'When would he be allowed to pick up a sword and why was the Swordmaster stalling him?' He could not answer these questions and every time he looked at the Swordmaster wanting to ask, the Master would bow slightly in respect, and nod as if to reassure him that all was well. Yet, all was not well with the young man as he seemed to be getting further and further from his goal.

The Master observed him carefully every day, never letting on to what he saw. He could feel the young man shaping his consciousness to a one-mindedness of purpose, growing constantly angrier at distracitons.

Then one day, when he saw the young man exhasperated beyond all hope of ever becoming a swordsman, angry at all the time he had put in seemingly to no avail, and thinking he might never be taught how to wield a sword, the Master approached him...

"You must put down the pots you are scrubbing," he said, and without any other words, he handed the young man the shiniest sword he had ever seen..

The young man taken completely by surprise, picked up the sword as it was given to him and suddenly there was an understanding within him that immediately overcame all the waiting and struggles in consciousness he had been through.

In a time much shorter than you could possibly imagine, the young man became the greatest Swordsman in all the land!

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