Free The White Bull by Fred Saberhagen Page B

possess."
    There was at first no answer from the creature seated on the high inhuman chair, and I pressed on. "Because I
can
learn something, does that mean that I must? Should I not count the price?"
    "There is no price, for you. I per-son-ally award you a full scho-lar-ship."
    "Baah!" But at the same time I was somewhat impressed. I knew that the Bull delighted as much as any human miser in gold and gems, and that a good stock of such accumulated tuition lay hidden somewhere in his private rooms. I had once heard him vow that this wealth was meant only to further the cause of ed-u-ca-tion.
    Now he was saying sternly to me: "You should dem-on-strate re-spect. What is the price for one who stum-bles u-pon great trea-sure, if he sim-ply bend and pick it up?"
    "A good question. I will think upon it."
    "But the cost to him is all the trea-sure, if he re-fuse e-ven to bend."

----
     
CRAMMING
     
    Painful experience had long ago convinced me that I had no particular skill in intrigue, and I was afraid to do anything but carry the whole truth back to Minos. When I did so, the king of course gave me no way out; I was going to have to enroll in the school again.
    Our interview at this time confirmed my private theory that the king was really afraid of the Bull but reluctant to admit it even to himself.
    "What did the White Bull say to you?" Minos demanded. I had reached the monarch in his new bathroom, where steam bedewed the marble walls. He paced back and forth uneasily, muffled in huge towels, dabbing at his forehead with the end of one of them.
    I recounted our conversation in the Labyrinth as best I could.
    "Then let it be done as the Bull says," was the only comment Minos made at the end.
    Next day I was forced to register as a student. I had no black sail to hoist, and wanted to get the matter over with as quickly as possible. So I simply walked to the White Bull's apartments again and announced: "Well, here I am."
    "Good." It was impossible for me to tell whether or not the Bull was gloating over my defeat. Then he frowned. "First you must of course fill out the pro-per forms of app-li-cation to be ad-mit-ted—"
    "I filled out an incredible number of forms last time. Since you want me as a student so badly, I am surprised that you have thrown them all away."
    "Whe-ther the previous forms have been thrown a-way is ir-rel-e-vant, Dae-dal-us… and when the forms have been pre-pared, you will be ad-min-is-tered some place-ment tests."
    This only made me protest the more. "I have also taken those tests before. Surely there is no need for me to waste my time on that again."
    But of course my protests availed nothing. Filling out new copies of the old forms, and taking the old tests over again—they were as incomprehensible as I remembered them—did indeed consume a considerable amount of time. It was afternoon before I found myself walking into a classroom where Theseus and Phaedra were sitting side by side, surrounded by some fifteen or sixteen other young folk from around the civilized world, every edge of the Mediterranean.
    The royal pair had evidently heard of my re-enrollment and were not surprised to see me; the prince looked openly relieved. I took my place on a rear bench, endured some curious glances at my grizzled locks, and waited, feeling gnarled and old and incongruous, until the Bull himself entered and began to teach.
    There was very little preamble. "Yes-ter-day we be-gan up-on the sci-ence of ge-og-ra-phy," the Bull said to the assemblage of students seated before him. "To-day we will app-roach it for the first time in a new way."
    And it was soon apparent to me that this was not going to be like any kind of instruction that I had ever encountered before, in the Bull's school or elsewhere. The Bull began to do something—how, I could not tell—directly to our thoughts, and to our eyes. I knew that I and my fellow students were still sitting on our benches, and now and then, with all the imperfection of