In the climax of Jalaluddin Rumi's "Tale of the Merchant and the Parrot" in the *Masnavi*, the captive bird's feigned death directly results in its liberation. Believing his beloved parrot has died from grief, the merchant throws its body out of the cage, only for the bird to immediately fly to a high branch. The parrot explains that the wild bird in Hindustan had not actually died, but rather enacted a silent, performative message: to escape captivity, one must "die" to one's own talents and worldly attachments. 

Rumi uses this narrative resolution to illustrate the central Sufi concept of *fana* (spiritual annihilation or "dying before you die"). As long as the parrot flaunted its beautiful voice and earthly charms, it remained imprisoned by those who desired its talents. By shedding its worldly identity and abandoning its ego, it achieved true freedom, teaching the spiritual seeker that worldly prominence is a snare and true refuge is found only in God's grace.

The Metaphor of Spiritual Death and Liberation in the Tale of the Merchant and the Parrot

In the conclusion of the Tale of the Merchant and the Parrot in Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, the captive parrot successfully uses the stratagem of feigning death to escape its cage. After flying to safety, the bird offers sincere counsel to the merchant before bidding him farewell. This departure sparks a profound realization within the merchant. Observing the bird's flight, he recognizes that the parrot's physical liberation serves as a direct metaphor for the spiritual liberation required of the human soul. The merchant resolves to adopt the parrot's path, questioning, 'When is my soul any less than a parrot?' Rumi uses this narrative resolution to illustrate that the human soul, much like the caged bird, must actively seek detachment from worldly illusions and 'die' to its ego in order to attain true spiritual freedom and return to its divine origin.

The Merchant's Realization of Spiritual Liberation in the Masnavi

In the Masnavi, before the merchant departs for Hindustan, Jalaluddin Rumi temporarily suspends the narrative to elaborate on the symbolic identity of the captive bird. He describes it as the 'soul-parrot,' representing the spiritually enlightened human being. Rumi highlights a profound paradox of spiritual existence: while the parrot's physical form is trapped on earth, its true essence resides in a divine 'placelessness' (la-makan) that surpasses human comprehension. Despite its outward captivity, the soul-parrot holds ultimate authority, commanding both the material and spiritual realms. After exploring this transcendent reality, Rumi abruptly halts his philosophical digression, redirecting the reader back to the earthly plot where the merchant formally accepts the parrot's message for its peers in Hindustan.

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## Original content
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بود بازرگان و او را طوطیی 
در قفس محبوس زیبا طوطیی
چونک بازرگان سفر را ساز کرد 
سوی هندستان شدن آغاز کرد
هر غلام و هر کنیزک را ز جود 
گفت بهر تو چه آرم گوی زود
هر یکی از وی مرادی خواست کرد 
جمله را وعده بداد آن نیک مرد
گفت طوطی را چه خواهی ارمغان 
کارمت از خطهٔ هندوستان
گفتش آن طوطی که آنجا طوطیان 
چون ببینی کن ز حال من بیان
کان فلان طوطی که مشتاق شماست 
از قضای آسمان در حبس ماست
بر شما کرد او سلام و داد خواست 
وز شما چاره و ره ارشاد خواست
گفت می‌شاید که من در اشتیاق 
جان دهم اینجا بمیرم در فراق
این روا باشد که من در بند سخت 
گه شما بر سبزه گاهی بر درخت
این چنین باشد وفای دوستان 
من درین حبس و شما در گلستان
یاد آرید ای مهان زین مرغ زار 
یک صبوحی درمیان مرغزار
یاد یاران یار را میمون بود 
خاصه کان لیلی و این مجنون بود
ای حریفان بت موزون خود 
من قدحها می‌خورم پر خون خود
یک قدح می‌نوش کن بر یاد من 
گر نمی‌خواهی که بدهی داد من
یا بیاد این فتادهٔ خاک‌بیز 
چونک خوردی جرعه‌ای بر خاک ریز
ای عجب آن عهد و آن سوگند کو 
وعده‌های آن لب چون قند کو
گر فراق بنده از بد بندگیست 
چون تو با بد بد کنی پس فرق چیست
ای بدی که تو کنی در خشم و جنگ 
با طرب‌تر از سماع و بانگ چنگ
ای جفای تو ز دولت خوب‌تر 
و انتقام تو ز جان محبوب‌تر
نار تو اینست نورت چون بود 
ماتم این، تا خود که سورت چون بود
از حلاوتها که دارد جور تو 
وز لطافت کس نیابد غور تو
نالم و ترسم که او باور کند 
وز کرم آن جور را کمتر کند
عاشقم بر قهر و بر لطفش بجد 
بوالعجب من عاشق این هر دو ضد
والله ار زین خار در بستان شوم 
همچو بلبل زین سبب نالان شوم
این عجب بلبل که بگشاید دهان 
تا خورد او خار را با گلستان
این چه بلبل این نهنگ آتشیست 
جمله ناخوشها ز عشق او را خوشیست
عاشق کلست و خود کلست او 
عاشق خویشست و عشق خویش‌جو

