A Lesson from Fairytales 4

For quite a while now, at the teahouse, as a wise man sat at his favourite table sipping the sweet brew of the afternoon, a cheeky brat would pass and knock down his turban.

This happened again and again but as angry as he must have been, the wise man didn't say a thing.

The baker even asked him "How can you allow this impertinence? Why don't you stand up and teach him a lesson?"

"Teach him?" said the wise man. "My scolding could make him more cautious so that later he may do more harm. As I dislike him, quite a lot, I will rather let his impertinence grow every day. I will take the advice of the prophet Issa and turn to him the other cheek. If I keep sipping my own tea, Allah will teach him."

And so, the shameless jest went on for months.

One day, a cold-eyed soldier from the army was sitting at the wise man's usual place. The wicked boy, by force of habit, ran by and knocked down his turban. The soldier swung up with his sword and before thinking cut the boy's head off.

"A wise man must be a fool indeed to teach lessons to his own enemy."