Reading Notes: Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi 's Tales of a Parrot, Part B

My favorite aspect of the book itself is that the stories that the parrot tells Khojisteh are so captivating that she can't miss a single one. The parrot is an impressive story teller and even though Khojisteh wants to go see her lover, she can't seem to get away from the parrot's enticement. There is shape shifting in many of the stories, and I want to include that in my version of the story that I write this week. In the story "Of a King and His Sons, and of a Frog and a Snake," the characters Khaliss and Mukhless are actually a snake and a frog that have taken on a human form. They acquired this power when the prince carved out a piece of skin for each of them. They also use their original animal form to help people with tasks that would otherwise be difficult. Mukhless jumps into the water to fish out a ring that fell in and Khaliss cured the King's daughter after she was bit by a snake. The characters that the parrot's stories include are typically manipulative and intelligent in their own ways. The fate of Khojisteh in the original story is unfortunate, especially since, after all that time, Khojisteh never even got to see her lover. Her husband also put her to death.


"The Parrot addresses Khojisteh" by Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutinama

Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi's Tales of a Parrot http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/tales-of-parrot-of-king-and-his-sons.html