Polyrex#parent returns the parent Polyrex object relative to the current Polyrex object e.g.

require 'polyrex'

polyrex = Polyrex.new 'feeds.xml'

feed = polyrex.find_by_feed_title('slashdot')
#=> # ... , @create=#"item[title,link,description]", "feeds/column/feed"=>"feed[rss_url,title,importanle, last_modified, last_accessed]", "feeds/column"=>"column[id]", "feeds"=>"feeds"}>>

feed.parent
=> # ... , @create=#"item[title,link,description]", "feeds/column/feed"=>"feed[rss_url,title,impomobile, last_modified, last_accessed]", "feeds/column"=>"column[id]", "feeds"=>"feeds"}>>

feed.parent.id
#=> "1"

Read more: http://feeds.dzone.com/~r/dzone/snippets/~3/CQL0uvOzzJg/11631