"Simon Hawke - Wizard 5 - The Samurai Wizard" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawke Simon)

At first, he had been thrilled and deeply honored that JapanтАЩs
highest ranking adept had seen fit to accept him as an apprentice.
With his standing in his graduating class, there had been many
other wizards whom Kanno could have approached and most of his
fellow students had thought it was the height of arrogance when he
chose to petition the venerable Yohaku, but Kanno had always been
ambitious and his pride and the strength of his desire had seen him
through the ordeal of sitting on the masterтАЩs doorstep at his small
and modest home in Kyushu.
The mage had known about his presence from the moment he
arrived, and yet he had let him sit there, through all hours of the
day and night and through the rain that soaked him to the skin. He
had kept him waiting for a solid week while Kanno sat there,
unmoving, numb in his extremities, without food or sleep,
subsisting only on the cups of broth that the masterтАЩs housekeeper
brought out to him three times a day. It had taken all of KannoтАЩs
will and concentration to endure the wait of his petition, mumbling
spells under his breath to keep himself awake and give him
strength, even while those very spells served to sap his energy. But
Kanno had endured and at last the housekeeper came out and
spoke to him for the first time since he had arrived.
тАЬThe master wishes me to ask you, тАЭ the housekeeper had said,
тАЬwhat makes you think that you are worthy of his tutelage?тАЭ
Kanno had a long time to think about how he would reply when
the inevitable question came. The question itself was like a koan. It
was fraught with pitfalls. If he gave some reason for his
worthiness, regardless what that reason was, he would appear too
proud and would undoubtedly be dismissed. If he gave a humble
answer and said he was not worthy, but hoped to prove his worth,
then he had no doubt that he would also be dismissed, as why
should the master waste his time with one who thought he was
unworthy? So he had given long and careful thought to the answer
he would give.
He had said, тАЬIt is not for the student to measure his own worth.
This humble student can but measure his desire, which is greater
than that for life itself.тАЭ
Whereupon the housekeeper had produced a tanto and placed it
on the ground before him, the squared point facing him. And,
without another word or a backward glance, he turned and went
back into the house.
Kanno felt as if his heart had stopped. As he stared with horror
at the keen blade of the knife, he realized that the housekeeper
would never have taken such an act upon himself. The master had
anticipated him. And he had called his bluff. With a sinking feeling,
Kanno damned Yohaku for his cleverness. The master did not wish
to be bothered with petitions from eager and ambitious warlocks,
and so he had settled upon this diabolical manner of discouraging
all future applicants.
If Kanno walked awayтАФand there was nothing stopping himтАФhe
would be shamed. The stigma of his failure would cling to him like