The Parrot

A man had a fine green parrot at home. He taught the bird to say, “No doubt about it.”

One night, the man buried some money in different places in the village. The next morning, he went through the village with the parrot. He said, “My parrot is wise. He will show me where to dig for money.”

Whenever he came to a place he had marked secretly, he asked, “O wise parrot, if I dig here, shall I find any gold?”

The parrot answered, “No doubt about it.”

Each time the man dug at the marked place, he found money, and he showed it to the people around.

One young man thought, “If I can get that parrot, I shall soon be rich.”

He asked the owner, “For how much will you sell your parrot?”

“For one thousand pieces of gold.”

“That is a lot of money!” cried the young man.

“But my parrot is worth it!” answered the owner.

The young man paid the gold and took the parrot.

He went to dig for money and asked the parrot many times, “If I dig here, shall I find gold?”

Every time the parrot answered, “No doubt about it.”

But though he dug and dug, he found no gold.

At last he understood the trick and said to himself, “How foolish I was! How could I believe such a thing?”

He turned to the parrot and said, “Oh, wise bird, I was foolish to give a thousand pieces of gold for you.”

The parrot answered, “No doubt about it.”

The parrot looked so funny that the young man laughed and laughed.

“Well,” he said, “you told the truth that time. From now on I shall work. That is the only way to become rich.”

“No doubt about it,” agreed the parrot, and for the second time he told the truth.