The Boy Who Already Knew

*A retelling for children, based on **The Dawn-Breakers** (Nabíl's Narrative).*

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In the city of Shíráz, long ago, there lived a small boy. People knew Him then by the name Siyyid 'Alí-Muḥammad — but one day the whole world would come to know Him as the Báb.

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When He was little, His uncle sent Him off to school, just the way any boy in the city would go. His teacher was a kind and learned man named Shaykh 'Ábid, who knew a great deal and had taught many children before.

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One day the teacher gave the Báb the very first words that Persian children learn at school: *Bismi'lláhi'r-Raḥmáni'r-Raḥím* — "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate." Most children simply repeat these words and move on. But the Báb looked up at His teacher and asked, gently, what those holy words truly meant.

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The teacher gave the answer he always gave. It was a fine answer. But the Báb was not asking about the outside of the words — He wanted to understand what was hidden deep inside them. So He asked again. And as He spoke, the teacher slowly realized something astonishing: this small pupil understood the words far better than the grown man who was supposed to be teaching Him.

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Shaykh 'Ábid could hardly believe it. He stood up, took the boy by the hand, and walked Him all the way home to His uncle's house. He could not keep Him, he said — he had nothing to teach this child. Wherever this knowledge had come from, it had not come from any school.

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His uncle thanked the teacher kindly, and quietly asked the Báb to go on playing and learning with the other children, just as before. But the people who later came to love Him never forgot this little moment. It showed them something true: the light shining inside Him had not been taught to Him by anyone. It had been His very own, right from the start.

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*This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see ["The Teacher Who Had Nothing to Teach Him"](/stories/db-bab-childhood-teacher).*

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