Unit 5: Princess September

The royal couple of Siam had nine daughters who were named after the months of the year.

The princesses were named after the months of the year because the Queen of Siam found it difficult to remember so many names. Hence, the King decided to name the princesses as per the months of the calendar year.

The King had a peculiar habit of giving gifts instead of receiving gifts on his birthday. In one such year, on his birthday, he gave each of his daughters a green parrot in a golden cage.

As a matter of fact, people receive gifts instead of giving away gifts on their birthday. But the King followed an opposite tradition, and due to this reason, his habit was peculiar.

1. When Princess September locked her parrot in the golden cage gifted by her father, the poor bird soon died. She burst into a flood of tears and wept continuously at the loss of her dear parrot. Even her Maids of Honour couldn’t comfort her pain.
2. Her mother said that Princess September’s weeping was utter nonsense. In a heartless manner, she asked the Maids of Honour to put the girl to sleep without any supper.
3. From the reaction, we understand that Princess September was a very sensitive and simple-hearted girl. She was grief-stricken when her parrot died. On the contrary, the Queen mother appeared to be unmoved by the death of the parrot and her daughter’s grief and she did nothing to console her child. She seems to be an unsympathetic woman.

The Princess was really upset and depressed over the sudden demise of her parrot and wept continuously. While she lay in her bed crying, she saw a little bird hop into her room. She wiped her tears and watched the little bird sing a beautiful song. This pulled the Princess out of her gloom.

The next morning when the Maids of Honour brought in the Princess’s breakfast, they noticed her in a good mood. They saw the songbird eat rice out of the Princess’s hand and bathe in her saucer. After that, the little bird sang a beautiful song, and the Princess thoroughly enjoyed it. Seeing this, they were convinced that the two had become good friends.

The little bird sang a different and new song every time. On the other hand, all the old parrots were taught two phrases – ‘God save the King’ and ‘Pretty Polly’ in seven different Oriental languages. They would say the same phrases repeatedly when asked.

The King saw the parrots say two phrases repeatedly – ‘God save the King’ and ‘Pretty Polly’ in seven different Oriental languages, and this reminded him about his Councillors who, too repeated the same thing differently. This made the King have a low opinion of all his Councillors, who blabbered about the same thing repeatedly.

1. The eight Princesses were jealous of Princess September’s singing bird. Hence, they made an offer to buy her a lovely green and yellow parrot by contributing from their pocket-money together.
2. The other Princesses made this offer to Princess September since they were not happy as everyone praised her singing bird. Their parrots appeared sad and repeated the same phrases over and again. Out of jealousy, they offered to contribute some money to their younger sister to buy a parrot similar to theirs.

The sisters were very jealous of Princess September’s singing bird. With an evil intention, they advised her to keep the bird in a cage, otherwise, it would fly away forever.