Avis
From Seven Sages of Rome
Critical Literature
No critical literature available
The inset story appears in the following manuscripts
The inset story appears in the following versions and secondary versions
The Bird
A bird - a parrot, or a magpie - reveals a woman's adultery to her husband. She tries to convince him that the bird is lying, mad, or confused, but his faith in the bird's reporting is unshaken. To discredit the bird, the wife tricks it into believing that there is a storm in the night (manufacturing the sound of the weather, dropping water on it from a hole in the ceiling, etc.) when in fact the weather was clear. The husband, hearing the bird's reports of rain and wind, discounts the earlier report of adultery. (In some texts, he eventually learns the truth.)
