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There was this magician of some repute who was hired to do his act aboard a cruise ship.

He had been there for several years, and since the crowd was continually changing, he did the same act over and over. He enjoyed the good life in this sense, spending most of his time out on the promenade deck working on his tan, not new tricks.

One day, the captain bought a parrot and, over the months, brought the parrot with him to see the nightly magic show.

Being a smart parrot, the bird learned all the tricks—where the cards, flower, etc. were hidden by the magician in his act.

The bird would say, “The card is up his left sleeve, the flower is under the pot, he hid the money under his shoe…”

Because the parrot would only take about a week to catch on to his magic tricks, the magician was forced to continually learn new ones, which was getting harder and harder by the day, and really cramping his “sun time.”

To put it mildly, he hated the darn parrot, but since it was the captain’s, he couldn’t do anything about it.

Late one night, the engine room exploded and the ship sank within minutes. Miraculously, the magician found himself clinging to a timber, floating in the water surrounded by darkness. Alas, he was the only one left alive!

As the sun came up the next morning and he turned around, what should be sitting 20 feet away on the opposite end of the log—his arch-nemesis, the parrot!

They glared at each other and said nothing. This went on for three days, and neither said a word, just glared.

On the fourth day, the parrot finally broke the silence and said, “Okay! I give up. What did you do with the ship?”