In others
supernatural beings are the narrators of the subordinate tales, as in
the Indian romances, _Vetala Panchavinsati_, or Twenty-five Tales of a
Demon, and the _Sinhasana Dwatrinsati_, or Tales of the Thirty-two
Speaking Statues--literally, Thirty-two (Tales) of a Throne. In others,
again, the relators are birds, as in the Indian work entitled _Hamsa
Vinsati_, or Twenty Tales of a Goose.
Of this last class is the popular Persian work, _Tuti Nama_, (Tales of a
Parrot, or Parrot-Book), of which I purpose furnishing some account, as
it has not yet been completely translated into English. This work was
composed, according to Pertsch, in A.D. 1329, by a Persian named
Nakhshabi, after an older Persian version, now lost, which was made from
a Sanskrit work, also no longer extant, but of which the modern
representative is the _Suka Saptati_, or Seventy Tales of a Parrot.[41]
The frame, or leading story, of the Persian Parrot-Book is to the
following effect:
[41] Ziyau-'d-Din Nakhshabi, so called from Nakhshab, or
Nasaf, the modern Kashi, a town situated between
Samarkand and the Oxus, led a secluded life in Bada'um,
and died, as stated by 'Abdal-Hakk, A.H. 751 (A.D.
1350-1).--Dr. Rieu's _Catalogue of Persian MSS. in the
British Museum_.
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