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shock of lightning. Gods, as all knew, could destroy at their whim
those who displeased them.
'And what dost thou propose to do with thy life now, Belgarath?'
he asked.
'I would stay and serve thee, Master,' I said, as humbly as I could.
'I require no service,' he said. 'What canst thou do for me?'
'May I worship thee, Master?' I pleaded. I had never met a God
before, and was uncertain about the proprieties.
'I do not require thy worship either,' he said.
'May I not stay, Master?' I pleaded. 'I would be thy Disciple and
learn from thee.'
'The desire to learn does thee credit, but it will not be easy,' he
warned.
'I am quick to learn, Master,'I boasted. 'I shall make thee proud of
me./
And then he laughed, and my heart soared..'Very well then,
Belgarath, I shall make thee my pupil.'
'And thy Disciple also, Master?'
'That we will see in time, Belgarath.'
And then, because I was very young and very proud of myself
and my new-found powers, I turned to a dried and brittle bush - it
was mid-winter at the time - and I spoke to it fervently. 'Bloom,' I
said, and the bush quite suddenly produced a single flower. I
plucked it and offered it to him. 'For thee, Master,' I said. 'Because I
love thee.'
And he took the flower and smiled and held it between his hands.
'I thank thee, my son,' he said. It was the first time he had ever called
me that. 'And this flower shall be thy first lesson. I would have thee
examine it most carefully and tell me all that thou canst perceive of it.'
And that task took me twenty years, as I recall. Each time I came
to him with the flower that never wilted or faded - how I grew to
hate that flower - and told him what else I had learned, he said, 'is
that all, my son?' and, crushed, I went back to my studies.
And there were many other things as well that took at least as
long. I examined trees and birds, fish and beasts, insects and vermin.
I devoted forty-five years to the study of grass alone.
In time it occurred to me that I was not aging as other men aged.
'Master,' I said one night in our chamber high in the tower as we
both labored with our studies, 'why is it that I do not grow old?'
'Wouldst thou grow old, my son?' he asked. 'I have never seen
much advantage in it myself.'
'I don't really miss it all that much, Master,' I admitted, 'but isn't
it customary?'
'Perhaps,' he said bt not mandatory. Thou hast much yet to
learn, and one or ten or even a hundred lifetimes are not enough.
How old art thou, my son?'
'I think I am somewhat beyond three hundred years, Master.'
'A suitable age, my son, and thou hast persevered in thy studies.
Should I forget myself and call thee "Boy" again, pray correct me. It
is not seemly that the Disciple of a God should be called "Boy".'
'I shall remember that, Master,' I said, almost overcome with JOY
that he had finally called me his Disciple.
'I was certain that thou wouldst,' he said. 'And what is the object
of thy present study, my son?'