As a child, the great Torah scholar, Reb Avraham of Sochatchov, was the pupil of his great father, Reb Zev Nachum of Biala. One day his father asked him a particularly difficult question about the Talmudic text they were studying. The child, who was endowed with a brilliant mind, saw the solution to the question at once and didn't lose a moment in proving the answer.
His father, a scholar of note, rejected his son's answer, which seemed to have popped out of the child's mouth before he had a chance to properly reflect on its profundity.
Reb Zev Nachum gave the boy a light tap on his cheek and said, "You will have to overcome your habit of answering so quickly before you have thought through the question."
Many years went by and one day Reb Avraham, now an established scholar of great repute was summoned to his father's sick bed. Reb Zev Nachum reminded his son about that incident which had occurred so many years ago and said, "You know, after that happened I again looked into the commentaries on that particular passage. In my study, I discovered that the interpretation which you gave was perfectly correct. I had wanted to apologize to you at the time, but I was afraid lest you become too conceited about your intellect, and I restrained myself. I have thought about it all these years."
Reb Avraham smiled at his father. "I, too, have thought about that incident many times over the years, and I, too, wanted to speak to you about it. I knew at the time that my analysis of the problem was correct and that I was punished unjustly. I forgave you immediately, but because of the mitzva of honoring one's father, I restrained myself from uttering a word about it."
