Enjoyment

There was a monastery-school near the town, though not real close to the town. While several learned men resided there, there was only one who actually ran the school and provided the instruction. The students, all males, came from many places. Some came because the school had a reputation of giving its' young men a well-rounded education under its' teacher. The regulations were strict, but he was kind and a gentle man and known to be an excellent instructor. Others came there because their families had grown tired of their behavior and this was their last opportunity to find a path for themselves before their families placed them in a boarding school or military school and just forgot about them.

Most of the young men adjusted to the routines there. The gentle atmosphere, the unusual style of instruction, and the structure seem to shape the youth into better persons. However, there was one, a young man who seem to rebel just to be different. It was forbidden to leave the grounds at night. Yet each night, after dark, this one youth, using a tall stool, scaled the walls and ran off to town. He enjoyed the night life, the dancing, and he really enjoyed the ladies. Night after night he left. Each morning, a few hours before sunrise, he returned, scaling the wall and dropping back onto the stool. He placed the stool back where it belonged and returned to his room, undetected.

One night after he left, the teacher came to the wall. He found the stool. He set it aside and sat down on the ground in the spot where the stool always sat. All night he sat and waited. As dawn approached, the youth returned, climbed the wall as usual and dropped to the waiting stool. This time, of course, instead of the stool, he dropped onto the teacher's head and shoulders. The teacher made no sound. As the student stepped to the ground and turned to see what he had encountered, he found the teacher in front of him. Obviously caught, he was at a loss for words. The teacher said to him, "You really should take a jacket with you when you go out. It gets a bit chilly late at night." With that he turned and left.

The student never left the grounds again.