Page:Sagas from the Far East; or, Kalmouk and Mongolian traditionary tales.djvu/338

314 The wise parrot answered, "Be of good heart, brother, all shall be right in thine absence."

At which the merchant replied, "If thou sayest so, brother Parrot, I can go forth on my journey without anxieties."

He had not been gone long when his young wife rose up, saying, "Now indeed I am for once my own mistress: I will go out and see all my friends, and particularly those I dare not visit when my husband is here." So she arrayed herself in all her gayest attire. But when she would have gone out the parrot stopped her, saying, "Wait, sister-in-law. A wife behoves it rather to set her household affairs in order, than to go abroad paying visits when her husband is absent."

"Bad parrot!" exclaimed the wife, "what hast thou to do to hinder my taking a little pleasure?"

The parrot answered, "Thy husband when he went away gave me strict charge over thee, saying, 'I command thee that thou hinder her from going forth alone.' This, however, it is not in me to do, for thou art greater in might than I; and if I command thee not to go thou wilt not obey bymy [sic] words. Only now, therefore, before thou goest out sit down first and listen to the story that I will tell thee."

When the wife heard him promise to tell a story, she sat down, for she loved to listen to the stories of the wise parrot.