the parrot detained her,
promising to finish the story. The woman went away angry, and the parrot
continued:

"After a long journey the princess disguised as a physician came to
another city, and heard a proclamation by the king, that every
physician who passed that way should be compelled to visit and attempt
to cure his son. The new physician, too, had to go to court; but she
could find no remedy for the severe disease. The prince would speak to
no one, but the physician at last made the invalid disclose the secret
of his heart, and he told of the mirror and showed the portrait of the
unknown lady whom he loved desperately. The physician consoled the king;
had garments and ornaments exactly like those of the young girl in the
glass prepared; dressed in them, and as she appeared before the prince
he leaped from his bed, embracing his betrothed in the midst of
rejoicings."

But here the lady hears her husband arriving. Joy makes her beside
herself; and she throws from the window the poor parrot, which now seems
to her only a tiresome companion. The merchant enters and inquires about
the bird; sees the parrot hurt upon the neighboring roof and picks it up
kindly. The parrot narrates to him the wiles of the coal-woman and its
own prudence; assures the husband that his wife is innocent; but
complains of her being so ungrateful; she had promised him a gold vase,
and now treats him thus. The merchant consoles the dying bird, and
afterwards has him embalmed and placed in the gold vase. As for his
wife, he loved her more than ever.

* * * * *

Another version from Piedmont (Comparetti, No. 2; De Gub. Zool. Myth.
II. 322) differs materially from the ones just given. A king is obliged
to go to war and leave behind him his wife, with whom another king is in
love. Before parting he forbids his wife to leave the palace during his
absence, and presents her with a parrot. No sooner has the king departed
than his rival attempts to obtain an interview with the queen by giving
a feast and inviting her to it. The parrot prevents her going by
relating the story contained in the first version. They are interrupted
in the same manner by an old woman sent by the lover, but to no purpose.
When the story is finished, the husband returns, and the parrot becomes
a young man, whom the king had engaged to watch over his wife's
fidelity.

The Sicilian version of our story is the most interesting as well as the