Chapter 16 Parrot

Parrots & Italian Fairy Tales Once upon a time there was a merchant who wanted to go out to do business, but he dared not leave his daughter alone at home, because a king had already had bad ideas about her. He told his daughter: "Son, I'm leaving, you must promise me that you will not step out of the house or open the door for anyone until I come back." That morning, the girl found a beautiful parrot on the tree outside the window. She was very polite and lovable. She chatted with this parrot for a while and found it very interesting. The girl said, "Dear Papa, I will be very lonely if I stay at home alone. Can I buy a parrot to keep me company?"

The businessman regarded his daughter as the apple of his eye, and immediately went out to find her a parrot.He met an old man who sold parrots, and he sold them very cheaply, so he bought the parrot and gave it to his daughter.After he gave his daughter thousands of instructions, he left home and set off on the road. As soon as the merchant left home, the king began to think of some way to get close to the girl.He conspired with an old woman, and sent her to deliver a letter to the girl. But at that time, the girl was talking to the parrot: "Parrot, can you tell me something interesting?"

"I will tell you a touching story. Once upon a time there was a king who had only one daughter, and because he was an only child, he had no brothers or sisters to play with her. They made her a doll, the size of her life, with a face like hers. , dressed like her. She always took the doll with her wherever she went, and people often mistake her for a doll, and the doll for her. Once, the king took her and the doll to a forest in a carriage, and the enemy Attacked them, killed the king, kidnapped the princess, and threw the doll in the car. The princess was crying sadly, the enemy had to let her go, and she walked alone in the forest. Came to a queen's palace The queen took her in as a maid. The girl was clever and virtuous, and she was favored by the queen. The other servants began to envy her. In order to make her fall out of favor, they said to her: "You know, the mistress is really good to you. I will tell you everything, but there is one thing we all know that she never told you, that is, she had a son who died later.' So the girl went to the queen and said, 'Your majesty, are you really Had a son, did he die later?' Hearing this, the queen almost fainted. No one dared to mention this matter, and whoever mentioned her dead son was a capital offense. The girl was sentenced to death as usual, but the queen I felt sorry for her, and only locked her in the dungeon. After the girl was locked in, she felt very lost; she couldn't eat, and cried all night. In the middle of the night, she was crying when she heard the sound of the door opening, and there were five Men, four of whom were magicians, and the other was the queen's son, who were imprisoned by them, and they took him out for a walk."

At this point in the story, a servant interrupted the parrot, who brought a letter to the girl.The letter was written by the king, who managed to have it delivered here.But the girl was in the mood, and wanted to know the rest of the story, so she said, "I won't receive any letters until my father comes back. Please don't disturb me. Go on, Parrot." The servant took the letter and went out, and the parrot continued to tell the story: "In the morning, the jailer who guarded the girl found that the prisoner hadn't eaten anything, so he reported it to the queen. The queen sent her to the palace, and the girl saw in the dungeon that the prince was still alive. He was imprisoned by four magicians and told the Queen about the situation that he was released every night in the middle of the night. The Queen immediately sent twelve sergeants to the dungeon with spears in hand, killed the four magicians, and took the Queen's son to the dungeon. The queen came back. Because the girl saved the prince, the queen decided to let the prince marry the girl."

Just at this point, there was another knock on the door, and the servant came to ask the little master to read the letter from the king.The merchant's daughter said, "Well, the story is over, and I can read the letter now." "It's not over yet, there's still a paragraph to go." The parrot hurriedly tried to dissuade her, "Listen: that girl doesn't want to marry the queen's son, she just needs some money and a man's costume and left to another city-state. Here the king's son was afflicted with a disease which no physician could heal: from midnight till morning he stared and babbled like a demon. The girl came in a man's dress and claimed to be a physician from a foreign country , asked to be allowed to stay alone with the patient overnight. She checked the bed first, and found that there was a secret passage under the bed, and going down from the secret passage was a corridor with an oil lamp at the end. "

At this time, there was another knock on the door, and the servant came in and said that an old woman who claimed to be the girl's aunt wanted to see the girl. (In fact she was not the girl's aunt at all, but the old woman who served the king.) The merchant's daughter, eager to know how the story would end, told the servants that no one was to be entertained. "Parrot, go on." The parrot went on: "The girl came closer to the oil lamp and saw an old woman boiling the prince's heart in a cauldron, because the king had killed her own children. The girl took the heart from the pot, And let the king's son swallow it, and the disease was healed immediately. The king said: "I promised, whichever doctor heals my son, I will give him half of the city. You are a woman, you marry Give my son and be his queen.'”

