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their teacher to miss one or two days of school. Little did they realize the extent to which the power of suggestion could go.
One morning as their teacher walked into the room, Rup asked him, “Sir, are you feeling all right? You look so very tired.” His voice showed great concern.
A puzzled look on his face, the teacher answered, “On the contrary, I am feeling excellent today, but thank you for your interest in my health." · One hour later, one of Rup's friends asked this same teacher a similar question, “Sir, you look a little pale today. Are you not feeling well? Your eyes have a drawn look about them."
Again the teacher acted surprised and made a small joke about it, reiterating, “I assure you there is nothing wrong with
me."
In a few minutes, a third student came up to him and told him in a solemn voice, “If you don't mind my saying so, Sir, I think you should sit down and rest. I've been noticing that you look extremely fatigued and unsteady on your feet.”
This time their teacher could not pass off the remark so lightly as before. He thought about it a little, then excused himself for a few minutes. He went straight to the washroom, studied himself in the mirror, and threw some water over his face.
He returned to the classroom looking a little less energetic than usual, and his shoulders were slumping somewhat. Two or three more students came up to him very quietly and seriously to tell him, “Sir, you seem unusually tired today. Did you sleep at all last night or do you have a fever?"
The poor man's will was broken down. He called on an assistant teacher to take over his classes and went home for the day.
At home, his wife asked him, “What happened to you this morning? How is it you look so pale and tired? You seemed so well when you left the house before school. Do you have a fever?”
Her husband had no desire to talk about it. He only wanted to lie down and rest. He had no appetite for lunch and spent the whole day in bed napping. The following day, his
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