One day Mullah Nasruddin saw the village schoolmaster leading a group of children toward the mosque.
"What are you taking them there for?" he asked.
"There is a drought in the land," said the teacher, "and we trust that the cries of the innocent will move the heart of the Almighty."
"It isn't the cries, whether innocent or criminal, that count," said the Mullah, "but wisdom and awareness."
"How dare you make such a blasphemous statement in the presence of these children!" cried the teacher. "Prove what you have said, or you shall be denounced as a heretic."
"Easy enough," said Nasruddin. "If the prayers of children counted for anything there wouldn't be a schoolteacher in all the land, for there is nothing they so detest as going to school. The reason you have survived those prayers is that we, who know better than the children, have kept you where you are!"
Anthony de Mello
"What are you taking them there for?" he asked.
"There is a drought in the land," said the teacher, "and we trust that the cries of the innocent will move the heart of the Almighty."
"It isn't the cries, whether innocent or criminal, that count," said the Mullah, "but wisdom and awareness."
"How dare you make such a blasphemous statement in the presence of these children!" cried the teacher. "Prove what you have said, or you shall be denounced as a heretic."
"Easy enough," said Nasruddin. "If the prayers of children counted for anything there wouldn't be a schoolteacher in all the land, for there is nothing they so detest as going to school. The reason you have survived those prayers is that we, who know better than the children, have kept you where you are!"
Anthony de Mello
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