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He shook his head "The study of painting will lead you to the study of man, and the study of man will lead you to lament or celebrate the state of the world of men "

I didn't believe it, but I was not allowed to change the curriculum I studied as I was told

Now, ifts which I did not possess, but which he told me I would develop in time He could make fire with his nite a torch already prepared with pitch He could scale a building effortlessly with only a few quick handholds on its sills, propelling hi motions, and he could swim to any depth of the sea

Of course his va were far more acute and powerful than my own, and while voices intruded upon me, he kne to emphatically shut them out I had to learn this, and indeed I worked at it desperately, for there were ti but a cacophony of voices and prayers

But the one great power he possessed which I did not possess was that he could take to the air and cover ireat speed This had been demonstrated to me many times, but almost always, when he had lifted me and carried me, he had made me cover my face, or he had forced my head down so that I couldn't see where ent and how

Why he was so reticent about it, I couldn't understand Finally, one night when he refused to transport us as if by ic to the Island of the Lido so that we could watch one of the nighttime ceremonies of fireworks and torch-lit ships on the water, I pressed the question

"It's a frightening power," he said coolly "It's frightening to be unanchored froes, it is not without its blunders and disasters As one acquires skill, rising s not only to the body but to the soul It seems not preternatural, but super

natural " I could see he suffered over this He shook his head "It is the one talent which seeenuinely inhuman I cannot learn from humans how best to use it With every other talent, humans are my teacher The huician; I become the witch or the warlock It's seductive, and one could become its slave "

"But how so?" I asked him

He was at a loss He didn't even want to talk about it Finally he became just a little impatient

"Sorill e Believe me, I do not "

"Master you made me, and you insist on my obedience Why would I read Abelard's History of My Calas of Duns Scotus of Oxford University if you didn't make me do it?" I stopped I re acidic words at him, fast answers and slurs

I becaed "Master," I said "Just explain it to me "

He esture as if to say "Oh, so simple, eh?"

"All right," he went on "It's this way I can go very high in the air, and I can move very fast I cannot often penetrate the clouds They're frequently above me But I can travel so fast that the world itself becoe lands when I descend And I tell you, for all itsI aoals or my will to live, after I make use of this power Transitions come too quickly; that's it, perhaps I never spoke of this to anyone, and now I speak to you, and you're a boy, and you can't begin to understand "