very sad. She kept the parrots responsible for the death of her cubs.
“If they hadn’t made that much noise, the wolf wouldn’t have found my hollow. But I will take revenge.”, said the mother jackal. While she was thinking about how to take revenge, one of her friends found an idea.
“I think you should show yourself to a huntsman, but you should act as if you are wounded. Then you can drag him around the tree and then hide. Thus, the huntsman will see the nest of the parrot and hunt them.” said the friend of the mother jackal.
The mother jackal did as her friend said. She found a huntsman and took him around the tree and hid. The Huntsman couldn’t find the jackal but noticed the parrot’s nest. He took out a net in his bag and caught the parrots. Baby parrots were scared a lot. They tried to escape but couldn’t. The mother told her children to calm down. “This was what I feared. The mother jackal did this to us, but it is too late now. We must find a way out.” said mother parrot.
“How?” asked the baby parrots.
“You should first keep calm and stand still as if you were dead, thus the huntsman will think you are dead, so he will throw you out of the net. When you are out, fly and get away from here. I will find you.” replied the mother parrot.
The baby parrots did as their mother said. The Huntsman looked at them and thought they were dead, so he threw them out of the net. The baby parrots immediately flew up and got away. The Huntsman got very angry. “The parrots tricked me”, said the huntsman and caught the mother parrot and took her to the town. He taught her singing and reading poem. Then, he told everyone about his wise and talkative parrot. Everyone heard the reputation of the parrot. The king also heard the fame of the parrot.
“Take me that parrot. I want to see its talents.” the king ordered his servants. They found the Huntsman and took him to the castle of the king. The king loved the parrot and bought it from the Huntsman. The parrot could eat very delicious foods and sweet fruits in the castle, but she wasn’t happy. She was always upset. The king noticed the sadness of the parrot which quitted eating.
One day, she was both singing and crying by a window. She was thinking about her children. “Where are they? What are they doing? My poor babies!” thought the parrot. The king was also upset for the parrot. He called her and asked the cause of her grief. The king learnt what was happened and released the parrot. The parrot thanked the king. She found her babies and they became happy again.
