The Parrot Who Fed His Blind Parents
Jataka Tales · 1 min read
A young parrot cared devotedly for his blind, elderly parents, flying each day to a farmer's rice field to gather grains and carry them home, always taking only what his family needed and never more.
The farmer, noticing his field being steadily picked over, set a trap and caught the parrot in his net, furious at what he assumed was simple greed. "Why do you steal from me every day," he demanded, "when other birds take their fill and leave?"
The parrot explained honestly: some grains he ate himself, some he saved as a debt to be repaid to the field that fed him, and the rest he carried faithfully to his blind parents who could no longer gather food themselves.
The farmer, deeply moved by such devotion in so small a creature, released him at once and, from that day, set aside a portion of his field's harvest specifically for the parrot's family, refusing to ever let his loyal little visitor go hungry again.
Moral of the story
Devotion to family, honestly explained, can soften even an angry stranger's heart.