The Prisoner Who Escaped

Once upon a time the Sultan considered a certain nobleman of his country his enemy. When the nobleman learnt that the Sultan was trying to catch him, he escaped from his house. But the Sultan did not forget him. He set his spies to trace him. They spread into every town and village. At last the Sultan's enemy was trapped and captured. He was brought before the Sultan. The Sultan called his jailer and said, "Keep him as securely as possible. He is a cunning man who has evaded arrest for long. Now that he has been caught, he should not be able to escape. Should he escape, you'd be hanged in his place." The Sultan knew that his jailer was an able officer. No-body had ever escaped from his custody. The jaler knew that the prison house was so carefully built and so well-guarded that nobody could escape from it. Even then he took no chances. He put the prisoner in fetters. Then, inside the room itself he erected a cage around him. The fetters round the prisoner's feet were tight. The cage was locked. The room containing the cage was locked too. The entrance into the house in which the room was situated was locked and the gate of the compound wall was doubly locked.

But when the jailer came to inspect the prize catch in the morning, he saw the prisoner gone leaving the fetters lying on the floor. No lock had been broken. "I'm going to be hanged. Very well, let me prepare for that," he told himself. He went home and bathed and asked his wife to cook the best dishes for him. After he had eaten, he dressed himself in his best and sprinkled sweet scent on his raiment. Then he disclosed to his family that he was going to die. Leaving them weeping, he went over to the court and saluted to the Sultan and said, "My Lord, the prisoner has escaped."

"Has he?" thundered the Sultan, "Then you must die!"
"Yes, my Lord said the jailer. "I'm ready."

The Sultan then questioned him to find out how the prisoner escaped. There seemed to be absolutely no defect in the arrangement. "Did you hear him saying anything to anybody?" asked the Sultan.

"Yes, my  Lord. Every time our workman's hammer came down on the nail while fitting the cage he called out to God saying that He alone could save him," reported the jailer.

The Sultan kept silent for a moment. Then he told the jailer gravely, "You fool, how then do you take the responsibility for his escape upon yourself and come ready to die? Do you think that you could have detained a man who had sought God's intervention in his escape? How could you ever become a match for God?"

So saying, the Sultan waved the jailer to go away without bothering to die and sat down for praying himself.