Khojisteh
had been so lonely the last five years, waiting for her husband, Miemun, to
return. Miemun had to go traveling for business for the kingdom and left
Khojisteh. During the time, he was gone Khojisteh battled with trying to remain
faithful to her husband. It seemed that random handsome men would be guest of
the palace and become attracted to her and shower her with attention and gifts.
During this time, she was battling with her lust for another man’s body and the
desire to stay faithful to her husband. Khojisteh relied on her husband’s
closet and most trusted friend, a parrot, for advice during this time.
Every
night that Khojisteh became conflicted with the decision to leave her room and
go seek her lover, the parrot would begin to tell her a story. Khojisteh
enjoyed hearing the stories and they would help her see that she did not need
to seek someone else out for comfort and keep her distracted until morning time.
Finally,
the day came when Miemun returned to the kingdom. But, when Khojisteh went to
go talk with him, his faithful parrot interrupted her and began to tell Miemun
what she had almost done while he was away. Miemun was furious with Khojisteh
and went away to call the troops to have her executed. Miemun was heartbroken
but happy to know he had one faithful servant, his parrot.
Khojisteh
laid is her room crying for her love and her life. Finally, Miemun relented and
went to speak with her one last time.
Khojisteh
asked him, “Do you not love me enough to hear my side of the story, you have
been gone for five years. Did you not feel the same torments as me while you
were traveling?” Miemun angrily replied, “I did but every time I came into
contact with someone who might tempt me from you I merely moved onto a new
city, escaping the temptations.” Khijisteh was glad to know that he had been
faithful to her on his trip but she explained, “You were able to run away, I
cannot leave the palace and even though the parrot would help me make it
through each handsome stranger, it would seem a new one would show up just as
soon as the other left.”
When
Miemun heard this from his wife he became very confused. Why had all these
strangers travelled to their land and stayed in the palace. He did not know
what business they might have in his kingdom, nor who was calling them there
for business. To this he began to asks the servants about the many visitors
that came to the palace in his absents.
Miemun
sat at the throne and waited as he called for his trusty friend, the parrot to
join him. Once seated next to him, Miemun turned to the parrot and asked,
“Friend, who were these visitors that came to see my wife? I must know more
about them so that they too can be punished.” The parrot replied, “Why of
course master, I made sure to keep notes of each of the treacherous men they
came by to try and steal away your beloved wife.” Miemun thanked the parrot and
continued to obtain more information, “Thank you for being so faithful to me.
Why did these men come to my kingdom when I was not present? I wonder if the
business they seek was to steal my beautiful wife away from me?” The parrot
nervously agreed, “Why of course that is why they came… someone must have
informed them that Khojisteh was left alone while you travelled. How very
disrespectful of them.”
Next
Miemun ordered for the soliders to bring forward Khojisteh. As she entered the
room the parrot noticed she was not tied up. Confused he asked Miemun, “I
thought Khojisteh was to be executed? While she may not have cheated, it was
only because I stopped her each night with a story, that way my dear master
would not have to come back to an embarrassment.” Miemun calmly replied, “It is
true that you stopped her from going out every night, but it is also true that
you supplied the men to torment my wife.”
The
parrot was at a loss for words. He looked from Khojisteh to Miemun and them
humbly knelt to the ground in front of them. “Please forgive me master, I was
only trying to expose how horrible a wife Khojisteh could be. Now I see that it
was wrong and sincerely apologize.” Said the parrot. Miemun explained to the
parrot, “I wanted to have you killed but Khojisteh said that it was too easy to
let you die for your transgression. Instead, you will be imprisoned, in
solitude, until the day you die. You will not know companionship with anyone
anymore.”
Author’s
Note: This story is based off of Tales ofa Parrot by Ziya’al-Din Nakhshabi. In the original story a parrot tells
Khojisteh stories at night to keep her preoccupied and from going off to go
cheat on her husband. For my story, I specifically changed the ending to the last
story in the tales, A King Falls in Love.Khojisteh Is Put to Death by the Hands of Miemun. As you can tell by the
title in the original story Khojisteh is put to death by her husband Miemun
after his parrot tells him what Khojiesteh was trying to do while he was away. Being
a psychology major I did not like the fact that the husband did not speak with
the wife about what had happened while he was away. While communication doesn’t
solve every issue, it is key to have in a relationship. The more I read into
the tales, I felt that the parrot was really about himself and not actually
trying to help Miemun or Khojisteh. This is why I changed the story, to give a
twist. The parrot gets punished for bringing all the eligible men into the
palace to tempt Khojisteh and the couple can work on their problems.
