The Two Parrots, the King, and his Son

Name: The Two Parrots, the King, and his Son
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

Two parrots, a sire and son, live on food from a royal fire, while a king and his princely son keep them for amusement. The two fathers become sincerely attached, and the two sons become cheerful companions, eating and studying together. The prince also favours a coquettish sparrow. One day the young parrot and sparrow quarrel during their play. The parrot badly pecks the sparrow, and the enraged prince finds his pet with a bloody head and drooping wing. Believing it dead, he kills the parrot in anger. The old parrot is devastated by his son’s death. Unable to restore him through cries or tears, he attacks the prince, puts out both his eyes, and escapes to the top of a pine tree. The king calls to the parrot, urging him to return and abandon revenge and mourning. He admits that his own son was the aggressor, though he also attributes the calamity to Fate, which had decreed that one child should die and the other lose sight. The parrot rejects the invitation. He distrusts the king’s appeal to Fate and declares that he will live safely in the pine or in wild forests, far from a court where grief has turned affection into hatred. Though the king may wish to forget the cause of sorrow, the parrot believes it is wiser to remain out of sight, because absence cures hatred and protects against love.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1678 · Genre: Fable, Verse Fable, Moral Literature · 936 words

First lines

Two parrots lived, a sire and son, / On roastings from a royal fire. / Two demigods, a son and sire, / These parrots pension'd for their fun. / Time tied the knot of love sincere: / The sires grew to each other dear; / The sons, in spite of their frivolity, / Grew comrades boon, in joke and jollity; / At mess they mated, hot or cool; / Were fellow-scholars at a school. / Which did the bird no little honour, since / The boy, by king begotten, was a prince. / By nature fond of birds, the prince, too, petted / A sparrow, which delightfully coquetted. / These rivals, both of unripe feather, / One day were frolicking together: / As oft befalls such little folks, / A quarrel follow'd from their jokes. / The sparrow, quite uncircumspect, / Was by the parrot sadly peck'd; / With drooping wing and bloody head, / His master pick'd him up for dead, / And, being quite too wroth to bear it, / In heat of passion kill'd his parrot. / When this sad piece of news he heard, / Distracted was the parent bird. / His piercing cries bespoke his pain; / But cries and tears were all in vain. / The talking bird had left the shore; [1] / In short, he, talking now no more, / Caused such a rage to seize his sire, / That, lighting on the prince in ire, / He put out both his eyes, / And fled for safety as was wise. / The bird a pine for refuge chose, / And to its lofty summit rose; / There, in the bosom of the skies, / Enjoy'd his vengeance sweet, / And scorn'd the wrath beneath his feet. / Out ran the king, and cried, in soothing tone, / 'Return, dear friend; what serves it to bemoan? / Hate, vengeance, mourning, let us both omit. / For me, it is no more than fit / To own, though with an aching heart, / The wrong is wholly on our part. / Th' aggressor truly was my son -- / My son? no; but by Fate the deed was done. / Ere birth of Time, stern Destiny / Had written down the sad decree, / That by this sad calamity / Your child should cease to live, and mine to see.

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Genres

Fable — The narrative uses talking animals, a compact exemplary plot, and a clear moral concern with revenge, trust, grief, and the consequences of violence.
Verse Fable — La Fontaine presents the story in rhymed, metrical verse, combining poetic narration with the conventional didactic structure of a fable.
Moral Literature — Its central purpose is ethical instruction: reciprocal vengeance destroys friendship, and those injured by violence may reasonably refuse renewed trust.
Animal Tale — Parrots and a sparrow are central actors whose human-like speech, family ties, emotions, and decisions carry the plot and its lesson.

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The Two Parrots, the King, and his Son is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1678 CE.

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Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1678 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Verse Fable, Moral Literature, Animal Tale, Didactic Poetry
Length: 936 words
Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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