The Teacher and the Silly Students

There was this teacher who had six students. He was a monk, he was bald, and he used to teach these silly students. They were really silly—the silliest and most stupid students that you could ever find. But this teacher used to really try hard to teach them.

They lived in this small village called Tripura. They didn't have any cars or anything, only bullock carts. So the teacher needed to take all the students to another city called Hanuman Chatti, which was about 50-60 kilometers away.

He managed to get a bullock cart and said, "Okay, all of us will go in the bullock cart to Hanuman Chatti. We have to go from our place because it's getting very, very cold here, and we'll stay there for three months and then come back."

They lived on top of a hill, so they had to go down. All the students were very, very excited. They found a bullock cart, and they were so silly, all of them. So they started going. The teacher had put a lot of stuff in the bullock cart. There were two bulls in the front, and the cart was full of the teacher's stuff—a water jug, a painting, slates to write on, chalk, and some clothes.

The bullock cart was going "dum-dum-dum" because it was a hilly area. Because of the bumping, the teacher started feeling sleepy. He said, "Students, I am feeling very sleepy. I'm going to sleep now. Please keep an eye out for anything which falls out, okay?"

He asked, "What did I say?" "Keep an eye for anything that falls out!" all six of them said in chorus. "Okay, okay." Because he knew his students were very silly, he always asked them to repeat.

Then he slept off. After some time, the bullock cart bumped, and the teacher's favorite jug, in which he kept water, fell down. The teacher was very fond of this jug; he felt it was a holy jug. But it fell down.

All the students saw it and looked at it like this: "Ha! Fell, fell, fell, fell, fell." And they kept looking at it until they couldn't see it anymore. Because the teacher had said "keep an eye on it," they just kept looking at it.

After some time, the teacher woke up. He said, "Okay, what happened? All okay? Did anything fall?" They said, "Yes, your water jug. Your favorite water jug fell down." "Okay, okay, very nice that you saw it. Did you put it back?" They said, "No, because you only asked us to keep an eye on it. You didn't ask us to keep it back."

He said, "Oh my god, you silly, silly... I told you to keep an eye, that means if it falls you have to keep it back!" "Oh, I'm sorry teacher, but you didn't say you have to keep it back." He said, "Okay, okay. Anything falls down, please keep it back, okay?"

So he gave them proper instructions. After some time, he slept again. He slept, slept, slept. And then what happened? One of the cows in the front had been walking for a while, so it did poo-poo. All the cow dung came out and fell on the floor.

So they said, "Stop! Stop!" All six of them got off, ran, picked up the cow dung, and threw it back on the cart!

The teacher woke up and said, "What the hell is this?! Why are you throwing cow dung on the cart?!" They said, "You said anything falls off you have to put it back. So the cow dung fell and we put it back."

The teacher said, "Oh my god, you stupid fellows! When the jug fell out you didn't do anything!" They said, "Teacher, you told us anything that falls down you have to put it back. This cow dung fell out, we put it back. What to do?"

The teacher was very, very angry. He said, "Oh my god, I don't know how I got these stupid fellows." So he said, "Okay, what I'm going to do now... I'm going to sleep again. I'm going to make a list of everything that if it falls, you have to keep it back. Anything outside this list falls down, you don't keep it back, okay? Like cow dung or urine... don't put it back! I want to make a list."

So he started making a list one by one. He said, "I have a notepad, a slate, pen, jug, water bottles, pencils..." and he made the whole list. He kept looking at the card and said, "Okay, you monkeys, you silly, silly monkeys. Here's the list. Hold it. If anything falls out of this list, only then you keep it back. Otherwise, you let it go, okay?" And they said, "Okay, okay, okay, fine, fine."

He was very angry. He had washed off his face, but he was smelling like cow dung now. Anyway, they kept going. After that, the teacher fell asleep again. This teacher was a very sleepy fellow.

They were crossing a road next to a river. Suddenly, there was a big stone. The cows were running and the cart bumped. And you know what happened this time? The teacher flew off the cart and fell into the water!

He started drowning. "Oh, save me! Save me!" So these students, what did they do? They took out the list and started checking it. They said, "Pencil... paper... balls... vessel..." But they couldn't find the teacher's name.

The teacher shouted, "Save me!" They said, "No, teacher, your name is not there in your list. We cannot save you."

He said, "Silly, silly fellows! For the love of God, please save me! Please save me!" They said, "No, teacher, the list is there." And they kept going.

The teacher somehow saved himself, came out of the water, ran at the cart, and caught them. He whacked all of them! They were the silliest students ever.

He said, "You listen to me, you idiots! You don't always take things literally, okay? You don't just have to listen to my words; you have to listen to the spirit of what I'm saying. First I said 'keep an eye,' you left the jug. Then I said 'keep things back,' you put the cow dung. Now I gave you a list and I fell off, and you didn't save me! You are so silly. You have to look at the spirit of things, not just what I'm saying."

So he tried to teach the students, but in vain. And that is the story.