Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot, Part A

As soon as I read the description for this book, I knew I had found my reading for the week! The parrot telling a story a night to prevent his mistress from visiting her lover immediately sparked the idea of setting this story in a sorority house and having girls tell different stories to prevent someone from going out. My friends and I used to do this all the time for one of our friends who always wanted to go out, meet the same guy, and go home with him, even though she would tell us every time to never let her do that again. We realized we couldn't tell her no because she would just do it anyways, so we used some great reverse psychology (like the parrot) and would basically make her think that it was her idea in the first place not to go out. Worked every time.

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Miemun and Khojisteh/ Khojisteh and the Parrot

I combined the first two stories in my notes because to me they both acted as the prologue and set the scene for how everything was going to go down. I'm so glad this story had a sort of prologue to explain everything. I thought that Khojisteh was single and the parrot just really cared about her well-being or thought her lover was bad for her. It's nice to know that she has a husband and now wants to have an affair because he is gone and that the parrot is telling her stories to protect his own skin because she killed the bird that protested to her leaving the house. I don't know how I feel about Khojisteh yet. If she and her husband love each other so much that she sunk into a depression when he left, then why is she trying to run into the arms of the first man she's seen since her husband left? Does she love her husband or does she just not like being lonely? These are the real questions! 

The Old Lion and the Cat

The entire time I was reading these stories I was wondering if Khojisteh really wanted to go to her lover. She keeps asking the parrot for permission (which is weird in it's own right) and the bird keeps saying "yes but I hope you lover isn't like this guy" and then she wants to know the story which takes all night to tell! Are these just the longest stories ever or the shortest nights?! Anyways, I liked this story because the parrot brings up the fact that Khojiteh keeps listening to her stories and not going. Again this makes me wonder if she is just lonely because now that the parrot is telling her stories and keeping her company she doesn't seem to mind missing her suitor every night. Also ,is this guy just the most understanding guy ever or the worst guy ever?! Khojisteh is standing him up every night and he hasn't sent a note asking what's up! 

Bibliography. The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi, links to the reading here