Now the Carpenter's daughter was a very pretty girl as pretty—as any Ranee you ever saw; she was also good-tempered, clever, and could cook extremely well. So when the Carpenter asked the Rajah to be his son-in-law, he looked at the father, the mother, and the girl, and thinking to himself that many a better man had a worse fate, he said, 'Yes, I will marry your daughter, and stay here and make clogs.' So the Rajah married the Carpenter's daughter.
This Rajah was very clever at making all sorts of things in wood. When he had made all the clogs he wished to sell next day, he would amuse himself in making toys; and in this way he made a thousand wooden parrots. They were as like real parrots as possible. They had each two wings, two legs, two eyes, and a sharp beak. And when the Rajah had finished them all, he painted and varnished them, and put them one afternoon outside the house to dry.
Night came on, and with it came Parbuttee and Mahadeo,[1] flying round the world to see the different races of men. Amongst the many places they visited was the city where the Carpenter lived; and in the garden in front of the house they saw the thousand wooden parrots which the Rajah had made and painted and varnished, all placed out to dry. Then Parbuttee turned to Mahadeo, and said, 'These parrots are very well made—they need nothing but life. Why should not we give them life?' Mahadeo answered, 'What would be the use of that? It would be a strange freak, indeed!' 'Oh,' said Parbuttee, 'I only meant you to do it as an amusement. It would be so funny to see the wooden parrots flying about! But do not do it if you don't like.' 'You would like it, then?' answered Mahadeo; 'very well, I will do it.' And he endowed the thousand parrots with life.
Parbuttee and Mahadeo then flew away.
Next morning the Rajah got up early to see if the varnish he had put on the wooden parrots was dry; but no sooner did he open the door than—marvel of marvels!—the thousand wooden parrots all came walking into the house, flapping their wings and chattering to each other.
Hearing the noise, the Carpenter and the Carpenter's wife and daughter came running out to see what was the matter, and were not less astonished than the Rajah himself at the miracle which
- ↑ The god Mahadeo is an incarnation of Siva the Destroyer. The goddess Parbuttee is his wife.
