Old man Gan had two sons. He died when the second was only five. After his death, the parrot he had kept flew away. The second son grew up into a very handsome young man. His brother and sister-in -law decided to choose as suitable girl for him. One day, the second son met a very beautiful girl in the fields. Looking around to make sure that nobody was about, the girl said in a low voice, "Your father betrothed us when he was alive. Why are your brother and sister-in -law looking for somebody else?" Having never heard of this, the second brother rushed back to tell his elder brother, who was ignorant of this too. Several days later the elder brother met a tearful, beautiful girl on his way. On inquiring, the girl said,"My name is A'ying and I was betrothed to the second son of the Gans and now they want to break off the betrothal."
The elder brother hurriedly dismounted and said, "I'm the elder son of the Gans. I really didn't know my father had betrothed my grother to you. Please come with me to my home." When they met at home, the second brother saw that she was the girl he had met in fields. So, the two married. One year, on the Mid-autumn Festival, the sister-in-law sent for A'ying. Despite repeated prompts by her husband A'ying didn't go. The next day, the sister-in-law came asking why A'ying had become so sad the previous night. By then, the second brother realized his wife had magic power. Also, he believed she was not a human being, so he told her to leave."Yes," A'ying explained."I'm not a human being. I'm a parrot, your father's parrot. Your father betrothed me to you when you were very young. As I can't bear you children,I have long wanted to leave. I was only held back by the kindness you have shown to me. Now I'm leaving. Take good care of yourself." So saying, she turned into a parrot and flew away.
When old man Gan was alive, he had often joked to his second son, "When the parrot grows up you take her as your wife." And when he wanted the boy to feed the bird he would say,"Go and feed your wife." The bird had come to fulfil his wish.
PS：this story is from 《Strange Tales of Liao-Zhai》
