Episode 2 · Folklore, Magic, Witty, Treasure
The Parrot
A small green witness
The story
Two men come to Nabil's home with a generous offer. The parrot he bought yesterday has only learned one word — and it is the word they did not want him to hear.
Nabil is a merchant. Reem is his wife. Yesterday at the market he brought home a parrot — small, green, the kind of bird that repeats whatever it hears most often. Today there are two men sitting in his courtyard, drinking his tea, smiling, offering a generous price for the patch of land at the edge of his property. They have done their research. They are very polite about it.
What they have not done is notice the cage on the wall. The parrot has been listening to them all afternoon. When Nabil leaves the room to fetch the deed, the bird begins to repeat the only word that has been said in the room all day.
"Treasure. Treasure. TREASURE."
By the time Nabil returns, the men are already looking at the door. He shows them out without signing anything. That night he digs at the edge of his property and finds a chest. Inside it, a folded carpet — and the corner of it lifts, unbidden, when his hand brushes the fabric.
Key moments
- Nabil at the market — he picks the green parrot off the perch
- Two well-dressed men sit in the courtyard with a polished offer for a corner of his land
- Reem pours the tea and catches a look between the two men
- Nabil steps inside to fetch the deed — the men whisper 'treasure' to each other
- The parrot repeats the only word it has heard: 'TREASURE!'
- Nabil returns to a room of pale faces — and shows the men to the door without a signature
- By lamplight, a chest at the edge of the property — and a carpet whose corner lifts on its own
Characters
- Nabil · Merchant
- Reem · Nabil's wife
- Mazen · One of the two visitors with the offer
- Hazem · Mazen's partner in the offer
- Parrot · The newly bought bird
The tale behind the episode
The Parrot is an original tale written in the voice of the Nights. Talking parrots are old residents of the collection: early on, inside the story of the fisherman and the jinni, a king tells the tale of a husband whose parrot reports everything that happens in his house while he is away. Here the bird is a witness of a different kind, and its single word changes a family's fortune.
Read more: What Is One Thousand and One Nights?.
