Once upon a time there was a king who had a vazir. Whenever the king pointed out a tragedy of fate his vazir would say it was the will of God, and a benefit will follow. The king did not like this but tolerated these comments because the vazir was a good man. One day, while skinning a deer which he had killed on a shikar trip, the king, by accident, chopped off his own first finger. His vazir counseled patience, saying every misfortune carries a counter benefit. This at last annoyed the king so much that he ordered that the vazir be arrested and put forthwith in jail. The vazir happily went to prison saying good will come out of this too.
Some time later, while again on a hunting trip, the king lost his way and was captured by a wild tribe who needed to kill a man as a sacrifice to their god. So they prepared the king for the ceremony. Just before the sacrifice, the witch doctor noticed that the man to be sacrificed was defective because he had one finger less. He was not fit to be sacrificed to the great god, who will not accept defective fellows. So the king as pushed out to go on his way. On return to his land the king immediately freed the vazir, summoned him and explained the story of his escape from sure death by virtue of his lost finger. And then asked. “Tell me vazir, when I put you in prison, you said good will come of that too. What good has come?” The vazir said
“Your Majesty, if I had not been in jail, I too would have been with you when you were captured by the cannibals. They let you off because of your missing finger. I had no missing finger. I was a fit sacrifice for their god.”