David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

beliefs in the sixteenth century and held
in a prison tower. With the aid of a rope
made of knotted rags, he let himself
down from the window and escaped
across the castle’s ice-covered moat. A
guard gave chase. Willems made it
safely to the other side. The guard did
not, falling through the ice into the
freezing water, and Willems stopped,
went back, and pulled his pursuer to
safety. For his act of compassion, he
was taken back to prison, tortured, and
then burned slowly at the stake as he
repeated “Oh, my Lord, my God”
seventy times over.^8
“I was taught that there was an
alternative way to deal with injustice,”