The Parrot - Italian Folktale

Once upon a time there was a merchant, who had a daughter. One day he had to go away on business and didn’t want to leave his daughter alone. So he bought her a parrot.

As soon as the merchant was out of sight, the girl got engaged in conversation with the bird. “Beautiful parrot, please tell me a story” asked the girl. “I’ll tell you a very interesting story” the bird answered. “Once there was a king, who had only one daughter. Since she didn’t have any siblings, he wanted to make her happy by giving her a doll as big as she was. The doll was not only matching the princesses’ gowns, but also the face was a mirror image of the princess. One day three of them, king, princess and the doll, drove through the woods, when they were attacked by enemies. The king was killed, the princess was taken by the enemy and the doll was left behind. The girl screamed so loud that the enemy couldn’t take it any longer and let her go. She wandered off into the woods dragging one foot after another with her head down. Suddenly, she saw a light falling on the ground. When she raised her head, she saw a castle as big as the one she lived in with her father. Unfortunately, it was a different kingdom and the girl became a servant here. But as a clever girl, she became queen’s favorite and in no time all the other servants got jealous of her. They plotted the girl’s downfall by telling her a story of queen’s dead son, which was something that the queen forbade to be mention at the castle. The girl not knowing the second part mentioned this to the queen, who in turn threw the girl into the dungeon. During the night, while the girl was weeping, all of a sudden she heard some noise. She peeped through the crack in the door and saw a sorcerer with the queen’s son, who was kept as the prisoner.”

The parrot was interrupted by the knock at the door, the servant walked in with a letter. But the girl didn’t want to be bothered with any letters now. The parrot’s story seemed much more interesting than any letter. So she said to the parrot “Go on with the story.”

So the parrot continued “The queen took pity of the girl, who refused to eat or drink at all. As soon as the girl was brought back to the queen, she told her what she saw during the night. The queen not wasting any time sent some soldiers to rescue her son. The son and the queen were reunited with great joy. “How can I repay you for this?” the queen asked the girl. “A sack of money and man’s attire will do” answered the girl.

The girl wandered to another kingdom, where the king’s son was ill. Many doctors tried to cure the son, but none succeeded. The girl disguised in man’s outfit pretended to be a doctor. During the night she discovered a secret passage to a small dark room in which a woman was boiling son’s heart. As soon as the sun rose, the girl told the king “You need to get the heart back from the woman and give it back to your son.” The king dispatched some soldiers and the heart was brought back to the king’s son and from now on he was in perfect health. “How can I repay you for this?” the king asked the girl. “A sack of money and an acceptance of a woman as a physician will do” answered the girl.

The girl wandered again to another kingdom, where the king’s son was speechless. Many tried to remove the spell, but none succeeded. During the night the girl saw a witch entering the son’s room and putting a pebble into his mouth, which made him mute. Before the first sun rays raised, the girl removed the pebble and got rid of it for good. The king’s son regained his speech and the girl was named as the official physician to the court.

But the clever girl was interested in seeing more of the world, so she wandered again to another kingdom, whose king supposedly gone mad. The story was that he found a doll in the woods and he fell in love with it. He spent hours admiring the doll and crying his eyes out, because she wasn’t real.

The parrot was interrupted again by the knock at the door “Just a second” yelled annoyed girl. “Continue parrot, continue” the girl hurried the bird. “Ok, ok” the parrot continued “So the girl went to see the king and saw that the doll was her doll. And when the king saw the real girl the mirror image of the doll, he proposed the marriage. The girl finally decided to settle down and marry the king.”

The parrot was interrupted again by the knock at the door “And that’s the end of the story.” The girl rushed to the door and saw that his father was back from his trip.