Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: My Garden -----by Nelson Mandela In early 1977, the authorities announced the physical labour and arranged some kind of work for us to do in the courtyard. The free time also allowed me to hunt what became two of my favorite hobbies in Robben Island---gardening and tennis. To survive in prison, one must develop ways to take satisfaction in one's daily life. One can feel fulfilled by washing one's clothes so that they are particularly clean. Just as one takes pride in important tasks outside of prison, one can find the same pride in doing small things inside prison. Almost from the beginning of my sentence on Robben Island, I asked the authorities for permission to start a garden in the courtyard. For years, they refused without offering a reason. But finally they gave in, and we were able to cut out a small garden in the prison. The soil in the courtyard was dry and rocky. In order to start my garden, I had to remove a great many rocks to allow the plant room to grow. The authorities supplied me with seeds. At first, I planned tomatoes and onions, because these plants did not require rich earth or constant care. The early harvests were poor, but they soon improved. I began to order books on gardening. I studied different gardening techniques and types of fertilizers . For a time, I tried to grow peanuts, and used different soils and fertilizers, but finally I gave up. It was one of my few failures. A garden was one of the few things in prison that one could control. The processes of planting a seed, watching it grow, taking care of it and then harvesting it offered a simple but long-lasting satisfaction. The sense of being the owner of the small patch of earth offered a small taste of freedom. Question: When did Mandela ask the prison authorities for the permission to start a small garden? - Soon after 1997. - Some time in early 1977. - Almost as soon as he went to prison there. - Long after he went to prison there.
The answer to this question is:
Almost as soon as he went to prison there.