56. The Twin Parrots
A parrot gave birth to twins with identical green bodies, blue heads, red wings, and yellow tails. Bandits carried away one chick; a monk took the other.
A king rode through the forest one day. He passed the bandits' camp, and a parrot squawked, "Bind him! Kill him!" The king saw the parrot was green, blue, red, and yellow.
He then passed a hermitage. "Honor the king!" a parrot squawked.
"I saw a parrot just like you: green, blue, red, and yellow," said the king. "But he spoke differently."
"We were born as twins," replied the parrot, "but raised differently."
Inspired by: The Panchatantra, translated by Arthur Ryder.
Notes: It is in Book 1, Story 32.
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