(Bilingual English-Spanish edition / Edicion bilingue ingles-espanol) A wealthy merchant’s prize possession is a beautiful bird. Believing that he loves the exotic creature too much to set it free, the merchant discovers that animals are sometimes better at learning by example than humans. This is one of a series of illustrated books for the young written by the Afghan philosopher and educator Idries Shah, whose collections of narratives and teaching stories have captivated the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life. It belongs to a rich storytelling tradition from Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Middle East that is more than 1,000 years old. These tales are more than entertaining; they are designed specifically to foster thinking skills and perception. They suggest in their structure and in the movement of their characters ways of looking at difficulties that can help solve them. Children will learn that it is good to observe others in order to learn, and that sometimes the actions of others are not all that they first seem to be.

La posesion mas preciada de un rico comerciante es un pajaro hermoso. Cree que ama a su exotica criatura demasiado como para liberarla, pero pronto este comerciante descubre que los animales a veces aprenden mejor que los humanos de los ejemplos. Esta historia es parte de una serie de libros ilustrados para ninos, escritos por el filosofo y educador afgano Idries Shah, cuyas colecciones de narraciones y cuentos didacticos han cautivado los corazones y las mentes de personas de todos los ambitos de la vida. Pertenece a una rica tradicion narrativa de Afganistan, Asia Central y Oriente Medio de mas de 1.000 anos. Estas historias no solo son entretenidas: estan disenadas especificamente para fomentar las habilidades del pensamiento y la percepcion. Sugieren, a traves de su estructura y del movimiento de sus personajes, formas de mirar las dificultades de manera que puedan ayudar a resolverlas. Los ninos aprenderan que es bueno observar a los demas para aprender, y que a veces las acciones de los otros no son todo lo que aparentan ser.