In the ancient city of Isfahan, renowned for its magnificent gardens and skilled craftsmen, there lived a wealthy silk merchant named Khalil. He was a man of middle years, prosperous in his trade but troubled by a disposition that cast shadows over his happiness—for Khalil was consumed by jealousy regarding his young and beautiful wife, Yasmin.

Yasmin was indeed a vision of loveliness, with eyes like dark pools reflecting starlight and a laugh that rang like silver bells through their spacious home. She had married Khalil not for love, but out of obedience to her father’s wishes, for the merchant was wealthy and could provide well for her. Yet she conducted herself with proper dignity and showed her husband all the respect that custom demanded.

But Khalil’s heart was never at peace. Each morning when he left for the bazaar, he would imagine that young men were waiting to court his wife. Each evening when he returned, he would scrutinize Yasmin’s face for signs of guilt or deception. His jealousy grew like a poisonous plant, fed by his own imagination and the whispered gossip of envious neighbors.

“Surely,” thought Khalil, “a woman so beautiful cannot be trusted alone. How can I know what she does in my absence?”

This torment of uncertainty plagued him until one day, while conducting business in the exotic animal market, he came upon a merchant selling birds from distant lands. Among the cages sat a magnificent parrot with emerald green feathers and eyes bright with intelligence.

“This bird,” declared the seller, “is no ordinary parrot. He can speak with the clarity of a scholar and has a memory that forgets nothing. Place him in your home, and he will tell you everything that transpires in your absence.”

Khalil’s eyes gleamed with interest. Here was the solution to his problem! “How much do you ask for this remarkable creature?”

The price was steep—enough gold to buy a camel or a year’s worth of fine silks—but Khalil paid without hesitation. He carried the parrot home in a cage of polished brass, his heart lighter than it had been in months.

“My dear wife,” he announced to Yasmin, “I have brought you a companion to keep you company while I am away. This clever bird will entertain you with his speech and songs.”

Yasmin clapped her hands with delight. She had always loved animals and birds, and the parrot was indeed beautiful. “What a thoughtful gift, my husband! What is his name?”

“I shall call him Haqiq,” said Khalil with a meaningful smile, “for he will speak only the truth.”

Khalil placed the parrot’s cage in the central courtyard where it could observe all the comings and goings of the household. That very first day, before leaving for the bazaar, he whispered to the bird: “Watch well, Haqiq. Remember everything you see and hear, for I shall ask you to tell me all when I return.”

The parrot cocked his head and replied in perfect Arabic: “I shall see all and remember all, master. Truth shall be my only language.”

From that day forward, Khalil’s routine never varied. Each morning he would instruct the parrot to watch carefully, and each evening he would demand a full report of the day’s events. The bird proved to be an excellent spy, recounting every visitor who came to the house, every conversation between Yasmin and the servants, every song she sang and every book she read.

For several weeks, Khalil was content. The parrot’s reports contained nothing suspicious—only the ordinary activities of a well-managed household. Yasmin received visits from her sisters and female cousins, directed the servants in their duties, worked at her embroidery, and tended to the garden. Her conduct was beyond reproach.

But Khalil’s jealous nature was not so easily satisfied. “Perhaps,” he thought, “the parrot simply has not yet witnessed what I suspect. I must be patient.”

Meanwhile, Yasmin had grown genuinely fond of the clever bird. She would sit by his cage for hours, talking to him as she might to a trusted friend. The parrot, being intelligent, learned to mimic her voice perfectly and could repeat entire conversations word for word.

“Oh, Haqiq,” she would say when her duties were finished, “how lonely these days are when my husband is away. If only I had a true companion to share my thoughts with—someone who understood my heart.”

The parrot would bob his head sympathetically and reply: “Lonely days, lonely heart, someone who understands.”

One morning, as Khalil prepared to leave for what would be a three-day trading journey to a neighboring city, he gave the parrot especially stern instructions. “Watch more carefully than ever, Haqiq. I shall be gone longer than usual, and I must know everything that occurs in my absence.”

