'Oh, dear me, I didn't start out a barbarian. I used to be a school teacher. That's why they call me Teach.'
'What did you teach?'
'Geography. And I was very interested in Auriental studies. But I decided to give it up and make a living by the sword.'
'After being a teacher all your life?'
'It did mean a change of perspective, yes.'
'But... well... surely... the privation, the terrible hazards, the daily risk of death...'
Mr Saveloy brightened up. 'Oh, you've been a teacher, have you?'
Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times