The Parrot and the Merchant (Tales by Rumi) - Hardcover

Pippa Goodhart

 
9781910328033: The Parrot and the Merchant (Tales by Rumi)

Synopsis

Mah Jahan is a rich merchant who travels far and wide to trade her goods, and keeps countless colourful birds in cages. When leaving for India, she promises to bring back gifts for all her servants, and for her favourite talking parrot. All that the parrot requests is for her to go to the jungle, greet his friends and ask if they have any messages for him. But when she delivers their message to him, she learns an important lesson about how to treat the ones you love.

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About the Author

Rumi was the finest Persian poet of the 13th century.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Long ago in Persia there lived a merchant called Mah Jahan. Mah Jahan travelled far and wide, buying and selling beautiful things. The beautiful things that Mah Jahan collected for herself on her journeys were beautiful birds. She kept them in cages or chains so that they couldn’t fly away and leave her.Mah Jahan’s favourite bird of all was a beautiful bright parrot that she had brought back from India. She loved that parrot best of all her birds because the parrot had learned to talk.Mah Jahan was about to go and trade in India again. She asked her servants, “What would you like me to bring you back as a gift?” Each of them told her what they wanted.Then Mah Jahan went to see her parrot. She said, “Tell me what I can bring you to make you happy.” The parrot put its head on one side. Then it said, “Please say hello to my parrot friends in India. Tell them that I miss them, and that makes me sad. Ask them if they have any advice for me.”“I will,” promised Mah Jahan.Mah Jahan bid goodbye to her servants and her birds, and she and her workers set off with a caravan of camels loaded with goods to be traded. In India Mah Jahan sold all that she had brought from Persia, and she bought Indian goods to sell when she got home. She bought the gifts for her servants. Mah Jahan was packed and ready to head back home when she remembered the promise that she had made to her parrot. So Mah Jahan went into the Indian jungle where parrots lived wild and free.

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