"What a miracle!" said the merchant's daughter. "The story is over, and now I can receive the old woman who claims to be my aunt." The parrot said: "The story is not over yet. There is still a paragraph behind. Listen carefully. The girl dressed as a doctor is unwilling to marry the king's son, so she left again. She came to another city-state, where the king's son was killed. At night, the girl hides under the bed. In the middle of the night, she sees two witches come in through the window. They take out a jewel from the prince's mouth, and the prince can speak. When they leave, they put the jewel in the mouth again. into the prince's mouth, and he became dumb again."

There was another knock at the door, but the merchant's daughter, who was so absorbed in the story, did not hear it.The parrot continued: "The next night, when the two witches put the little gemstone on the bed, the girl pulled up the sheet, shook the gemstone to the ground, picked it up and put it in her pocket. In the morning, the witches couldn't find the gemstone, so they had to escaped. The king's son can speak, and the maiden is appointed court physician." The knock on the door was still ringing, and the merchant's daughter wanted people from outside the house to come in, so she asked the parrot first: "Have you just finished telling your story?"

"I haven't finished," said the parrot. "Listen: the girl doesn't want to be a doctor in the palace, and she has come to another city-state. She heard that the king here is crazy. He picked up a doll in the forest. Falling in love with it, she shut herself in her room and stared at the doll, crying because it was not a real woman. When the girl heard the news, she came to the king's room and looked in amazement, saying: 'This is my the doll!’ and the king saw that the girl looked exactly like the doll, and said, ‘This is the bride I want to marry!’” The knock on the door was still ringing, and the parrot really didn't know how to continue the story.Just say, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, there's one more paragraph." But it won't go on.

The businessman's voice came from outside the door: "Open the door, open the door, I am your father." Upon hearing this, the parrot said, "The story is over. The king married this girl, and the two lived happily together." The girl then ran to open the door and hugged her father who had returned from a long journey. The businessman said, "My daughter is so good, she never stepped out of the house. Where is the parrot?" They went back into the room to look for the parrot, but when they could not find it, they saw a handsome young man, who said, "Excuse me, sir, but I am a king disguised as a parrot, and I am in love with your daughter. I learned that my rival - another king - wanted to abduct your daughter, put on a parrot skin, talked to her sincerely, and prevented her from falling into the trap set by my rival. I believe I succeeded , now I can propose to your daughter."

