Summary
The King and Queen of Siam had nine daughters. For the Queen it was
confusing to remember so many names. So the king decided to call them
by the names of the months. The youngest was named September.
The king had a peculiar habit. Instead of receiving gifts on his birthday he
gave them. One year he gifted his daughters each with a green parrot in
a golden cage. The princesses were glad. They spent an hour every day
with them. The parrots could say ‘God save the king’ and ‘Pretty Polly in
seven languages.
But Princess September found one morning her parrot dead. She wept
and wept. She could not be comforted. The Queen told the maidservants
to put her to sleep without supper. The maids wanted to go to a party. So
they put Princess September to bed as soon as possible. Thus the
Princess was left alone crying in her bed. The princess saw a little bird
come into her room. It began to sing. It sang about king’s garden, the
gold fish, the willow tree etc. The princess forgot about her supper.
The little bird gave the princess a bow. The bird asked her if she would
have it in place of her parrot. The bird agreed that it was not pretty. The
princess clapped her hands with in delight. The bird sang and the princess
went to sleep. The next morning, the bird wished the princess good
morning. The princess offered it food with her own hands. She bathed it
in her saucer. The Maids of honour were surprised. They had not heard
earlier the sweet song of such a bird. The princess took the bird to her
eight sisters. The bird sang different songs to the princesses. The king
and the queen were surprised and delighted to see the bird.
The king said that the bird sang much better than the parrots. He also
said that he did not mind to hear the bird sing. He had got tired of
parrot’s saying ‘Pretty Polly again and again. The princesses said that the
parrots said in seven different languages. The king said that they
reminded him of his councillors.
The princesses were vexed at this. The parrots also looked sad. But the
bird flew round. It sang like a lark and a nightingale. The other princesses
got jealous of princess September. So they went to September. They said
that they were sorry for the death of her parrot. She must have a parrot.
They had put their pocket-money together to buy her the parrot. Hearing
it, September thanked them. She said that she had a pet bird. It sang the
most charming songs to her. She didn’t know what she would do with the
parrot.
The princesses said that she was wrong in calling the bird as hers. They
remarked that the bird flew in and out just as it liked. They asked her
where the bird was at that time. September told them that the bird had
gone to its father-in-law. The princesses said that is was not likely to
come back. If it came back, she should put it into the cage. But
September replied that she liked to see it fly. They told her that ‘safety
first’ should be the objective. They went away. Princess September felt
uneasy.
Princess September started worrying about her little bird. It may have
been caught in snares. Or the hawks could have caught it. Or it would
have forgotten her. But she suddenly saw it sitting on her shoulder. The
little bird told September that its father-in-law was giving a party. All
wanted it to stay. So it stayed there.
But Princess September took no chances. She put the bird into the cage.
The bird couldn’t believe it. It asked what that joke was. The princess told
the bird that it was not a joke. Cats were roaming in the night. The bird
would be safe in the cage. The bird sang. But it stopped in between.
The next morning the bird asked the Princess to let it out of the cage. But
the Princess told it that it was much better where it was. The bird tried to
slip through the bars of the cage. But it couldn’t come out. Other
princesses came. They told princess September that the bird would soon
get used to the cage. But the bird asked to open the cage. The princess
asked the bird to sing. But the bird said that it could not sing. It wanted
to see the trees, the lake and the green rice growing fields. The bird did
not sing. It also did not eat the food. The other princesses told September
to be firm with the bird.
The next day, Princess September went to the cage. She cried to see the
bird as it looked dead. But it was not dead. The Princess started weeping.
The bird said that it could not sing unless it was free. And if it could not
sing, it would die. The Princess set the bird free. She promised it that she
would not put it in a cage again. The bird replied that it loved the
Princess. It would come to her. It would sing the loveliest songs for her. It
would also never forget her. The bird flew away. But the Princess was
sad. She burst into tears.
The other Princesses came to know of it. They made fun of princess
September saying the bird would never return. But the bird returned. It
sat on September’s shoulder. It ate out of her hand. It sang her the
beautiful songs. The princess kept her window open day and night. The
bird could come and go any time it liked.
The Princess grew very beautiful. The king married her to the king of
Cambodia. She was carried all the way to the city on a white elephant,
But her sisters never slept with their windows open. They grew very ugly.
The king married them to his councillors. They were given a pound of tea
and a Siamese cat each.
