1.17 How Daddy deceived his teacher
A bedtime story from 'When Daddy was a little boy' by Alexander Raskin
A story from a dad’s childhood, narrated to his daughter, written in 1961. Read the introduction below.
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HOW DADDY DECEIVED HIS TEACHER
When Daddy was little he liked his teacher very much. All the children liked her. She was very tall and not at all good-looking, and she always wore dark dresses. The grown-ups said she was not at all good-looking, But little Daddy thought she was very beautiful. Her name was Afanasia Nikiforovna.
She was very jolly, but she was also strict. Most important, she was a very fair person. All the children knew that if she was angry with them, they were really to blame. She was never angry without a good reason. And she never had any special pets in the class. She liked all her pupils. She could be angry with each and every one of them if they did not do their homework or were noisy in class. Everyone knew that she had been teaching for twenty years. And everyone knew that she did not like braggarts, sneaks or greedy children.
Afanasia Nikiforovna's lessons were always very interesting. That is why the children were very quiet in class. One day, someone stuck a pin in little Daddy's back. It was very painful.
"Ow!" he yelled.
The teacher said: "What's the matter?"
Little Daddy said nothing.
Then the teacher said: "Leave the room!"
Little Daddy rose and headed for the door. Just then two girls shouted: "Zaichikov pricked him with a pin!"
Then Afanasia Nikiforovna said: "I want the one who shouted to leave the room, the one who pricked him and the ones who tattled. Do you agree with me, children?"
And everyone shouted: "Yes!"
And so the two girls left the room together with little Daddy and Zaichikov.
Little Daddy was crying. He was very unhappy, because he had been pricked and then chased out of the classroom. Zaichikov was laughing at the girls and little Daddy. But you could see that he wasn't really feeling as happy as he pretended. The girls neither laughed nor cried. But they felt very hurt.
The next day little Daddy brought a big nail to school and when the teacher turned her back to the classroom and began writing on the blackboard, little Daddy took the nail from his pocket and stuck it in Zaichikov's hand. Zaichikov howled so loudly that little Daddy became frightened. Afanasia Nikiforovna was very angry.
"Is that you again, Zaichikov?"...
"It wasn't me. He stuck me," Zaichikov whined, holding out his hand for her to see.
"Yesterday you pricked someone, and today someone stuck you. That's very interesting. Who stuck Zaichikov?" All the children turned to look at little Daddy, but no one said a word. No one wanted to be a sneak. Even Zaichikov said nothing. He merely continued to sniffle.
"Well, who was it?" Afanasia Nikiforovna said in her sternest voice.
Little Daddy was so frightened that he suddenly heard himself saying: "I didn't stick him."
Then the teacher asked: "What didn't you stick him with?"
And little Daddy quickly replied: "With this nail."
The whole class burst out laughing. They laughed so loudly that the teacher from the next room came in.
He said: "Afanasia Nikiforovna, what are you all so happy about?"
And she said: "We are happy because one boy did not stick another with this nail, the other boy did not cry out and no one tattled. And no one deceived their old teacher."
Then the children felt very much ashamed and everyone looked at little Daddy angrily. He rose and said: "Yesterday he pricked me and I yelled. Today I stuck him and he yelled. And I lied."
Then little Daddy paused and added: "I won't do it any more, Afanasia Nikiforovna."
"And I won't either," Zaichikov said, but he shook his fist at little Daddy and no one believed him.
Afanasia Nikiforovna said: "There's nothing worse than lying."
And little Daddy never lied to her again. Hardly ever.
THE END
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