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## English translation
There was a merchant, and he had a parrot,
a beautiful parrot imprisoned in a cage.
When the merchant prepared for the journey
and began heading toward India,
to every slave and every handmaid, out of generosity,
he said: "What shall I bring you? Speak quickly."
Each one made a wish of him,
and that good man promised them all.
He said to the parrot: "What gift do you want
that I bring you from the land of India?"
That parrot said to him: "When you see the parrots there,
give an account of my condition —
that such-and-such parrot who longs for you all
is in our captivity by the decree of heaven.
He sends you his greetings and asks for redress,
and asks of you a remedy and a path of guidance.
He says: 'Is it fitting that I, in longing,
should surrender my soul, die here in separation?
Is this seemly — that I am in harsh bondage
while you are sometimes on the green, sometimes on a branch?
Is this how the faithfulness of friends is?
I in this prison and you in the rose garden?
Remember, O great ones, this wretched bird —
one morning cup amid the meadow.'"

The remembrance of friends is auspicious for the friend,
especially when that one is Laylī and this one is Majnūn.

"O companions of my graceful idol,
I am drinking cups filled with my own blood.
Drink one cup in my remembrance,
if you do not wish to give me justice —
or in memory of this one fallen in the dust,
when you have drunk a sip, pour a drop upon the earth.

O wonder — where is that covenant, that oath?
Where are the promises of those lips sweet as sugar?
If the servant's separation is due to poor servitude,
when you do evil to the evil, what then is the difference?
O evil that you inflict in anger and strife —
more joyful than samā' and the sound of the harp!
O your oppression better than fortune,
and your revenge more beloved than the soul!
This is your fire — how then would your light be?
This is your mourning — what then would your feast be?
From the sweetness that your cruelty holds,
through its subtlety no one can fathom your depth.
I lament — and fear that he will believe it
and out of generosity lessen that cruelty."

I am earnestly in love with his wrath and his grace —
how wondrous: I am in love with both of these opposites!
By God, if from this thorn I go to the garden,
like the nightingale, for this very reason I will lament.
This wondrous nightingale that opens its mouth
to eat the thorn along with the rose garden —
what nightingale is this? This is a fire-dragon;
all unpleasantness is pleasure to it through love.
He is a lover of the Whole and is himself the Whole;
he is a lover of himself and seeker of his own love.

دفتر اول - بخش ۸۴ - قصهٔ بازرگان کی طوطی محبوس او او را پیغام داد به طوطیان هندوستان هنگام رفتن به تجارت / Book One - Section 84 - The Tale of the Merchant Whose Imprisoned Parrot Gave Him a Message for the Parrots of India When He Was Going on a Trading Journey

## Original content
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قصهٔ طوطی جان زین سان بود 
کو کسی کو محرم مرغان بود
کو یکی مرغی ضعیفی بی‌گناه 
و اندرون او سلیمان با سپاه
چون بنالد زار بی‌شکر و گله 
افتد اندر هفت گردون غلغله
هر دمش صد نامه صد پیک از خدا 
یا ربی زو شصت لبیک از خدا
زلت او به ز طاعت نزد حق 
پیش کفرش جمله ایمانها خلق
هر دمی او را یکی معراج خاص 
بر سر تاجش نهد صد تاج خاص
صورتش بر خاک و جان بر لامکان 
لامکانی فوق وهم سالکان
لامکانی نه که در فهم آیدت 
هر دمی در وی خیالی زایدت
بل مکان و لامکان در حکم او 
همچو در حکم بهشتی چار جو
شرح این کوته کن و رخ زین بتاب 
دم مزن والله اعلم بالصواب
باز می‌گردیم ما ای دوستان 
سوی مرغ و تاجر و هندوستان
مرد بازرگان پذیرفت این پیام 
کو رساند سوی جنس از وی سلام

