Lara, the Talking Parrot

Long ago, when animals could talk, there lived a bird in the animal kingdom called Lara the parrot. She was a fast talker and loved sleeping.

Whenever she was invited to go worm hunting, she always had an excuse, “it’s too early” or “this is too hard,” She chirped whenever she managed to go out with her friends, her frequent complaints, stops to rest, drink water and other excuses made her friends stop calling her whenever they go hunting for worms.

Her friends tried sharing their food with her, but this is what she had to say, “Is this all you caught? They are not fat and succulent.” She said as she pushed and picked at the worms in their nest, choosing the big and fat ones for herself.

Lara’s friends got tired of putting up with her attitude and laziness, so they stopped sharing their food with her and playing with her. They didn’t want a friend who never contributed anything, but could only take and take.

Lara felt lonely but she refused to go back to her friends or apologize to them. “They just don’t understand me, that is their loss.” She told her bored and lonely self.

One very hot day, she was relaxing on a tree in the forest when she heard a rustling sound. She looked down and saw a man stumbling out of the bush behind the tree. It was Lara’s first time seeing such a creature. The human and animal kingdom never knew about themselves, but the man had accidentally stumbled into the animal kingdom.

“What are you?” Lara asked.

The shocked man was scared to see this creature that spoke but wasn’t human. He wanted to run but he had no idea which way to go. He summoned courage and said, “I am Ali the musician, can you help me find my way? I was going to a neighbouring village for a festival, but I missed my way.”

“I am Lara the parrot,” the bird replied. “I love to sleep and rest but you just disturbed my sleep.”

The fascinated musician said. “Hmmm if you help me find my way and come with me, you will get all the food and sleep you can have.” Lara was excited at the strangers promise, without thinking, she hopped onto Ali’s shoulder and led him out of the forest.

When they got to their destination, everyone wanted to see and touch Lara. She made Ali the musician so much money that he was known as the musician with the strange creature who talked.

After a while, Lara got tired of the pinching and prodding by these strange humans; she also missed her friends and the animals in the animal kingdom, but she could not leave as she was locked in a cage. This was everything Lara had wished for but now that she had it, she was tired of it all.

Maybe you can say something good came from this because when the talking voices of all the animals were collected from them, only Lara’s voice remained and you can still hear her screaming in her cage “food! sleep!” Is she trying to convince herself or does she regret running after food and sleep? I don’t know, you can ask her whenever you see her in the cage… Maybe she will tell you.