Storytelling "The Old Man and the Sparrow"

The Old Man and the Sparrow

Sire, the third old man knew that he had to tell an even more incredible story than the first two in order to appease the fearful genius.  The first two men had shared such thrilling stories of their family being transmuted into animals, but the third old man had an even greater tale.  He carried with him at all times a small cage which contained a rather plain looking sparrow.  He fed it regularly but the sparrow was always despondent, rarely singing, instead preferring to sleep or sit still and silence.  The old man raised the cage in front of the genius and began his story thus:

Oh, great one, this is not the first time that I have met a genius of your stature and power.  In fact, when I was quite young, one of my best and most beloved friends was a genius such as yourself.  I was small and carefree, living my life without fear or consequences, happy from one meal to the next, free to roam and explore the world.  I talked frequently with my friend, the genius and we became quite close.

I often visited a small girl who lived nearby, who lived alone with her old and mean father.  She was quite sad nearly all the time, but I would visit her and sing for her, delighting her and brightening her sad little life.  Although my intentions were completely innocent, her father grew jealous and bitter of the time I spent with her, and one afternoon, in a rage, grabbed a hold of me and threw me into a cage he had constructed for this very purpose.

Soon, my friend the genius noticed my absence and set off to look for me.  He found me soon enough, wilting away and extremely sorrowful in the small cage the cruel man had fashioned for me.  In a rage at my pitiful state, the good-hearted genius threatened to destroy the father of the poor girl, but was moved by her pleas for mercy.   He consented, and agreed to not kill the cruel old man but instead seized upon a plan to punish him for his poor behavior.

The genius looked a me, a poor little bird in a cage, and looked at the abusive father, a decrepit man cowering in a corner, and in the blink of an eye, switched our places.  Suddenly, I felt larger, stronger, and very different.  Before where I had wings, I now had arms and hands.  I looked around me and saw that I now had the body of the old man, and was totally free.  I ran to the girl, and embraced her, tears of joy streaming down our faces.

The father, now a small and powerless sparrow, chirped angrily in his cage, but the genius laughed and handed me the small prison.

“Take good care of him” he laughed and disappeared into the waning sunlight.

Now I am here, good genius, returning home from a trip to buy a trinket for the girl I now claim as a daughter.

Sire, the genius was so impressed with the story of this third old man that he waved away the third portion of the punishment, and sent the lot of them free.

Author’s Note: The tale of One Thousand and One Nights (or Arabian Nights) is a story of a storyteller, Scheherazade, who tells tales to a sadistic sultan in order to save her own life and that of other young women. This story is set within Scheherazade’s retelling of another story, where a genius (or genie) is threatening to kill an innocent merchant unless three old men can tell good enough stories to impress the genius.  In the text, the first two men tell stories about how members of their family were transformed into animals, but the third story is not included for some reason.  I thought it would be best to write an even more exciting story than what the other men had told in order to satisfy the genius in this story, which is just part of Scheherazade’s story, which is only part of the story of the Arabian Nights.

Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).
Image source: pixabay