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Once, there was a minister who had a foolish son.
Hoping to improve him, the minister sent the boy to a wise scholar and said,
“Please teach him manners and knowledge, so that he may become intelligent.”
The scholar accepted the task and spent a long time educating the boy.
But no matter how much he taught, nothing seemed to work.
Finally, worn out and frustrated, the scholar sent a message to the boy’s father:
“This child will never become wise, and in trying, he has nearly driven me mad!”
Saadi ends the story with these verses:
When the essence is noble,
nurture leaves its mark.
But no polish can make bright
iron of base nature.
Wash a dog in the seven seas
it will only emerge filthier.
Take a donkey to Mecca with Jesus upon it
it will still return a donkey.