There were 2 parakeets who built a nest on a large and massive tree. The female parakeet laid two eggs. After a period, the eggs hatched, and two parakeet chicks emerged from them. The parents tried to care for the young ones well. After a few weeks, the two small parakeets managed to fly a short distance.
The father parakeet said: We have taken good care of our young ones. We fed them well, they played together, and learned to fly together. Now they can take care of themselves. He addressed his speech to the mother parakeet and said to her: We must let them now decide the shape of their lives in the future.
Every morning, the parents would fly to get food for the young ones. They would return in the evening with food for the children. Life continued in this form for a long time. In the same place, there was a hunter observing the behavior of birds. He noticed that the parents would go out every morning.
Then he decided to catch the small parakeets after he was sure that the parents had gone far in the morning. He planned the matter exactly. He caught the young ones. The young ones fought and resisted the hunter a lot to free themselves from captivity. After a short while, one of them managed to escape. As for the second one, the hunter closed a cage on him and returned with him to the house.
When the hunter returned home, he spoke to his children and told them that he had caught two, but one of them escaped, and only one remained with him. The hunter asked the children to care for the parakeet well, to keep it inside the cage, and to play with it quietly.
Indeed, the children began playing with the parakeet. Very quickly, the parakeet learned to speak a few words. Quickly, the children told their father that the small parakeet had learned to say some words. As for the second parakeet, which had escaped from the hunter, it flew far away. It kept flying for a long time until it reached a minaret. Some religious men lived in this minaret. They did not try to harm the parakeet in any way. So the small parakeet decided to stay with them. He would listen to their conversations and also learned to say some words.
There was a traveler passing in front of the hunter’s hut. He was tired from travel, so he decided to sit near the hut. Then he heard the parakeet speaking. It was saying: Oh stupid, why did you come here? I will slaughter you.
The traveler felt very sad when he heard these bad words. He immediately got up and left the place in a hurry. He walked for some time until he reached the minaret. The other parakeet was sitting on a tree near the minaret.
The parakeet spoke to the traveler and said to him: Welcome, oh traveler. Welcome to the minaret. We have a lot of good fruit in this forest. Whatever you want, the men here will treat you in the best way. The traveler felt surprised when he heard the parakeet’s words. The traveler said to the parakeet: I just met another parakeet a short while ago near the hunter’s hut. He was speaking in a bad way, and I left the place immediately. Now I met you, and you speak well. Your words are good and gentle. Both of you are parakeets, but there is a difference between each of your languages.
The parakeet began to understand what the traveler had said and knew that the other parakeet he was talking about was his brother. The parakeet said to the traveler: That parakeet you are talking about is my brother. But each of us lived in a different place. My brother learned to speak in the hunter’s language. As for me, I learned to speak in the language of the minaret men. It is the company that forms your words and actions.
Good company helps you learn good things, and bad company turns you into a bad person who does bad things.
Translated from the story: Good Company and Bad Company