--- title: "The Wrestling Master and His Pupil" story_id: "1a914d48-5b43-43de-81f0-8bb83a377995" text_id: "97f635dd-b2ae-488a-b5c8-acd3be525d53" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 1 part_count: 1 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-wrestling-master-and-his-pupil" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-wrestling-master-and-his-pupil" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # The Wrestling Master and His Pupil > OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits. > [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-wrestling-master-and-his-pupil) Version: Modernized In this Persian story by Saadi, a poet from Shiraz in Iran, a wrestling master teaches his favourite pupil almost all his secrets. The young man becomes so strong that he boasts before the Sultan that he can match his teacher. The ruler decides to put him to the test. A certain man had reached the very top in the art of wrestling. He knew three hundred and sixty different holds and throws—all good—and every day would show off a new move. Having a special corner of his heart for one among his pupils, a handsome youth, he taught him three hundred and fifty-nine out of his tricks, but kept the knowledge of the last one from him. The young man thus became first among all rivals in skill and strength, and none of them could match him. As a result, he became so vain that before the Sultan himself, the ruler of the country, he said: “I accept my master’s superiority because of his age, and because he has taught me. But in strength I am not his inferior, and in skill I am his equal.” The Sultan did not like this lack of respect from the young man, and ordered a wrestling match between them. An open spot was selected; those pillars of the country, the ministers, and those eyes of Majesty, the nobles, were all present, when the youth, like an enraged elephant, strode into the ring, showing a force which seemed as though it could move a mountain of iron. The teacher, who well knew that his pupil was now physically stronger than he was, seized his opponent with the clever hold he had kept out of his lessons. The young man, not knowing how to counter it, was lifted with both hands by the Master high above his head, and hurled to the ground. Shouts arose from the spectators: as for the Sultan, he directed that a robe of honor and gifts of money should be given to the teacher, while he scolded and mocked the young man, saying: “You rudely dared to compete with the man who trained you, and you have shamefully failed.” The defeated man muttered: “Yes, my lord! my master did not beat me by strength, or even by skill, but because there was one little secret of his art which he would not teach me, and by that slight thing he has got the upper hand over me.” “Yes,” said the teacher, “for a day like this I kept it back, for the wise have remarked, ‘Do not give even a friend so great an advantage that, if he becomes your enemy one day, he can hold you in his power.’ Have you never heard the verse about him who suffered wrong from the very one whom he had nourished and brought up?” ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/96dea841-c13d-438d-9f85-5149d9e1381b) Either loyalty’s no more afoot, Or no one shows it on the earth below: I never taught a young hand how to shoot, But, in the end, at me he drew his bow. ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text The Gulistan: Being the Rose Garden of Sadi, 1899, Harper & Brothers, New York and London - author: Saadi - translator: Edwin Arnold ## Illustration [Mahmud Muzahhib](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/96dea841-c13d-438d-9f85-5149d9e1381b) — Golestān, 1543, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Bukhara ## Reading music Segāh — Darāmad Masoud Shaari (setar) KUG Dastgāhi Corpus, Institute of Ethnomusicology, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (source) [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) ## Quiz ### At which competition in ancient Greece was wrestling already practised? - The Olympic Games (Correct answer) - The Tour de France - The football World Cup Wrestling featured in the ancient Olympic Games. It was an event in its own right and also part of the pentathlon, a contest made up of five events. [International Olympic Committee — Wrestling at the Ancient Olympic Games](https://www.olympics.com/ioc/ancient-olympic-games/wrestling) ### What were miniatures used for in old books? - Weighing the paper - Illustrating the text (Correct answer) - Measuring time These small paintings accompanied the text. Artists could use gold and silver. This art also developed on surfaces other than books. [UNESCO — Art of miniature](https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/art-of-miniature-01598) ### How many strings does a modern Persian setar usually have? - Two - Three - Four (Correct answer) This long-necked lute once had three strings. A fourth was added. The player plucks the strings with a finger to make the instrument vibrate. [Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art — Persian Classical Music: Instruments](https://asia-archive.si.edu/podcast/persian-classical-music-bahman-panahi-tar-and-setar-ali-mojallal-tombak/) ## Other languages - [Français](https://www.openclassics.org/fr/stories/the-wrestling-master-and-his-pupil?format=markdown) - [简体中文](https://www.openclassics.org/zh/stories/the-wrestling-master-and-his-pupil?format=markdown) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. [Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)