Vice-Chancellor Whittington sent an email asking one of his good friends – Andrew Harrison, one of the wizard’s partners – to do something for the Academy.

Andrew playfully replied, “No.”

The Whitmeister sent the following response:

In a small village somewhere in the Alps, a child responds disobediently to his mother. In return she sits him down and tells him a story. By the end of the story, the boy is left quivering in a pile of sweat and fear. Never again does he talk back to his mother. Never again does he disobey. For he has reached “The Age.” It is the name given to the ceremony that transformed this village into one of the most peaceful and compliant villages in all the world; a village where children are the epitome of prudence and respect.

Recently a traveler from the outside world arrived in the village and was astounded at the behavior of the children. Not one glimpse of attitude. Not one sideways glare. These children might as well have been poster children for an updated edition of the Emily Post Book of Manners.

He pulled aside an older woman and pleaded with her to tell him the secret of their success. He had 4 children of his own and was at wit’s end about how to handle them as they reached their teenage years.

She responded, “We simply tell them a story.”

“What story is that?” he asked.

“It may not translate in your language and we are careful to rarely speak it out loud.”

“Please”, he said. “I have children too, and I am a man in need.”

“Very well”, she replied. “Roughly translated, the story is titled, “The thing that happened to Andrew Harrison after he denied a simple request from Daniel Whittington.”