Parrots
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"As far as I know this really happened," my auntie said. It happened a long time ago in China where your great great grandfather lived as a young boy. There was a young lady who although she was very beautiful and full of grace came from a poor family. She became a maid to a very wealthy family. This was not as hard of a work as you may think. She only had one thing that she had to do, that was to take care of a very unusual bird, a parrot. While now days, a parrot may not seem so unusual to you and your friends, in those days, it was quite unusual! The girl did her best, feeding the bird the choicest of fruits and nuts, cleaning its cage, and talking to it to keep it company.
Now one day, it happened that a young gentleman scholar from a nearby village came to visit the family. The young maid, on her way to the market for vegetables for the bird happened to see him as he entered the courtyard. The handsome young man smiled at her but she was so embarrassed at being caught staring that she hurried off without a word. Later that evening as she sat by the bird, she spoke of the young man she had seen. "He is so handsome and kind looking. I hope someday that I have a husband like him. He has such a beautiful smile, but he was probably just being nice."
Meanwhile, the young man was thinking along the same thoughts. "She is so beautiful and refined. She didn’t scold me for being so forward and staring at her, although that was certainly very rude of me. She was probably just being kind and polite. Still, I wish I could have asked her what her name was. She is just the one I wish to marry."
A short time later, the parrot escaped from its cage. The young girl was terribly upset. Because she was afraid of getting into trouble she lied and said that someone had stolen the bird. Late that evening, the bird returned to its cage. The young girl, happy to see the parrot back, began to scold it. " Don’t be mad dear sister, I have gone to see the young man you have been telling me about. He really likes you and hopes that you will be his wife someday soon," spoke the parrot. The young girl was amazed that the bird could talk. All the time that she had been talking to the bird, she did not know that it could understand her and could talk.
The parrot then said, " Please do not lock me back in the cage. I will act as go-between for you and your young man. Write him a note and I will take it to him." The girl did as the bird asked. She wrote a note saying that she would meet him at the Buddhist temple. The parrot took the note and flew away.
The girl went to the Buddhist temple but the young man did not come. After a week had past and there was no sign of the bird or the young man, the girl began to get sick. She was dying of a broken heart. She did not eat or sleep. After another week past, the monks took her to the temple so that she could prepare to die.
What had happened was that some bad boys were throwing rocks and one of them hit and killed that poor parrot before it could give the girl’s note to the young man. It was such a sad thing to happen. The young man did not know that the girl had wrote him a note so he didn’t know that she was expecting him at the temple. And here she was dying of a broken heart. Aiyee. Well, Buddha is merciful.
On the seventh night since the parrot’s death, the parrot’s spirit came to the young man. " Please go to the Buddhist temple at once, your true love is dying from a broken heart. I was coming to you with a note from her but I died before I could bring it to you. She and I were sisters in a past life. I had hoped see her happily married before I left this life but that was not to be. Please hurry she truly loves you." The young man , being quick of mind, dressed hurriedly and taking the fastest horse, left that very night.
When he got to the temple, he found that he had come just in time to save her. He took her to his mother’s house and as soon as she got well, they got married. Because of the parrot’s good deed, parrot’s spirit was reborn into a higher life. And that is all.