"Andrew On Prostitutes" 
by Gibran Khalil Gibran 

THE PROPHET AND THE CHILD

Once on a day the prophet Sharia met a child in a garden. The child ran to him and
said, "Good morrow to you, Sir," and the prophet said, "Good morrow to you, Sir." And
in a mo- ment, "I see that you are alone." 

Then the child said, in laughter and delight, "It took a long time to lose my nurse. She
thinks I am behind those hedges; but can't you see that I am here?" Then he gazed at
the prophet's face and spoke again. "You are alone, too. What did you do with your
nurse?" 

The prophet answered and said, "Ah, that is a different thing. In very truth I cannot lose
her oftentime. But now, when I came into this garden, she was seeking after me behind
the hedges." The child clapped his hands and cried out, "So you are like me! Isn't it
good to be lost?" And then he said, "Who are you?" 

And the man answered, "They call me the prophet Sharia. And tell me, who are you?" 
"I am only myself," said the child, "and my nurse is seeking after me, and she does not
know where I am." Then the prophet gazed into space saying, "I too have escaped my
nurse for awhile, but she will find me out." 

And the child said, "I know mine will find me out too." At that moment a woman's voice
was heard calling the child's name, "See," said the child, "I told you she would be
finding me." 

And at the same moment another voice was heard, "Where art thou, Sharia?" And the
prophet said, "See my child, they have found me also." And turning his face upward,
Sharia answered, "Here I am."