Of this last class is the popular Persian work, _Tuti Nama_, (Tales of a Parrot, or Parrot-Book), of which I purpose furnishing some account, as it has not yet been completely translated into English. This work was composed, according to Pertsch, in A.D. 1329, by a Persian named Nakhshabi, after an older Persian version, now lost, which was made from a Sanskrit work, also no longer extant, but of which the modern representative is the _Suka Saptati_, or Seventy Tales of a Parrot.[41] The frame, or leading story, of the Persian Parrot-Book is to the following effect: [41] Ziyau-'d-Din Nakhshabi, so called from Nakhshab, or Nasaf, the modern Kashi, a town situated between Samarkand and the Oxus, led a secluded life in Bada'um, and died, as stated by 'Abdal-Hakk, A.H. 751 (A.D. 1350-1).--Dr. Rieu's _Catalogue of Persian MSS. in the British Museum_.--In 1792 the Rev. B. Gerrans published an English translation of twelve of the fifty-two tales comprised in the _Tuti Nama_, but the work is now best known in Persia and India from an abridgment made by Kadiri in the last century, which was printed, with a translation, at London in 1801. A merchant who had a very beautiful wife informs her one day that he has resolved to travel into foreign countries in order to increase his wealth by trade. His wife endeavours to persuade him to remain at home in peace and security instead of imperiling his life among strangers. But he expatiates on the evils of poverty and the advantages of wealth: "A man without riches is fatherless, and a home without money is deserted. He that is in want of cash is a nonentity, and wanders in the land unknown. It is, therefore, everybody's duty to procure as much money as possible; for gold is the delight of our lives--it is the bright live-coal of our hearts--the yellow links which fasten the coat of mail--the gentle stimulative of the world--the complete coining die of the globe--the traveller who speaks all languages, and is welcome in every city--the splendid bride unveiled--the defender, register, and mirror of jehandars. The man who has dirhams [_Scottice_, 'siller'--_Fr._ 'l'argent'] is handsome; the sun never shines on the inauspicious man without money."[42] Before leaving home the merchant purchased at great cost in the bazaar a wonderful parrot, that could discourse eloquently and intelligently, and also a sharak, a species of nightingale, which, according to Gerrans, "imitates the human voice in so surprising a manner that, if you do not see the bird, you cannot help being deceived"; and, having put them into the same cage, he charged his spouse that whenever she had any matter of importance to transact she should first obtain the sanction of both birds.