Prisoner

A man was once sent to prison for life for something which

he had not done.

When he had behaved in an exemplary way for some

months, his jailers began to regard him as a model prisoner.

He was allowed to make his cell a little more comfortable;

and his wife sent him a prayer carpet which she had herself

woven.

When several more months had passed, this man said to

his guards:

'I am a metalworker, and you are badly paid. If you can

get me a few tools and some pieces of tin, I will make small

decorative objects, which you can take to the market and sell.

We could split the proceeds, to the advantage of both parties.'

The guards agreed, and presently the smith was producing

finely wrought objects whose sale added to everyone's wellbeing.

Then, one day, when the jailers went to the cell, the man

had gone. They concluded that he must have been a magician.

After many years when the error of the sentence had been

discovered and the man was pardoned and out of hiding, the

king of that country called him and asked him how he had

escaped.

The tinsmith said:

'Real escape is possible only with the correct concurrence

of factors. My wife found the locksmith who had made the

lock on the door of my cell, and other locks throughout the

prison. She embroidered the interior designs of the locks

in the rug which she sent me, on the spot where the head

is prostrated in prayer. She relied upon me to register this

design and to realize that it was the wards of the locks. It was

necessary for me to get materials with which to make the

keys and to be able to hammer and work metal in my cell. I

had to enlist the greed and need of the guards so that there

would be no suspicion. That is the story of my escape.