Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 5.djvu/299

265 thereof, till, one day, going thither, I saw the track of the lion there, wherefore I feared him and withdrew from the garden.” The king understood the parable and knew that, by the track of the lion, he meant his own seal-ring, which he had forgotten in his house; so he said, “Return to thy garden, O vizier, and fear nothing, for the lion came not near it. It hath been told me that he went thither, but by the honour of my fathers and forefathers, he offered it no hurt.” “I hear and obey,” answered the vizier, and returning home, made his peace with his wife and thenceforth put faith in her chastity.

And I have heard also, O King,’ continued the Vizier, ‘that THE MERCHANT’S WIFE AND THE PARROT.

There was once a merchant who travelled much, and had a fair wife, whom he loved, and was jealous over her, by reason of the greatness of his love. So he bought her for a hundred dinars a green parrot, which talked like a man and used to tell him all that passed in his absence. Whilst he was abroad on one of his voyages, his wife fell in love with a young Turk, who used to visit her, and she entertained him and lay with him whilst her husband was away. When the latter returned, the parrot told him what had happened, whereat he was sore enraged and offered to kill his wife; but she said, “O man, fear God and return to thy wits. How can a bird have sense or understanding? If thou wilt that I make this manifest to thee, so thou mayst know its truth from its leasing, go this night and lie with one of thy friends, and in the morning come back and question the parrot [of what passed during the night,] and thou wilt see if it speak truth or not.”