The Parrot and the Thrush.Which are worse, men or women?
Then the king went back to the sissoo tree to fetch the goblin.When he got there, he took the body with the goblin in it on his shoulder, and started off in silence.And as he walked along, the goblin said to him again: "O King, you must be very tired, coming and going in the night.So to amuse you I will tell another story.Listen."There is a city called Patna, the gem of the earth.And long ago a king lived there whose name was Lion-of-Victory.Fate had made him the owner of all virtues and all wealth.And he had a parrot called Jewel-of- Wisdom, that had divine intelligence and knew all the sciences, but lived as a parrot because of a curse.
This king had a son called Moon, and by the advice of the parrot this prince married the daughter of the king of the Magadha country; and her name was Moonlight.Now this princess had a thrush named Moony, who was like the parrot, because she had learning and intelligence.And the parrot and the thrush lived in one cage in the palace.
One day the parrot eagerly said to the thrush: "My darling, love me, and share my bed and my chair and my food and my amusements."But the thrush said: "I will have nothing to do with men.Men are bad and ungrateful."Then the parrot said: "Men are not bad.It is only women who are bad and cruel-hearted." And they quarrelled.
Then the two birds wagered their freedom with each other and went to the prince to have their quarrel decided.And the prince mounted his father's judgment throne, and when he had heard the cause of the quarrel, he asked the thrush: "How are men ungrateful? Tell the truth." Then she said, "Listen, O Prince," and to prove her point she started to tell this story illustrating the faults of men.
There is a famous city called Kamandaki, where a wealthy merchant lived named Fortune.And in time a son was born to him and named Treasure.Then when the father went to heaven, the young man became very unruly because of gambling and other vices.And the rascals cametogether, and ruined him.Association with scoundrels is the root from which springs the tree of calamity.
So in no long time he lost all he had through his vices, and being ashamed of his poverty, he left his own country and went to wander in other places.And during his travels he came to a city called Sandal City, and entered the house of a merchant, seeking something to eat.When the merchant saw the youth, he asked him about his family, and finding that he was a gentleman, he entertained him.And thinking that Gate had sent the young man, he gave him his own daughter Pearl, together with some money.And when Treasure was married, he lived in his father-in-law's house.
As time passed, he forgot his former miseries in the comforts of his life, and longed for the old vices, and wanted to go home.So the rascal managed to persuade his father-in-law, who had no other children, took his wife Pearl with her beautiful ornaments, and an old woman, and started for his own country.Presently he came to a wood where he said he was afraid of thieves, so he took all his wife's ornaments.Perceive, O Prince, how cruel and hard are the ungrateful hearts of those who indulge in gambling and other vices.And the scoundrel was ready, just for money, to kill his good wife.He threw her and the old woman into a pit.Then the rascal went away and the old woman perished there.
But Pearl, with the little life she had left, managed to get out by clinging to the grass and bushes, and weeping bitterly, and bleeding, she asked the way step by step, and painfully reached her father's house by the way she had come.And her mother and father were surprised and asked her: "Why did you come back so soon, and in this condition?"And that good wife said: "On the road we were robbed, and my husband was forcibly carried off.And the old woman fell into a pit and died, but I escaped.And a kind-hearted traveller pulled me from the pit." Then her father and mother were saddened, but they comforted her, and Pearl stayed there, true to her husband.
Then in time Treasure lost all his money in gambling, and he reflected: "I will get more money from the house of my father-in-law.I will go there and tell my father-in-law that his daughter is well and is at my house."So he went again to his father-in-law.And as he went, his ever-faithful wife saw him afar off.She ran and fell at the rascal's feet and told him all the story that she had invented for her parents.For the heart of a faithful wife does not change even when she learns that her husband is a rogue.
Then that rascal went without fear into the house of his father-in-law and bowed low before his feet.And his father-in-law rejoiced when he saw him and made a great feast with his relatives, for he said: "My son is delivered alive from the robbers.Heaven be praised!" Then Treasure enjoyed the wealth of his father-in-law and lived with his wife Pearl.