During the first day of Khalil’s absence, Yasmin’s young cousin Layla came to visit, accompanied by her husband Ahmad. They were a newly married couple, very much in love, and their joy was evident in their every gesture and word.

“Oh, cousin,” sighed Layla as they sat in the garden, “how wonderful it is to be married to a man who trusts me completely! Ahmad never questions where I go or what I do. He says that love without trust is like a garden without water—it withers and dies.”

Yasmin listened wistfully to her cousin’s words. “You are fortunate indeed,” she replied. “My husband’s love comes wrapped in suspicion. Sometimes I feel more like a prisoner than a wife.”

The parrot, perched nearby, listened intently to every word.

On the second day, Yasmin’s elderly aunt came to call, bringing news of various family members. Among the gossip was word of a young man from a neighboring family who had fallen desperately in love with a married woman.

“The poor boy makes himself ill with longing,” related the aunt. “He stands beneath her window each night, hoping for just a glimpse of her face. Of course, the woman is virtuous and gives him no encouragement, but still he persists in his foolish passion.”

“How sad,” commented Yasmin. “Love that is not returned brings only suffering. I pray that Allah will heal his heart and guide him to a woman who can love him freely.”

Again, the parrot stored away every word in his remarkable memory.

On the third day, as Yasmin sat alone in the garden reading a book of poetry, she spoke aloud to herself as was her habit when lonely.

“If only my husband could read the words of these poets,” she mused, “he might understand that true love is built on trust, not suspicion. How can affection flourish when every glance is questioned and every smile is doubted?”

She paused at a particularly beautiful verse about the pain of being misunderstood by one’s beloved. “Oh, if I could speak freely to my husband’s heart! If I could make him see that his jealousy wounds me more deeply than any betrayal could wound him!”

When Khalil returned that evening, tired and dusty from his journey, his first action was to summon the parrot for his report. He dismissed the servants and sat alone with the bird, ready to hear what had transpired in his absence.

“Tell me everything, Haqiq,” he commanded. “Speak truth and spare no detail.”

The parrot, with his perfect memory and gift for mimicry, began to recount the three days’ events. But being a bird with limited understanding, he mixed together fragments of different conversations without regard for their context.

“Master,” the bird began, “your wife spoke often of longing and love. She said ‘How lonely these days are’ and ‘If only I had a true companion who understood my heart.’”

Khalil’s face grew dark. “Go on.”

“She spoke with her cousin of a man who loves without questions, and said ‘How wonderful it is to be married to such a man!’ And when her aunt told of a young man who stands beneath a woman’s window each night, your wife said ‘How sad that love is not returned’—but she spoke softly and seemed moved by the tale.”

The jealous husband’s hands clenched into fists. “What else?”

“She sat alone and spoke of speaking freely to a husband’s heart, of making him see and understand. She read poetry about love and said ‘If only my husband could read these words!’”

By weaving together these fragments without understanding their true meaning, the parrot had created a tapestry of apparent guilt from threads of innocent conversation. In Khalil’s jealous mind, the bird’s words painted a picture of a wife longing for another man, corresponding secretly with a lover who stood beneath her window.

“Treacherous woman!” Khalil exploded, his face red with rage. “So this is how you repay my trust! While I work to provide for you, you entertain thoughts of other men and make plans for secret meetings!”

He stormed into the house and confronted Yasmin, who was preparing his evening meal with her own hands as a gesture of welcome.

“Faithless wife!” he shouted. “I know all about your secret lover and your longing for other men! My faithful parrot has revealed your true nature!”

Yasmin stared at him in shock and bewilderment. “My husband, what are you saying? What lover? What secret? I have done nothing wrong!”

But Khalil was beyond reason. The parrot’s fragmented report had confirmed all his worst suspicions. “Do not lie to me! Haqiq heard every word you spoke. You complained of loneliness and wished for a ’true companion’! You spoke admiringly of men who love without questions! You even discussed the romantic poetry you read while thinking of your lover!”