The businessman agreed to their marriage, so the girl married the king who had told him fairy tales, and the other king died of anger. (Monferrato area) The Parrot Once upon a time there was a merchant who was supposed to go away on business, but he was afraid to leave his daughter at home by herself, as a certain king had designs on her. "Dear daughter," he said, "I'm leaving, but you must promise not to stick your head out of the door or let anyone in until I get back." Now that very morning the daughter had seen a handsome parrot in the tree outside her window. He was a well-bred parrot, and the maiden had delighted in talking with him. "Father," she replied, "it just breaks my heart to have to stay home all by myself. Couldn't I at least have a parrot to keep me company?" The merchant, who lived only for his daughter, went out at once to get her a parrot. He found an old man who sold him one for a song. He took the bird to his daughter, and after much last-minute advice to her , he set out on his trip. No sooner was the merchant out of sight than the king began devising a way to join the maiden. He enlisted an old woman in his scheme and sent her to the girl with a letter. In the meantime the maiden got into conversation with the parrot. "Talk to me, parrot." "I will tell you a good story. Once upon a time there was a king who had a daughter. She was an only child, with no brothers or sisters, nor did she have any playmates. So they made her a doll the same size as herself, with a face and clothes exactly like her own. Everywhere she went the doll went too, and no one could tell them apart. One day as king, daughter, and doll drove through the woods in their carriage, they were attacked by enemies who killed the king and carried off his daughter, leaving the doll behind in the abandoned carriage. The maiden screamed and cried so, the enemies let her go, and she wandered off into the woods by herself. She eventually reached the court of a certain queen and became a servant. She was such a clever girl that the queen liked her better all the time. The other servants grew jealous and plotted her downfall. You are aware, of course, they said, that the queen likes you very much and tells you everything. But theres one thing which we know and you dont. She had a son who died. At that, the maiden went to the queen and asked, Majesty, is it true that you had a son who died? Upon hearing those words, the queen almost fainted. Heaven help anyone who recalled that fact! The penalty for mentioning that dead son was no less than death. The maiden too was condemned to die, but the queen took pity on her and had her shut up in a dungeon instead. There the girl gave way to despair, refusing all food and passing her nights weeping. At midnight, as she sat there weeping, she heard the door bolts slide back, and in walked five men: four of them were sorcerers and the fifth was the queens son, their prisoner, whom they were taking out for exercise." At that moment, the parrot was interrupted by a servant bearing a letter for the merchants daughter. It was from the king, who had finally managed to get it to her. But the girl was eager to hear what happened next in the tale, which had reached the most exciting part, so she said, "I will receive no letters until my father returns. Parrot, go on with your story." The servant took the letter away, and the parrot continued. "In the morning the jailers noticed the prisoner had not eaten a thing and they told the queen. The queen sent for her, and the maiden told her that her son was alive and in the dungeon a prisoner of four sorcerers, who took him out every night at midnight for exercise. The queen dispatched twelve soldiers armed with crowbars, who killed the sorcerers and freed her son. Then she gave him as a husband to the maiden who had saved him." The serant knocked again, insisting that the young lady read the kings letter. "Very well. Now that the story is over, I can read the letter," said the merchants daughter. "But its not finished yet, theres still some more to come," the parrot hastened to say. "Just listen to this: the maiden was not interested in marrying the queens son. She settled for a pursuit of money and a mans outfit and moved on to another city. The son of this citys king was ill, and no doctor knew how to cure him. From midnight to dawn he raved like one possessed. The maiden showed up in mans attire, claiming to be a foreign doctor and asking to be left with the youth for one night. The first thing she did was look under the bed and find a trapdoor. She opened it and went down into a long corridor, at the end of which a lamp was burning." At that moment the servant knocked and announced there was an old woman to see the young lady, whose aunt she claimed to be. (It was not an aunt, but the old woman sent by the king.) But the merchants daughter was dying to Know the outcome of the tale, so she said she was receiving no one. "Go on, parrot, go on with your story." Thus the parrot continued. "The maiden walked down to that light and found an old woman boiling the heart of the kings son in a kettle, in revenge for the kings execution of her son. The maiden removed the heart from the kettle, carried it back to the kings son to eat, and he got well. The king said, I promised half of my kingdom to the doctor who cured my son. Since you are a woman, you will marry my son and become queen." "Its a fine story," said the merchants daughter. "Now that its over, I can receive that woman who claims to be my aunt." "But its not quite over," said the parrot. "Theres still some more to come. Just listen to this. The maiden in doctors disguise also refused to marry that kings son and was off to another city whose kings son was under a spell and speechless. She hid under the bed; at midnight, she saw two witches coming through the window and remove a pebble from the young mans mouth, whereupon he could speak. Before leaving, they replaced the pebble, and he was again mute." Someone knocked on the door, but the merchants daughter was so absorbed in the story that she didn't even hear the knock. The parrot continued. "The next night when the witches put the pebble on the bed, she gave the bedclothes a jerk and it dropped on the floor. Then she reached out for it and put it in her pocket. At dawn the witches couldn't find it and had to flee. The kings son was well, and they named the maiden physician to the court." The knocking continued, and the merchants daughter was all ready to say "Come in," but first she asked the parrot, "Does the story go on, or is it over?" "It goes on," replied the parrot. "Just listen to this. The maiden wasn't interested in remaining as physician to the court, and moved on to another city. The talk there was that the king of this city had gone mad. Hed found a doll in the woods and fell in love with it. He stayed shut up in his room admiring it and weeping because it was not a real live maiden. The girl went before the king. That is my dool! is my bride! replied the king on seeing that she was the dolls living image." There was another knock, and the parrot was at a total loss to continue the story. "Just a minute, just a minute, theres still a tiny bit more," he said, but he had no idea what to say next. "Come on, open up, its your father," said the merchants voice. "Ah, here we are at the end of the story," announced the parrot. "The king married the maiden, and they lived happily ever after." The girl finally ran to open the door and embraced her father just back from his trip. "Well done, my daughter!" said the merchant. "I see you've remained faithfully at home. And how is the parrot doing?" They went to take a look at the bird, but in his place they found a handsome youth. "Forgive me, sir," said the youth. "I am a king who put on a parrots disguise, because I am in love with your daughter. Aware of the intentions of a rival king to abduct her, I came here beneath a parrots plumage to entertain her in an honorable manner and at the same time to prevent my rival from carrying out his schemes. I believe I have succeeded in both purposes, and that I can now ask for your daughters hand in marriage." The merchant gave his consent. His daughter married the king who had told her the tale, and the other king died of rage. (Monferrato) NOTES: "The Parrot" (Il pappagallo) from Comparetti, 2, Monferrato, Piedmont. See my remarks on this folktale in the Introduction, p. xxx-xxxi. I have taken the liberty of doctoring the two versions published by Comparetti--the Piedmontese one and a Tuscan one, from Pisa (1)--and I heightened the suspense by placing the interruptions at the crucial moments. Copyright: Italian Folktales Selected and Retold by Italo Calvino, translated by George Martin, Pantheon Books, New York 1980