Polymorphism the Python way

[Daniel Klein]

Given the following code,,,

class Dead(object):
    def __init__(self, adeadthing):
        self.deadthing = adeadthing

    def getthing(self):
        return self.deadthing

class Parrot(object):
    def __init__(self, aparrotthing):
        self.parrotthing = aparrotthing

    def getthing(self):
        return self.parrotthing

...and then somewhere in some script I use...

    self.getthing()

to get whatever 'thing' I want to get.

Isn't there a better way to do this in Python? I hate doing these
'get' type methods. The seem ugly to me.

Thanks,
Daniel Klein