“Give me my parrot!” cried Punchkin. But the only reply the boy made was to break off one of its wings, and as he did so the Magician’s right arm fell off.
With his left arm outstretched Punchkin cried, “Give me my parrot!” Off came the second wing, and the Magician’s left arm fell to the ground.
On his knees he begged, “Give me my parrot!” Then the Prince pulled off the right leg, and the Magician’s right leg fell off. The parrot’s left leg came off, and at once Punchkin’s left leg fell down.
And now there remained only the Magician’s body and head, but still he cried, “Give me my parrot!”
“Take your parrot, then,” said the boy, and with this he wrung the bird’s neck and threw it at what was left of the Magician. As the parrot’s neck was wrung, Punchkin’s head twisted around, and with a groan, he fell dead.
Then they released Balna from the tower, and all of them returned to their own palace; and it can be imagined with what joy the seven husbands and seven wives and their nephew met again.
PRINCESS MOONLIGHT
Many years ago there lived a poor old bamboo-cutter, whose great sorrow it was that Heaven had sent no child to cheer his wife and himself in their old age. Every morning he went into the woods in search of the lithe bamboo, which he would split lengthwise or cut into joints, and these he would take home with him, and his wife would turn them into useful or ornamental articles for the household, and sell them.
While working at his task one day in a small grove of the slender trees that he had discovered, he was surprised by a soft, bright light which suddenly flooded the spot in which he was, and he was astonished to see that all this brilliance came from one bamboo.