The Spoiled Copybook

*A retelling for children, based on **The Chosen Highway** by Lady Blomfield (George Ronald).*

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By the side of a mountain road, a boy sat crying.

2 / 9

He had every reason to. At school that day, his teacher had been unhappy with his handwriting — and as a punishment, the teacher had taken his copybook, the special book where he practiced his letters, and ruined it. Now the boy was afraid to go back to school at all. What would he do with no copybook and nothing to show?

3 / 9

Along the road came a traveler dressed in the simple clothes of a wandering holy man. In that lonely mountain country, nobody knew who He really was. They only knew He was kind, and they called Him "the Nameless One." But this traveler was Bahá'u'lláh.

4 / 9

He saw the crying boy and stopped. Gently, He asked what was wrong, and the boy poured out the whole sad story. To a grown-up it might have seemed a very small problem. But Bahá'u'lláh did not treat it as small at all.

5 / 9

He told the boy not to cry anymore. He would write him a brand-new copybook, in His own hand, so the boy would have his letters to copy from and would not have to face his teacher empty-handed.

6 / 9

Imagine it — One who would one day be honored by millions, kneeling by a dusty road to mend a single child's spoiled schoolbook.

7 / 9

That is how big love really is. No problem is ever too small for it, and no child is ever too unimportant. When someone is hurting — even over something that seems little — the kind thing is to stop, and notice, and help.

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*This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see ["The Boy's Ruined Copybook"](/stories/ch-the-boys-ruined-copybook).*

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