The Queen & the Educator
An Educator Tries to Find a Husband for His Daughter
There was a certain man who was an educator, and he was trying to find a suitable husband for his daughter.
But in the city wherein they lived the courtship customs were wide open. Youth were completely free to pursue relations in whatever manner, without any guidance from a responsible figure.
The educator sought the advice of one of his colleagues who had found a fine husband for one of his daughters.
His colleague told him about a rumor he heard that his priest’s daughter had been defiled by a boy who promised to wed her but then contradicted this promise after taking her chastity. The priest’s daughter was heartbroken, and had not been able to find a husband since the incident.
The educator was horrified at this and saw that if relationships amongst youth could ever be ensured to have an outcome that was good, there needed to be some kind of bounds or limitation.
Fearing the same fate of the priest’s daughter for his own daughter, the educator wrote up a proposal to save her and all other young women in the city.
When he had finished his proposal, he eagerly took it straight to the queen and he said…
“I want to create an educational institution in which all young women who prove themselves can attend. At this institution they will receive the finest education. They will be allowed to stay in mansions where all of their meals are prepared for them. They will be given the finest attire and jewelry to wear. They will have men and maidens to wait on them all day long. They will enjoy recesses in gardens and bathhouses. They will have many friends, who they will be close to like sisters. They will get to travel to exotic locations around the world and attend extravagant balls. They will get to mingle with men of the highest caliber who have proven themselves also. And they will get to wed these men and proceed safely into their adult years where they will bear children and be well taken care of for the rest of their lives.”
And the queen, meaning well, said “You are the seventh man this week to come to me with such a proposal. And the seventh man I will refuse. For the last time, we are not bringing back harems!”
But such things were common. For in those days, there was no king in the city, and everyone did what was right in the queen’s eyes.
