The sailor and the parrot

There once was a handsome young sailor who used to sail from one country to another. When he returned home, he would tell wonderful stories to his relatives, friends and neighbours, so they were all great admirers of his. Everywhere he went young girls used to fall in love with him. He would exploit them and then leave them when he sailed for another country. He had girlfriends in all the places he visited. To every girlfriend he had only one thing to say — that he loved her only. Although he knew other girls, he said that he loved that particular girl only. This is what he told them and what he wrote in his letters to each girl.

One girl in Spain felt that he truly loved her most of all. She felt inwardly that some day he would not pay any attention to any other girls. It was her hope that he would one day marry her. Unfortunately, as the years passed, the situation became worse and the girl was becoming disgusted with the sailor. But his letters still used to come to her, saying that he loved her only.

One day, while he was sailing near a tropical island, a very beautiful parrot flew into his boat. He caught the bird, put it in a box and mailed it to his girlfriend in Spain with a note. The note said, "I love you only. Soon we are going to get married."

The girlfriend was thrilled to get the box. She wrote him a few letters, asking him to tell her the exact date when they would get married. He answered that definitely they would get married soon, but he could not tell the date. He said, "I have no idea when I am going to land in Spain again. I have to go to various places."

Two years passed, and there was still no sign of his coming. The girl finally got mad at him and also at his parrot, because the bird had brought such false news. So she killed the parrot and threw away all of the sailor's old letters. She cried, "I don't want to have anything to do with him. Anything that came from him I do not want to keep." She destroyed all his letters and gifts.

The following day who came, but the sailor!

The girl opened the door and said, "What? You have come?"

"Yes," said the sailor.

Then the girl said, "I am so sorry. I thought that you were a rogue and you would never come back to me. I thought that you would never come and that you were laughing at me. So I got mad and destroyed your letters and killed your parrot."

The sailor was shocked. "I can understand that you would not want our love letters, our heart-to-heart letters. But how could you kill such a beautiful bird?"

The girl said, "I was so angry and upset. Anything that belonged to you, I destroyed. Now I feel so sad. Please forgive me."

The sailor said, "Let us have mutual forgiveness. I have delayed in my coming, so you were angry. Now you forgive me for my delay, and I will forgive you for destroying my letters and bird."

The girl asked, "When do you plan for us to get married?"

The sailor said, "Oh yes. Now the thing is, do you want me to marry you or do you want me to invite you to a wedding party?"

The girlfriend was puzzled: "What are you talking about?"

"You and I are getting married," the sailor said. "Definitely we are getting married. But a third party is unfortunately involved. So I came here to offer you an invitation to my wedding party instead of writing you a letter."

The girl fainted. The sailor started putting water on her head and shaking her, telling her, "Get up, get up."

Finally the girl said, "I am getting up."

The sailor said, "Tomorrow I will come with your sister."

"What?" the girl exclaimed. "I don't have a sister."

The sailor said, "I will bring a friend to meet you."

The girl was sad. But she said, "I can't blame you for planning to marry somebody else."

The sailor said, "I am sorry. I just told you a lie; I have already married. Nine months ago I got married. Tomorrow I will bring my wife to meet you and she will be like a sister as well as your best friend on earth."

Both the girl and the sailor looked at each other and cried. They weren't crying for each other. They were crying for the way they had behaved towards each other. She cried for how he had deceived her, and he cried because he had broken her innocent heart.