Every night that Khojisteh became conflicted with the decision to leave her room and go seek her lover, the parrot would begin to tell her a story. Khojisteh enjoyed hearing the stories and they would help her see that she did not need to seek someone else out for comfort and keep her distracted until morning time.
Finally, the day came when Miemun returned to the kingdom. But, when Khojisteh went to go talk with him, his faithful parrot interrupted her and began to tell Miemun what she had almost done while he was away. Miemun was furious with Khojisteh and went away to call the troops to have her executed. Miemun was heartbroken but happy to know he had one faithful servant, his parrot.
Khojisteh lay in her room crying for her love and her life. Finally, Miemun relented and went to speak with her one last time.
Khojisteh asked him, “Do you not love me enough to hear my side of the story? You have been gone for five years. Did you not feel the same torments as me while you were traveling?”
Miemun angrily replied, “I did but every time I came into contact with someone who might tempt me from you I merely moved to a new city, escaping the temptations.”
Khojisteh was glad to know that he had been faithful to her on his trips but she explained, “You were able to run away. I cannot leave the palace. Even though the parrot would help me make it through each handsome stranger, it would seem a new one would show up just as soon as the other left.”
When Miemun heard this from his wife he became very confused. Why had all these strangers traveled to their land and stayed in the palace? He did not know what business they might have in his kingdom, nor who was calling them there for business. To this, he began to ask the servants about the many visitors that came to the palace in his absence.
Miemun sat at the throne and waited as he called for his trusty friend, the parrot, to join him. Once the parrot was seated next to him, Miemun turned to the parrot and asked, “Friend, who were these visitors that came to see my wife? I must know more about them so that they too can be punished.”
The parrot replied, “Why of course, master, I made sure to keep records of each of the treacherous men that came by to try and steal away your beloved wife.”
Miemun thanked the parrot and continued to obtain more information. “Thank you for being so faithful to me. Why did these men come to my kingdom when I was not present? I wonder if their business was to steal my beautiful wife away from me?”
The parrot nervously agreed, “Why of course that is why they came… someone must have informed them that Khojisteh was left alone while you traveled. How very disrespectful of them.”
Next Miemun ordered for the soldiers to bring forward Khojisteh. As she entered the room the parrot noticed she was not tied up. Confused he asked Miemun, “I thought Khojisteh was to be executed? While she may not have cheated, it was only because I stopped her each night with a story. To save my dear master from coming back to an embarrassment.”
Miemun calmly replied, “It is true that you stopped her from going out every night, but it is also true that you supplied the men to torment my wife.”
The parrot was at a loss for words. He looked from Khojisteh to Miemun and then humbly knelt to the ground in front of them. “Please forgive me, master. I was only trying to expose how horrible a wife Khojisteh could be. Now I see that it was wrong and sincerely apologize,” said the parrot.
Miemun explained to the parrot, “I wanted to have you killed but Khojisteh said that it was too easy to let you die for your transgression. Instead, you will be imprisoned, in solitude, until the day you die. You will not know companionship with anyone anymore.”
Author’s Note: This story is based on Tales of a Parrot by Ziya’al-Din Nakhshabi. In the original story, a parrot tells Khojisteh stories at night to keep her preoccupied and from going off to go cheat on her husband. For my story, I specifically changed the ending to the last story in the tales, A King Falls in Love, Khojisteh Is Put to Death by the Hands of Miemun. As you can tell by the title of the original story Khojisteh is put to death by her husband Miemun after his parrot tells him what Khojiesteh was trying to do while he was away. Being a psychology major I did not like the fact that the husband did not speak with the wife about what had happened while he was away. While communication doesn’t solve every issue, it is key to have communication in a relationship. The more I read the tales, I felt that the parrot was really about himself and not actually trying to help Miemun or Khojisteh. This is why I changed the story, to give a twist. The parrot gets punished for bringing all the eligible men into the palace to tempt Khojisteh and the couple can work on their problems. I hope you have enjoyed my story and would love to hear feedback and ideas!
