Week 2 Story

The Prisoner, Prince, and Blind Man

Cartoon photo for a blind man by Pixabay

One evening in small village outside the kingdom, a young price was returning home on his trusty steed. While passing by the local jail, he heard a faint moaning. Filled with curiosity, the prince dismounted his steed and approached the faint moaning. To his surprise, he found his friend from his childhood trapped behind the bars.

"Andrew, how did you get put in jail?" asked the confused price.

"You have to believe me my dear friend, I have been framed! Please just let me out and I can explain everything!" Andrew exclaimed.

"I am not sure old friend, maybe I should ask the guards and see if they will listen to reason" pondered the prince out loud.

"No, no. They are too rash to listen to reason. Take the keys on the hook around the corner and let me out!" begged Andrew.

Reluctantly, the young prince pulled the key ring off the hook and opened the door.

"Aha you fool! We haven't been friends since your family abandoned our people, leaving us to rot! Now give me all your money or suffer the consequences!" yelled Andrew.

"Oh please oh please don't hurt me! I have my fiance's wedding ring that I have traveled long and far to obtain. Is there anyway I could convince you to let me go in peace?" asked the young prince desperately.

"I will give you 20 minutes to conjure up a convincing reason for me to let you walk. If you can't properly convince me, that wedding ring will fetch me a hefty price and I will eat like a king!" exclaimed Andrew.

With this in mind, the young prince frantically thought of ways to convince the thief to let him go. He ran around town asking people for help but each towns person shooed him away as the royal family was greatly hated in this village. When nearly out of hope, the young prince sees a blind man stumbling through the village. Hoping that his appearance would serve no bias, he approached the man and asked him for help. After explaining the situation to the blind man, he continually replied, "I just can't see it my boy. Could you explain it again?" Frustrated, the prince brought the blind man to the thief and explained the story once more.

"How could that be possible? I just can't see it!" said the blind man.

"It is impossible for you to lock yourself in this cage and then place the key on the hook" said the blind man while tapping the bars with his walking stick.

Frustrated with the blind man's observations, the thief placed the keys on the hook, walked into the prison, and shut the door.

"See! I just place the keys on the hook, walk into the prison, and close the door! Simple" said the thief with frustration in his tone.

"Well now my son, I can see it clearly" said the blind man with a smile on his face.

Authors Note

This story is an adaptation of Indian Fairy Tales: The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. I kept the plot of the story the same but made the animal characters into humans. From there, I told the story in my own words and kept a very similar ending.

Bibliography

Source material: Indian Fairy Tales: The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D.