Jalal al-Din Rumi adapted his famous tale of the merchant and the captive parrot (found in Book One of the Masnavi) from an earlier poem in Farid al-Din Attar's Asrar Nameh. In Attar's original story, an Indian sage travels to Turkestan and is asked by a captive parrot to deliver a message to free parrots in India. Rumi alters the narrative geography, featuring a merchant traveling to India. In both allegories, the captive bird symbolizes the soul trapped in the physical world, and the free birds' dramatic response demonstrates that spiritual liberation requires 'dying' to the ego and worldly attachments. Comparing the texts reveals how Rumi expanded upon Attar's foundational narrative to deepen its mystical commentary.