154- Who Taught My Daughter Lying?

Paul entered his house to find his wife very upset. As he asked her about the reason, she answered, “I don’t know who taught my daughter to tell lies. I tried by all means but in vain. She’s been accustomed to telling lies.”

Two days later, as Paul was talking gently to his wife, he said, “I just want to ask you who taught your daughter lying.”

“Maybe her friends or for fear of being punished, isn’t it so?” The wife said.

Paul smiled and said gently, “Do you remember what you said to Sally when she phoned you two weeks ago?”

“I welcomed her.”

“Yes, but after the call, didn’t you say that you didn’t want her to enter our home?”

“I said so.”

“When she came, didn’t you meet her cheerfully saying to her that we missed her and that she blessed our home?”

“Did you expect me to dismiss her?”

“No, but your daughter learnt hypocrisy and telling lies. She knew that you didn’t want her visit while, you welcomed her as if you missed her much.”

His wife kept silent for a while. Then, she whispered, “Truly, it’s I who taught my daughter telling lies.”

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: منْ علَّم ابنتي الكذب؟

You want me to be an icon of Heaven,

To bear witness for the truth.

Notwithstanding, I foolishly flatter people and tell them lies,

Making many excuses.

Woe unto me, because of whom many people stumble.

Dwell in me O Truth,

So that lies and hypocrisy may find no place in me.

A Wrong Address

Short Stories (Stories for the Youth) Books by Father Tadros Yacoub Malaty

A Conference for the Tools of Carpentry