The Story of the Schoolmaster

In the West I once saw a schoolmaster: sour faced, bitter tongued, foul tempered, a tormentor of people, greedy by nature and lacking all restraint. The sight of him ruined the good spirits of the Muslims, and hearing him recite the Quran turned people's hearts black. A group of clean bright boys and unmarried girls were trapped in the grip of his cruelty, with no courage to laugh and no permission to speak. Sometimes he would slap one child's silvery cheek, and sometimes he would torture another's crystal ankle. In short, I heard that some of his wicked ways came to light; they beat him, drove him out, and gave his school to a decent man, a pious, gentle, kind soul who spoke only when necessary and never let a word slip from his tongue that would hurt anyone. The awe of the first teacher faded from the children's minds, and once they saw the angelic manners of the second, one by one they turned into little devils. Trusting his gentleness, they abandoned their studies. Most of the time they sat down together to play, and before finishing their lessons they would break their writing tablets over each other's heads. When the teacher who instructs is too gentle, the children play leapfrog in the marketplace. Two weeks later I passed by that school again and saw that they had won the first teacher back and returned him to his post. I was honestly upset and cried out, 'Good heavens, why have they made Satan the teacher of angels once more?' A witty, worldly old man replied: A king sent his son off to school and set a silver tablet at his side. On the top of that tablet was written in gold: 'A teacher's harshness is better than a father's love.'