Macmu-Ling

"earth"

- Five, seven, then five, syllables mark a haiku, remarkable oaf.

Madame Macmu-Ling was the master and teacher of the 5-7-5 Society.

She always carried herself gracefully, and was a teacher as well as a master of haiku. She could effortlessly evoke eloquent imagery using her haiku discipline. Macmu-Ling respected and defended the complexities of the art, and expected others to do the same. She also apparently had little regard for those whom she believed were incapable of appreciating the high arts and did not hesitate to use her craft to try and make such people look like fools. Madame Macmu-Ling lived in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se.

History
Very little is known about the background of Madame Macmu-Ling, though she was widely assumed to be the teacher of the haiku class. One day, when Sokka came crashing through a window of her class and his apology was accidentally given in the form of a haiku, she "greeted" him with a somewhat insulting haiku, in which she called him a "remarkable oaf," thus engaging in a haiku battle. After an exchange of three haikus each, Sokka managed to win the poetry battle, and Madame Macmu-Ling left the stage in defeat; when he recited his victory haiku, however, Sokka made a crucial mistake by using one too many syllables, for which he was rudely thrown from the room.

Trivia

 * Madame Macmu-Ling's name was inspired by the last name of Lauren MacMullan, who wrote the episode.
 * "Madame Macmu-Ling" contains five syllables, a possible tie-in to haiku.