World, busy and profitless, that is just above
the Hells, his mind was distracted; for by the roadside trundled the
very Wheel itself, eating, drinking, trading, marrying, and
quarrelling--all warmly alive. Often the lama made the living pictures
the matter of his text, bidding Kim--too ready--note how the flesh
takes a thousand shapes, desirable or detestable as men reckon, but in
truth of no account either way; and how the stupid spirit, bond-slave
to the Hog, the Dove, and the Serpent--lusting after betel-nut, a new
yoke of oxen, women, or the favour of kings--is bound to follow the
body through all the Heavens and all the Hells, and strictly round
again. Sometimes a woman or a poor man, watching the ritual--it was
nothing less--when the great yellow chart was unfolded, would throw a
few flowers or a handful of cowries upon its edge. It sufficed these
humble ones that they had met a Holy One who might be moved to remember
them in his prayers.

'Cure them if they are sick,' said the lama, when Kim's sporting
instincts woke. 'Cure them if they have fever, but by no means work
charms. Remember what befell the Mahratta.'

'Then all Doing is evil?' Kim replied, lying out under a big tree at
the fork of the Doon road, watching the little ants run over his hand.

'To abstain from action is well--except to acquire merit.'

'At the Gates of Learning we were taught that to abstain from action
was unbefitting a Sahib. And I am a Sahib.'

'Friend of all the World,'--the lama looked directly at Kim--'I am an
old man--pleased with shows as are children. To those who follow the
Way there is neither black nor white, Hind nor Bhotiyal. We be all
souls seeking escape. No matter what thy wisdom learned among Sahibs,
when we come to my River thou wilt be freed from all illusion--at my
side. Hai! My bones ache for that River, as they ached in the
te-rain; but my spirit sits above my bones, waiting. The Search is
sure!'

'I am answered. Is it permitted to ask a question?'

The lama inclined his stately head.

'I ate thy bread for three years--as thou knowest. Holy One, whence
came--?'

'There is much wealth, as men count it, in Bhotiyal,' the lama returned
with composure. 'In my own place I have the illusion of honour. I ask
for that I need. I am not concerned with the account. That is for my
monastery. Ai! The black high seats in the monastery, and novices all
in order!'

And he told stories, tracing with a