| Literal Comprehension

“The Brave Little Parrot” is a story by Rafe Martin. A forest where Buddha was born as a little parrot and there live many animals and birds. Suddenly, a storm and lightning turned the forest into a fire and every animal and bird was crying for help.

Then, the little parrot started to put out the fire by dripping into the river and spreading the drops of water in the jungle. Parrot got burnt all parts of his body and continued his work to make the fire off. Seeing a parrot Gods in heaven laughed, and one of the gods became ready to help him.

Then that God disguised as a golden eagle. The parrot didn’t like the eagle’s advice and again continued to drip the water. So, the eagle starts to weep until the fire was put out completely.

With the help of God, all the animals and plants were saved and now there was a shiny and green forest. All the animals and birds share their thanks to the brave little parrot for saving them from fire.

| Interpretation

The story might be telling that anyone who works without any selfishness then, they could definitely achieve success. Here, the little parrot is the symbol of Buddha and we can easily know what belief and path Buddha want to teach us.

Similarly, it tells us that we must love all other beings and help them in any difficult situation. God is always ready to help us if we are helping others.

| Critical Thinking

Though the story teaches us to follow the path of morality and to help others selflessly, I can’t agree totally with the story. Some disagreeing points are; Is it possible for a man to be born as a parrot?

Is really there is an existence of God and can they disguised in any form? Is it not foolishness to think that a small bird can put out the whole fire of the jungle by dripping water? Also, how can a God tear in a way that can wet the whole jungle?

| Assimilation

What I believe after reading this story is that I must follow the path of Buddha and help everyone selflessly. Only those can feel the warmness of god, who is in trying to correct this world from every disaster.

So, from now I started to change my mind and belief that can match the philosophy of Buddha’s living principles.