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There once was a merchant who had a bird as a pet that he kept in a cage. One day, the merchant said to the bird, “I am going to India on business, the land that you are from. Do you want me to bring anything back for you.”
The bird replied, “Not really, I just want my freedom.”
“No,” the merchant responded.
“OK then,” said the bird, “Can you at least go the jungle in India and tell the free birds over there about me and how I am in a cage.”
So the merchant agreed and complied with the bird’s request when he got to the jungle in India. And as soon as he finished his statement, a wild bird that looked just like his own fell to the ground.
“Oh dear,” the man thought. “This must be a relative of my bird, whose sadness of hearing about my bird’s captivity has caused him to die.”
When the merchant arrived home and the bird asked what happened, the merchant sadly replied, “Unfortunately, when I spoke about you, one of your relatives collapsed immediately upon hearing how you are in a cage.”
When the bird heard this, it too collapsed in its cage.
The merchant thought, “Now the news of his relative’s death has killed my bird!”
Greatly saddened, he picked up the bird and put it near his window. Immediately after he did this, the bird flew out the window and to his freedom.
From a distance, he said to his former owner, “You have been tricked. You thought that misfortune had struck me, but in actuality the opposite has happened. The message of the way I could free myself was sent by my relative through you.”
And with that statement, the bird flew away.