Once, his teacher asked him to memorize the following...

Once, his teacher asked him to memorize the following religious ruling: The skin of a dog becomes pure by means of tanning; but the next day, when he had to recite it before his teacher, he said: “The dog said: The skin of the teacher becomes pure by means of tanning.” Hearing this, the students as well as the teacher burst out laughing and ridiculed him. Ten years of effort did not yield any result for Sakkaki, who became sad and despondent.

He turned towards the mountains but as he wandered, he reached a place where drops of water were falling from a height onto a large slab of stone. The persistent falling of water had carved a hole in the stone. Sakkaki studied the stone for some time and then said to himself: “Surely your heart is not as hard as this rock. If you persevere, you shall finally succeed.” Having resolved on this, he returned to his…