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## English translation
The story of the soul-parrot was of this sort: where is one who is intimate with birds? Where is a weak, innocent bird, while inside him is Solomon with his host? When he laments piteously, without ingratitude or complaint, a clamor falls through the seven heavens. At each breath of his, a hundred letters and a hundred messengers come from God; for one “O Lord” from him, sixty “Here I am” replies come from God. His slip is better before the Truth than obedience; compared with his unbelief, all faiths are but created things. At every moment he has a special ascension; upon the crown of his head He places a hundred special crowns. His form is on the earth and his soul in placelessness, a placelessness beyond the imagination of wayfarers; not a placelessness that enters your understanding, where every moment a fancy is born in you about it. Rather, place and placelessness are under his command, just as the four streams are under the command of a dweller in Paradise. Cut this explanation short and turn your face away from it; say no more, and God knows best what is right. Now we return, friends, to the bird, the merchant, and Hindustan. The merchant accepted this message, to carry a greeting from it to its own kind.

دفتر اول - بخش ۸۵ - صفت اجنحهٔ طیور عقول الهی / Book One - Section 85 - Description of the Wings of the Birds of Divine Intellects

https://huggingface.co/docs/transformers/model_summary

Huggingface Model Summary

The Metaphor of the Soul-Parrot and Placelessness in the Masnavi

## Original content
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چونک تا اقصای هندستان رسید 
در بیابان طوطیی چندی بدید
مرکب استانید پس آواز داد 
آن سلام و آن امانت باز داد
طوطیی زان طوطیان لرزید بس 
اوفتاد و مرد و بگسستش نفس
شد پشیمان خواجه از گفت خبر 
گفت رفتم در هلاک جانور
این مگر خویشست با آن طوطیک 
این مگر دو جسم بود و روح یک
این چرا کردم چرا دادم پیام 
سوختم بیچاره را زین گفت خام
این زبان چون سنگ و هم آهن وشست 
وانچ بجهد از زبان چون آتشست
سنگ و آهن را مزن بر هم گزاف 
گه ز روی نقل و گه از روی لاف
زانک تاریکست و هر سو پنبه‌زار 
درمیان پنبه چون باشد شرار
ظالم آن قومی که چشمان دوختند 
زان سخنها عالمی را سوختند
عالمی را یک سخن ویران کند 
روبهان مرده را شیران کند
جانها در اصل خود عیسی‌دمند 
یک زمان زخمند و گاهی مرهمند
گر حجاب از جانها بر خاستی 
گفت هر جانی مسیح‌آساستی
گر سخن خواهی که گویی چون شکر 
صبر کن از حرص و این حلوا مخور
صبر باشد مشتهای زیرکان 
هست حلوا آرزوی کودکان
هرکه صبر آورد گردون بر رود 
هر که حلوا خورد واپس‌تر رود

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## English translation
When he reached the farthest reaches of Hindustan,
in the wilderness he saw several parrots.
He halted his mount, then called out
and delivered that greeting and that trust.
One parrot among those parrots trembled greatly,
fell down and died, and its breath was cut off.
The merchant repented of having spoken the news;
he said: "I have brought about the destruction of a creature.
Perhaps this one is kin to that little parrot;
perhaps they were two bodies with one soul.
Why did I do this, why did I deliver the message?
I burned the poor creature with this crude speech."
This tongue is like flint and also like iron,
and what leaps from the tongue is like fire.
Do not strike flint and iron together recklessly—
now in the guise of storytelling, now in the guise of boasting.
For it is dark, and on every side a cotton field;
how can a spark be in the midst of cotton?
Oppressors are those people who have sealed their eyes
and with such words burned a world.
A single word can lay a world to ruin,
can turn dead foxes into lions.
Souls in their very essence breathe as Jesus breathed—
at one time they are wounds, and at another they are salve.
If the veil were to lift from souls,
the speech of every soul would be like the Messiah's.
If you wish your speech to be sweet as sugar,
restrain yourself from greed and do not eat this sweet.
Patience is the appetite of the wise;
sweet confection is the longing of children.
Whoever brings patience ascends to the heavens;
whoever eats the sweet goes ever further back.

دفتر اول - بخش ۸۶ - دیدن خواجه طوطیان هندوستان را در دشت و پیغام رسانیدن از آن طوطی / Book One - Section 86 - The Merchant Seeing the Parrots of Hindustan in the Desert and Delivering the Message of That Parrot

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