Freedom parrot

呼喊自由的鸚鵡

A man, a great man, a fighter for freedom was traveling in the mountains. He stayed in a caravans① for the night. He was amazed that in the caravans there was a beautiful parrot in a golden cage, continually repeating "Freedom! Freedom!". And it was such a place that when the parrot repeated the word "Freedom!" it would go on echoing in the valleys, in the mountains.
The man thought: "I have seen many parrots, and I have thought they must want to be free from those cages... but I have never seen such a parrot whose whole day, from the morning to the evening when he goes to sleep, is spent in calling out for freedom." He had an idea. In the middle of the night, when the owner was fast asleep, he got up and opened the door of the cage. He whispered to the parrot, "Now get out."
But he was very surprised that the parrot was clinging to the bars of the cage. He said to him again and again, "Have you forgotten about freedom? Just get out! The door is open and the owner is fast asleep; nobody will ever know. You just fly into the sky; the whole sky is yours."
But the parrot was clinging so deeply, so hard, that the man said, "What is the matter? Are you mad?" He tried to take the parrot out with his own hands, but the parrot started pecking② at him, and at the same time he was shouting, "Freedom! Freedom!" The valleys in the night echoed and re-echoed, but the man was also stubborn③; he was a freedom fighter.
He pulled the parrot out and threw him into the sky; and he was very satisfied, although his hand was hurt. The parrot had attacked him as forcefully as he could, but the man was immensely satisfied that he had made a soul free. He went to sleep.
In the morning, as the man was waking up, he heard the parrot shouting, "Freedom! Freedom" He thought perhaps the parrot must be sitting on a tree or on a rock. But when he came out, the parrot was sitting in the cage. The door was open.

① caravan n. 商隊大旅店
② peck v. 啄
③ stubborn a. 頑固的，固執的

一個人，一個了不起的人，一個為了自由而戰的斗士，正在山巒間穿行。今晚他留在一個大旅店里過夜。旅店里有一個金鳥籠，里面有一只漂亮的鸚鵡在不停地反復呼喊著“自由！自由！”，這讓他很震驚。那里是這樣的一種地方，當這只鸚鵡不斷地反復呼喊“自由！”的時候，這個詞便會在山巒間、在深谷中久久回蕩。

這個人想：“我看到過很多鸚鵡，也曾想過他們一定想從這些籠子里飛出去獲得自由……但是，我從沒有見過這樣的鸚鵡，從早到晚，直到入睡，一整天都在呼喊著自由。”他有了一個想法……午夜，當店主熟睡的時候，他悄悄起身，打開了鳥籠門，小聲地對鸚鵡說：“現在，出去吧。”

但是令他吃驚的是這只鸚鵡竟抓著鳥籠的橫木不放。他對它一遍又一遍地說：“你忘了自由了嗎？快出去！門開著，店主熟睡著，沒有人會看到。你只要飛向天空，整片天空就是你的了。”

但是鸚鵡仍然牢牢地用力抓著橫木不放，于是他說：“怎么了？你瘋了嗎？”他試圖用手把鸚鵡弄出來，但是鸚鵡卻開始啄他，同時大喊：“自由！自由！”深夜的山谷里蕩起了一聲又一聲的回音，可是這個人也一樣地頑固，誰讓他是個自由之士呢。