A Thousand Devils!

As you know, my dear reader, Old Shark, Whale and others dwell in the big ocean. There is an Island in this ocean. Off the coast of that Island, an old ship found its eternity, and Captain Parr lives there. Now, he's a sea wolf and a Great Navigator. But before he became Captain Parr, his name was Mr Parr. Mr Parr hated travelling. Sometimes, the Old Owner moved his cage from the living room to the bedroom, and Mr Parr loudly protested, flapping his wings and shouting: "Mr Parr is a good boy!", "I'm hungry", and other minor phrases. These were all the adventures that befell Mr Parr in the past.

The mornings of Mr Parr and his Old Owner always started the same way. Every day, the human got up early, took the rag off the cage and poured grain into the feeder. Then, usually, he lightly tapped his fingers on the bars to wake up the bird, which slept soundly on the perch. At breakfast, the Old Owner read the newspapers aloud. He hoped his pet would remember some words, but Mr Parr was lazy and stubborn and never said anything new. During the day, the human wrote something, sitting in his office, and in the evenings, they played chess. Although Mr Parr took an indirect part in this process, he considered himself an important bird.

One cold autumn day, the Old Owner went out to the bakery and didn't return home anymore. A young man came instead, wrapped the cage in a blanket, took it to the market, and, despite the protests of Mr Parr, sold him to a random sailor.

So Mr Parr began to travel on an old ship. At first, he kept quiet the whole time, and although his cage was kept open, he didn't even stick the tip of his beak outward. However, shortly after, Mr Parr grew bolder, moved to the wardroom and began to listen to local stories with pleasure. He even learned to exclaim "A thousand devils!" on every occasion, which greatly amused the ship's crew. Now, Mr Parr has found a love for long voyages and a dream of becoming the captain of his vessel. He had no idea he'd soon have such an opportunity.

One day, the ship was caught in a storm. The immense vessel got in a whirlpool. The bottom was broken, and people decided to escape on boats. The captain was the last to leave the ship. He couldn't find Mr Parr huddled in fear behind a chest in the boatswain's quarters. Thus, the bird was left alone on the sinking ship.

When Mr Parr opened his eyes and saw Lighthouse Keeper in front of him pulling him out of the water, he didn't want to look like a cowardly wet chicken. The legend of One who sinks ships spontaneously escaped from his beak. So Mr Parr became Captain Parr, a sea wolf and a Great Navigator. And he wasn't at all ashamed.