“But those words—you don’t understand their meaning!” Yasmin protested, tears streaming down her face. “If you would only listen—”

“I have heard enough!” Khalil declared. “Pack your belongings and return to your father’s house. I cannot bear to live with a woman who has betrayed my trust!”

Despite Yasmin’s tears and protestations of innocence, despite her desperate attempts to explain the true context of her words, Khalil’s jealous heart was closed to reason. That very night, he sent her away, keeping only the parrot as his companion.

For several days, Khalil congratulated himself on his wisdom in discovering his wife’s treachery. But as time passed and his anger cooled, he began to feel increasingly lonely and troubled. The house seemed empty without Yasmin’s laughter, the meals prepared by servants lacked the love that had seasoned her cooking, and the garden she had tended began to look neglected and sad.

Moreover, Khalil found himself missing his wife’s companionship more deeply than he had expected. In his heart of hearts, he began to question whether he had acted too hastily.

One evening, as he sat alone with the parrot, a neighbor came to call—an elderly man known for his wisdom and learning.

“I hear you have divorced your wife,” the old man said gently. “Forgive my boldness, but I was fond of young Yasmin. She often helped my own wife when illness confined her to bed, and never once did her conduct give cause for gossip. What led you to such a drastic decision?”

Khalil, feeling somewhat defensive, told the whole story of the parrot’s revelations. The wise neighbor listened carefully, asking detailed questions about exactly what the bird had reported.

When Khalil finished his account, the old man was quiet for a long moment. Then he said: “My friend, I fear you have made a grave error. Allow me to tell you what your parrot’s words truly meant.”

With patience and wisdom, the neighbor explained how the bird’s fragments of conversation had been taken from their proper context. He showed how Yasmin’s complaint of loneliness was actually a lament about her husband’s absence, how her admiration for trust in marriage was a gentle criticism of Khalil’s own suspicious nature, and how her interest in the story of unrequited love reflected compassion, not guilty identification.

“Your parrot spoke truly,” the old man concluded, “but truth without understanding is more dangerous than lies. The bird repeated your wife’s words exactly, but he could not convey their true meaning. You have condemned an innocent woman based on a faithful report that you interpreted through the lens of your own jealousy.”

Khalil’s face went pale as the full magnitude of his mistake became clear. “What have I done?” he whispered. “I have destroyed my marriage and broken the heart of the one person who loved me truly.”

“All may not be lost,” the neighbor said kindly. “If you go to Yasmin with sincere repentance and acknowledge your error, she may find it in her heart to forgive you. But you must first conquer the jealousy that led you astray, or you will repeat this mistake.”

That very night, Khalil went to his father-in-law’s house and threw himself at Yasmin’s feet, confessing his error and begging her forgiveness. At first, Yasmin was too hurt and angry to listen, but when she saw the genuine remorse in her husband’s eyes and heard him acknowledge the wisdom of her earlier words about trust, her loving heart began to soften.

“Can you truly promise,” she asked, “that you will never again let baseless jealousy poison your thoughts against me?”

“I swear by Allah,” Khalil replied, “that I will trust you as you deserve to be trusted. I have learned that a marriage without trust is indeed like a garden without water—it withers and dies.”

And so Yasmin returned to her husband’s house, and their marriage was renewed on a foundation of mutual trust and understanding. As for the parrot, Khalil kept the bird but no longer asked for reports of his wife’s activities. Instead, he used Haqiq’s remarkable abilities to entertain guests and teach the neighborhood children their letters and numbers.

“Truth,” Khalil would often say when telling this story, “is like a precious gem that can cut glass—but in the wrong hands, it can also wound innocent hearts. Wisdom lies not just in knowing the truth, but in understanding its proper meaning.”

Thus Khalil learned that jealousy is a poison that destroys the very love it claims to protect, and that trust, once broken by suspicion, can only be repaired by the sincere recognition of one’s errors and the determination never to repeat them.

And they say that Khalil and Yasmin lived happily together for many years thereafter, their love strengthened by the trial they had overcome, their marriage enriched by the trust they had learned to share. For they had discovered that true love requires not constant watching, but constant faith in the goodness of the beloved’s heart.