The Parrot in the Pilgrim House

One of the interesting incidents I remember well is about a parrot which was presented to the Master.  He had put it in the Pilgrim House.  My uncle, who was the steward of the Pilgrim House taught the parrot to say ‘Allah-u-Abhá’ to whoever approached it.  Also, he had trained it to say, ‘Say, say, say O Bahá.’  The people, who heard the parrot’s voice and didn’t see it, thought that a person was there.

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One day ‘Abdu’l-Bahá called my uncle and told him, ‘Muhammad Hassan, bring the parrot to me tomorrow.  I intend to present it to the governor of ‘Akká.’

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Muhammad Hassan took the cage containing the parrot to the Holy House and put it beside the window of the hall.  His Holiness ‘Abdu’l-Bahá used to get up early morning, walk for a while and would chant prayers while walking.

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When, that day, He got up and approached the cage of the parrot, it said, ‘Say, say.’  The Master was very happy and, smiling, advanced towards the parrot and asked, ‘What should I say?’

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The parrot said, ‘O Bahá!’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was overjoyed and later told my uncle, ‘Hassan, this parrot saved itself.  Since it said to me, “Say, say” and when I asked it what to say, it fluently said, “Say O Bahá!”  Take it back to the Pilgrim House.  I do not desire to send it out of this place.’

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When the parrot died, my uncle kept its feathers and wrote, ‘These are the feathers of a parrot which belonged to His Holiness ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and He has admired several times its fluency.’

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Such were the effects of training, which had some positive outcomes even for a parrot.

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