The prisoner laughs. "Are you trying to...bribe me?"
At that he bursts into furious laughter for several minutes, and then continues. "You must understand, that is a hopeless task. Bribery is based on desires. My desires are few, and directed to the service towards my Lord, who offers me a reward far greater than any you could..." He smiles softly here, than continues. "As such, I cannot be bribed or subverted. But still, I have something to say to you, and as you are a man of mystery, I shall couch my reply in riddling speech..."
He thinks for a moment. "On a wall, there lies a curtain. But it is not a curtain--it is the painting of a curtain. You see the curtain and the wall, and assume that wall exists for the curtain and what is behind it, when in reality there is nothing behind the curtain, for it is false, and exists to support the wall in its true purpose. But you do not know this, and expend your energies to decipher what lies behind the curtain. And nothing does, and you do not ask what lies behind the wall..."
At that he bursts into furious laughter for several minutes, and then continues. "You must understand, that is a hopeless task. Bribery is based on desires. My desires are few, and directed to the service towards my Lord, who offers me a reward far greater than any you could..." He smiles softly here, than continues. "As such, I cannot be bribed or subverted. But still, I have something to say to you, and as you are a man of mystery, I shall couch my reply in riddling speech..."
He thinks for a moment. "On a wall, there lies a curtain. But it is not a curtain--it is the painting of a curtain. You see the curtain and the wall, and assume that wall exists for the curtain and what is behind it, when in reality there is nothing behind the curtain, for it is false, and exists to support the wall in its true purpose. But you do not know this, and expend your energies to decipher what lies behind the curtain. And nothing does, and you do not ask what lies behind the wall..."