My life is really depending on you guys!! Many years ago, parrots could talk just as humans do. Parrots always told the truth, so people greatly admired them.
There was one old parrot who lived with a dishonest man, in a little house on the edge of town. This parrot was known in the town to be wise, honest, and good.
One night, the man went out and stole his neighbor’s ox, and, the next day, the neighbor came to the thief’s house with several other people. She banged on the wooden front door until the thief answered.
“Did you steal my ox?” asked the angry neighbor.
“Of course not,” said the thief.
“Let’s ask the bird,” said another woman. “He is always honest.”
They asked the bird, and he said “Yes, he did steal the ox.”
“What proof is the word of a bird?” asked the thief. “This bird can’t be trusted because he doesn’t always tell the truth.”
The people were unsure of what to do next, so they went away to think about it, promising to come back the next day. The thief knew he had to find some way to get his neighbors to not trust the parrot. They had to believe that the bird didn’t always tell the truth. The clever thief came up with a plan.
That night, while the parrot was sleeping next to the window, he placed a large dome over the bird’s cage. Then, he poured water over the top of the dome. The bird awoke to see water falling. He thought it must have been raining outside. He tried to go back to sleep but was awoken again by loud noises. The man was banging on the floor with a stick, out of the bird’s sight.
The next morning, the neighbors came back. The thief said, “I can prove that this bird is a liar. Ask him what the weather was last night.”
The bird told them, “Last night there was a great thunderstorm.”
The people couldn’t believe it! There was no storm last night. It was a clear night. The bird was a liar! They were so angry that they told the bird to go into the forest.
The parrot was sad. After all, he’d done nothing to deserve this. A mockingbird asked why the parrot was sad, and the parrot told his story.
“Why didn’t you just repeat the words you heard, like I do?” asked the mockingbird. “People always like to hear their own words.”
“What the man said wasn’t true,” the parrot replied.
“People don’t always want to hear the truth,” answered the mockingbird. “Say what they say, and they’ll think you’re a wonderful bird.” From then on, the parrot only repeated the words of people.
Select the THREE correct answers.
How does the man tricking the bird move the story forward?
1. It leads to the man telling the people that the bird lies sometimes.
2. It leads to the people thinking that the parrot is a liar.
3. It leads to the parrot deciding to repeat only what people say.
4. It leads to the parrot being sent to live in the woods.
5. It leads to the parrot telling the people that the man stole the ox.