[53] In one Telugu version, entitled _Toti Nama Cat'halu_, the lady kills the bird after hearing all its tales; and in another the husband, on returning home and learning of his wife's intended intrigue, cuts off her head and becomes a devotee. * * * * * It will be observed that the frame of the _Tuti Nama_ somewhat resembles the story, in the _Arabian Nights_, of the Merchant, his Wife, and the Parrot, which properly belongs to, and occurs in, all the versions of the _Book of Sindibad_, and also in the _Seven Wise Masters_; in the latter a magpie takes the place of the parrot. In my _Popular Tales and Fictions_ I have pointed out the close analogy which the frame of the Parrot-Book bears to a Panjabi legend of the renowned hero Raja Rasalu. In the _Tuti Nama_ the merchant leaves a parrot and a sharak to watch over his wife's conduct in his absence, charging her to obtain their consent before she enters upon any undertaking of moment; and on her consulting the sharak as to the propriety of her assignation with the young prince, the bird refuses consent, whereupon the enraged dame kills it on the spot; but the parrot, by pursuing a middle course, saves his life and his master's honour. In the Panjabi legend Raja Rasalu, who was very frequently from home on hunting excursions, left behind him a parrot and a maina (hill starling), to act as spies upon his young wife, the Rani Kokla. One day while Rasalu was from home she was visited by the handsome Raja Hodi, who climbed to her balcony by a rope (this incident is the subject of many paintings in fresco on the panels of palaces and temples in India), when the maina exclaimed, "What wickedness is this?" upon which the raja went to the cage, took out the maina, and dashed it to the ground, so that it died. But the parrot, taking warning, said, "The steed of Rasalu is swift, what if he should surprise you? Let me out of my cage, and I will fly over the palace, and will inform you the instant he appears in sight"; and so she released the parrot. In the sequel, the parrot betrays the rani, and Rasalu kills Raja Hodi and causes his heart to be served to the rani for supper.[54] [54] Captain R. C. Temple's _Legends of the Panjab_, vol. i, p. 52 ff.; and "Four Legends of Raja Rasalu," by the Rev. C. Swynnerton, in the _Folk-Lore Journal_, 1883, p. 141 ff. * * * * *