Page 34 - The Book of Rumi

Merchant and Parrot

any years ago, a Persian merchant was given a beautiful parrot as a gift
Mby his Indian trading partners. He kept the parrot in a formidable cage,
where he could watch her and listen to her melodious song every day when he
rested after his long hours at work. The time of year came when he normally
traveled to India on a buying trip, and as is customary he asked his household
help what they wanted him to bring back as gifts for them. Each person asked
for something close to his or her heart, and so did the little green parrot.
“My dear master, my heart really desires nothing from my motherland,”
she said morosely. “But, should you come across a group of parrots like
myself, would you please convey my greetings and tell them that I’m trapped
in a cage in Persia, and I miss them terribly. Ask them whether they think it’s

fair that they’re flying freely throughout the land while their cousin is slowly
dying in captivity. I beg you to ask them on my behalf for advice on how I
should reckon my situation.”
The merchant didn’t think much about the parrot’s demand but promised
to fi nd the birds and deliver her message exactly as she had voiced it. Once in
India, he diligently tended to his business but did not forget his promise of
gifts for his servants or the parrot’s message. One day, traveling from one town
to the next, he happened to come across a group of parrots chirping noisily
in a forest. He stopped his horse and delivered his parrot’s message faithfully,
but before he could fi nish, one of the parrots began to shiver uncontrollably,
falling off the branch he’d been perched on and suddenly dying. The merchant
ran to save the parrot, but the little bird looked perfectly dead!
He became distraught, feeling overwhelming guilt that he’d caused the
poor bird’s demise unnecessarily. He wondered whether the fallen bird was
related to his parrot and had literally died from grief hearing about his trapped
cousin. Was it not true that the human tongue is like an uneasy aggregation
of rock and iron, which, when struck against each other, can spark off a fi re?
He regretted having recounted his parrot’s message, but there was nothing he

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