"The Four Best Friends"... Or At Least That's What You Thought...

Four Best Friends; Image from Pexels

Best friends; Image from Pexels

Retelling of the story, Tales of a Parrot: Four Rich Persons who Became Poor. The Story source was The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot, by Ziya'al-Die Nakhshabi (1801).

Gossip Gal here, your one and only source for anything and everything scandalous having to do with the most wonderful readings of mythology! This week I will be telling you about how four young ladies in our town had to painfully learn the power of friendship.

Here is how it all started: A group of young ladies was walking around town one night when they realized they did not have enough money to buy all of the new clothes, shoes, and bags that had just been released. They all sat and sulked about how they couldn't buy the new best thing (something we are all guilty of doing at some point in our lives). Well, after sitting in their sorrows, they decided to go see a fortune-teller, who would hopefully tell them they were about to get rich!!

Upon meeting the fortune-teller (we will call her Susan for the purpose of this story, since their identities are hidden), Susan asked the girls to remain silent. Now, in my opinion, fortune-tellers have several strengths and weaknesses. At one point they may seem like they have it all together, but sometimes they really don't. In fact, sometimes they are disguised and are truly bad people. For example, when I once went to one, she told me I would win the lottery the next day and that I should spend all my money that day. Of course, I did what she said and then ended up bankrupt the next day while my former best friend won the lottery... Anyways... Enough about me. Susan said she had seen them coming for some time now, and knew they were going to ask for help.

Susan then instructed the girls to each take one of the four diamonds she had lying out on the table and place it on each of their heads. She instructed them that wherever their respective diamonds fell off their heads, they were to stop there and start singing. Once they started singing, they would see their destiny that lies ahead.

The group of four girls started off on their journey. About fifteen minutes in, the diamond fell off the first girl's head. At once the girl started to sing, just like Susan had instructed her to do. Immediately, four pairs of copper shoes popped up, and each one fit the feet of one of the girls. She was very satisfied with this and decided to stay, while her friends were not amazed and continued on their way.

Next, the second diamond fell off a girl's head. The girl started singing and immediately three pairs of shoes made of silver popped up. Each one fit one of the girls' feet. The girl was amazed because obviously silver was better than copper, so she stayed.

The two remaining friends decided not to stay there and continued on their way. Finally, the third diamond fell off. After singing, two pairs of gold shoes popped up, each fitting one of the girls, some of the most fabulous shoes anyone could ever dream of! The girl begged her friend to stay, for she believed this was the greatest treasure they could have come upon.

But, unfortunately, the remaining girl refused to stay and continued on her way by herself.

Once the last girl had the diamond fall off her head, she reached a dead end where everything around her immediately went dark. At this dead end was a pile of old, thrown-out shoes from Walmart. Susan popped up on top of the shoe pile and told her this is what she deserved for not sticking with and listening to her friends when they talked about how great each treasure was. Immediately, all the other friends popped up right next to the girl who strayed off by herself. Susan then explained that since she wandered off alone, and did not appreciate the true friendships she had around her, she has now caused all her friends to suffer and lose their riches.

Susan then sent me a text on how she she hopes the girls can go back to the city and work on the quality of their friendship before asking for material possessions they do not need. I couldn't agree with Susan more! We need to appreciate all of our friendships while we still have them.

Wow!! What a story. The minute I got this gossip tip, I couldn't help but share with you guys! Remember to keep your friends close; besides, without your friends, who would help give me the gossip intel each day??

See you next time!!

XOXO,

Gossip Gal

Author's Note: In the original story, the parrot tells a tale about four poor men who are given the chance to find their destiny, but one friend doesn't listen to the other friends, and ends up making his life even worse. I thought it would be fun to continue with my Gossip Gal theme, and make the characters four women, since typically women suffer from more friendship issues anyways. Also, I changed it to be shoes at each place, since it fits more with a girl's best friend!! Ha ha. Another thing I did in this story was add in more dialogue between the friends, asking why they had not trusted each other in the end. The original story ends with the friend who didn't listen all on his own; I changed this to being the friend who was on her own winding back up with her other friends back where they started. This idea helps portray the lesson that sometimes if we are selfish in our ways, we can ruin the good things going for other people as well as the good things going for ourselves. I also changed the philosopher to a fortune-teller to make some more modern changes to the story. Some other slight changes I made to fit the girls as main characters was diamonds instead of balls, and singing instead of digging.