Apeirophobia – Observations/ Hypothesis/Theory

This is my best recollection of this short story, and best represents the knowing of eternity.. I would love to find the original, and the author:

The Story:

A poor farm boy wanted desperately to learn. So he left his family farm one day to travel to a nearby school in the mountains. The teacher seeming skeptical of this shabby student said   “ I will teach you. First I would like you to learn to count”.

So the teacher told him to learn his numbers first, starting with the number one. So as to brush off this poor farm boy, he told him to go into the words and come back when he was finished learning. The boy eagerly ran off into the woods to take on this new venture.

Expecting the boy would come back in a short while, he never did. The teacher just assumed, that the boy became discouraged and headed back to the farm to help his family.

Then many years later the boy came back to the old teacher a man. The teacher asked in a moment of surprise “ Oh did you come back to show me your numbers? “  The man then replied “ Yes “ I have. The teacher  then jested that he write his numbers to ten. The man then replied “ I am sorry I have only learned the number one” . The teacher said “ What after all these years, you only learned the number one “ ? The man responded , yes.

The teacher as to not humiliate the poor man after all these years, said “ OK, show me your number “

The Man took out an old burnt branch, and drew a straight line along the wall. The sky crackled with the sound of thunder, the air rumbled, the ground shook, and the wall split in two. In which the once poor boy now a man replied “ I have done what you instructed teacher. I have learned the number one”.