legacy by crafting an image of the bird as wily, wise, and humorously deceptive. Part trickster, part jester, this model of the parrot’s character enhances the bird’s traditional role as an object of entertainment while extending still further the remarkable qualities with which it is credited. As John Trevisa observed in his late fourteenth-century translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus’ On the Properties of Things, among the animals meant for man’s entertainment were “apes and marmusettes and popyngayes” (2:1110). This view assimilates the classical idea of the ridiculous parrot to later views of the bird as an animal savant.
We’ve already seen an example of this assimilation in Alexander Neckam’s tale of the cunning parrots who prove more than a mental match for the English knight. Likewise, a late fourteenth-century French fabliau entitled “The Tale of the Lady and the Three Parrots” produces a parrot that outwits both its master and his wife.
The master in this case is an elderly vavasour (the tenant and liege-man of a feudal baron) married to a young and beautiful lady. This vavasour, in typical fabliau fashion, suspects his wife of bestowing her favors upon another man. To test his suspicion, he places three parrots, each in its cage, in a gallery from which they can see the comings and goings at her chamber door. He commands these birds to keep a eye on his wife, they promise to do so faithfully, and he leaves home.
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