There are some accounts left for posterity concerning the time that the Báb attended school in Shiraz, Persia. Such accounts are priceless because they help us understand how each Manifestation of God exhibits very special God given qualities even in their childhood.
A fellow student who was then twelve years old related the following account many years later concerning the Báb’s first day at school.
“The Báb had taken a seat, with great courtesy, in between this boy and another pupil who was also much older than Himself. His head was bowed over the primer put in front of Him, the first lines of which He had been taught to repeat. But He would not utter a word. When asked why He did not read aloud as other boys were doing He made no reply. Just then two boys, sitting near them, were heard to recite a couplet from Hafiz (a well-known Persian poet), which runs thus:
From the pinnacles of Heaven they call out unto thee;
I know not what hath thee here entrapped.
'That is your answer,' said the Báb, turning to …” the older boy who recalled this incident.
- Hand of the Cause Balyuzi (The Báb, 'The Herald of the Day of Days')
The thing remarkable about this account is that not only the Báb who was then only about five years old understood fully the meaning of this couplet, but that he equated himself with the phrase “thee”. To posses such keen understanding of such issues at such a young age is another proof of His innate and God given knowledge.