was different each week, he did the same tricks over and

over again. One problem: The captain's parrot saw the

shows each week and began to understand how the magician

did every trick. Once the parrot understood, she started

shouting in the middle of the show: "Look, it's not the same hat!

Look, he's hiding the flowers under the table. Hey, why are all

the cards the ace of spades?"

The magician was furious but couldn't do anything. It was, after

all, the captain's parrot. Then the ship sank. After swimming for

a few hours, the magician found himself on a piece of wood

floating in the middle of the sea with, as fate would have it, the

parrot. They stared malevolently at each other but did not utter

a word. This went on for a day and then another, and then another.

Finally on the fourth day, the parrot could restrain itself no longer: