A man of elegant culture once entered a school and sitting down
by the master, entered into discourse with him and found him an
accomplished theologian, poet, grammarian and lexicographer,
intelligent, well bred and pleasant; whereat he wondered,
saying in himself, 'It cannot be that a man, who teaches
children in a school, should have a perfect wit.' When he was
about to go away, the schoolmaster said to him, 'Thou art my
guest to-night;' and he consented and accompanied him to his
house, where he made much of him and set food before him. They
ate and drank and sat talking, till a third part of the night
was past, when the host spread his guest a bed and went up to
his harem. The other lay down and addressed himself to sleep,
when, behold, there arose a great clamour in the harem. He
asked what was to do, and they said, 'A terrible thing hath
befallen the sheikh, and he is at the last gasp.' 'Take me up
to him,' said he. So they carried him to the schoolmaster, whom
he found lying insensible, with his blood streaming down. He
sprinkled water on his face and when he revived, he said to
him, 'What has betided thee? When thou leftest me, thou west in
all good cheer and sound of body.' 'O my brother,' answered the
schoolmaster, 'after I left thee, I sat meditating on the works
of God the Most High and said to myself, "In every thing God
hath created for man there is an use; for He (to whom be glory)
created the hands to seize, the feet to walk, the eyes to see,
the ears to hear and the yard to do the deed of kind; and so on
with all the members of the body, except these two cullions;
there is no use in them." So I took a razor I had by me and cut
them off; and there befell me what thou seest.' So the guest
left him and went away, saving, 'He was in the right who said,
"No schoolmaster who teaches children can have a perfect wit,
though he know all sciences."
THE IGNORANT MAN WHO SET UP FOR A
SCHOOLMASTER.
There was once, among the hangers-on of the collegiate mosque,
a man who knew not how to read and write and got his bread by
gulling the folk. One day, he bethought him to open a school
and teach children; so he got him tablets and written scrolls
and hung them up in a [conspicuous] place. Then he enlarged his
turban and sat down at the door of the school. The people, who
passed by and saw his turban and the tablets and scrolls,
thought he must be a very learned doctor; so they brought him
their children; and he would say to this, 'Write,' and to that,
'Read;' and thus they taught one another.
One day, as he sat, as of wont, at the door of the school, he
saw a woman coming up, with a letter in her hand, and said to
himself, 'This woman doubtless seeks me, that I may read her
the letter she has in her hand. How shall I do with her seeing
I cannot read writing?' And he would fain have gone down and
fled from her; but, before he could do this, she overtook him
and said to him, 'Whither away?' Quoth he, 'I purpose to pray
the noontide-prayer and return.' 'Noon is yet distant,' said
she; 'so read me this letter.' He took the letter and turning
it upside down, fell to looking at it, now shaking his head and
anon knitting his eyebrows and showing concern. Now the letter
came from the woman's husband, who was absent; and when she saw
the schoolmaster do thus, she said, 'Doubtless my husband is
dead, and this learned man is ashamed to tell me so.' So she
said to him, 'O my lord, if he be dead, tell me.' But he shook
his head and held his peace. Then said she, 'Shall I tear my
clothes?' 'Tear,' answered he. 'Shall I buffet my face?' asked
she; and he said, 'Buffet.' So she took the letter from his
hand and returning home, fell a-weeping, she and her children.
One of her neighbours heard her weeping and asking what ailed
her, was answered, 'She hath gotten a letter, telling her that
her husband is dead.' Quoth the man, 'This is a lying saying;
for I had a letter from him but yesterday, advising me that he
is in good health and case and will be with her after ten
days.' So he rose forthright and going in to her, said, 'Where
is the letter thou hast received?' She brought it to him, and
he took it and read it; and it ran as follows, after the usual
salutations, 'I am well and in good health and case and will be
with thee after ten days. Meanwhile, I send thee a quilt and an
extinguisher.'[FN#137] So she took the letter and returning
with it to the schoolmaster, said to him, 'What moved thee to
deal thus with me?' And she repeated to him what her neighbour
had told her of her husband's well-being and of his having sent
her a quilt and an extinguisher. 'Thou art in the right,'
answered he. 'But excuse me, good woman; for I was, at the
time, troubled and absent-minded and seeing the extinguisher
wrapped in the quilt, thought that he was dead and they had
shrouded him.' The woman, not smoking the cheat, said, 'Thou
art excused.' and taking the letter, went away.