The Jeweler

A poor but honest jeweler was arrested for a crime he never committed. He was placed in a high and well-protected prison in the center of the city.

One day, after he had been imprisoned for months, his wife came to the main gate. She told the guards how her husband, the poor jeweler, was a devout and prayerful man. He would be lost without his simple prayer rug. Would they not allow him to have this single possession? The guards agreed that it would be harmless and gave him the prayer rug. Five times daily he would unroll his rug and pray.

Weeks passed, and one day the jeweler said to his jailers: "I am bored sitting here day after day with nothing to do. I am a good jeweler, and if you will let me have some pieces of metal and some simple tools, I will make you jewelry. You could then sell what I make in the bazaar and add to your low salaries. I ask for little-just something to fill the idle hours and keep my skill in practice."

The poorly paid jailers agreed that it would be a good arrangement. Each day they brought the jeweler some bits of silver and metal and some simple tools. Each night they would remove the tools and metal and take home the jewelry that he had made. Days grew into weeks, weeks into months. One bright morning when they came to the jeweler’s cell, they found it empty! No sign was found of the prisoner or of how he had escaped from this well-protected prison.

Some time later, the real criminal was arrested for the crime the poor jeweler had been falsely accused of. One day in the city’s bazaar, long after that, one of the guards saw the ex-prisoner, the jeweler. Quickly explaining that the real criminal had been caught, he asked the jeweler how he had escaped. The jeweler proceeded to tell the amazing story.

His wife had gone to the main architect who had designed the prison. She obtained from him the blueprints of the cell doors and locks. She obtained from him the blueprints of the cell doors and locks. She then had a design woven into a prayer rug. Each day when the jeweler would pray, his head would touch the rug. Slowly, he began to see that there was a design, within a design, within another design, and that it was the design of the lock of his cell door. From the bits of leftover metal and his simple tools, he fashioned a key and escaped!

– Anonymous

January 28, 2007