~ 149. The Schoolboys and their Teacher ~


Some schoolboys were angry at their schoolteacher, so they decided to trick him.
"Teacher," the schoolboys said to him, "you look so pale. Are you perhaps ill?"
"No, I feel fine!" said the teacher angrily. "Now, attend to your lessons."
They continued day after day. All the schoolboys joined in.
"Are you sure you are well?"
"You look thin. Have you lost weight?"
"Should we fetch the doctor, sir?"
Finally, the teacher took to his bed. "I feel so sick!" he said. "I ache all over! I have sweats! Chills!"
School was canceled.
And it was all the schoolboys' doing.


Inspired by: The English prose version of Rumi in Tales from the Masnavi by A. J. Arberry.
Notes: This is story 76 in the book. Here is an illustration from a ms. held by the Walters Museum:






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