Arraying her
beauteous person in the finest apparel, she proceeds to the cage, and
first consults the sharak as to the propriety of her purpose. The sharak
forbids her to go, and is at once rewarded by having her head wrung off.
She then represents her case to the parrot, who, having witnessed the
fate of his companion, prudently resolves to temporise with the amorous
dame; so he "quenched the fire of her indignation with the water of
flattery, and began a tale conformable to her temperament, which he took
care to protract till the morning." In this manner does the prudent
parrot prevent the lady's intended intrigue by relating, night after
night, till the merchant returns home from his travels, one or more
fascinating tales, which he does not bring to an end till it is too late
for the assignation.[43]
[43] In a Telugu MS., entitled _Patti Vrutti Mahima_ (the
Value of Chaste Wives), the minister of Chandra Pratapa
assumes the form of a bird owing to a curse pronounced
against him by Siva, and is sold to a merchant named
Dhanadatta, whose son, Kuveradatta, is vicious. The bird
by moral lessons reformed him for a time. They went to a
town called Pushpamayuri, where the king's son saw the
wife of Kuveradatta when he was absent from home.
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