Then the king went back to the sissoo tree to fetch the goblin.
When he got there, he took the body with the goblin in it on his
shoulder, and started off in silence. And as he walked along, the
goblin said to him again: "O King, you must be very tired, coming
and going in the night. So to amuse you I will tell another story.
Listen."


There is a city called Patna, the gem of the earth. And long ago a
king lived there whose name was Lion-of-Victory. Fate had made
him the owner of all virtues and all wealth. And he had a parrot
called Jewel-of-Wisdom, that had divine intelligence and knew all
the sciences, but lived as a parrot because of a curse.

This king had a son called Moon, and by the advice of the parrot
this prince married the daughter of the king of the Magadha
country; and her name was Moonlight. Now this princess had a
thrush named Moony, who was like the parrot, because she had
learning and intelligence. And the parrot and the thrush lived in
one cage in the palace.

One day the parrot eagerly said to the thrush: "My darling, love
me, and share my bed and my chair and my food and my
amusements."

But the thrush said: "I will have nothing to do with men. Men are
bad and ungrateful."

Then the parrot said: "Men are not bad. It is only women who are