The White Bull Read online

  "No. Thank you, Master Daedalus. I have been assigned my own goal, and am supposed to find my own way, without help from anyone." She was not suffering deadly thirst or starvation—not yet, anyway—but I could see a great fear in her eyes. Not the sharp, immediate fear of a soldier entering battle, or a captive going to execution, but deep and vital all the same. Death was not in prospect, only failure, but abysmal failure could sometimes seem as dreadful as death, especially to the young.

  The two of us had nothing more to say to each other. I turned from her and went on my way, and heard no more of furtive feet behind me. Soon I came to the place where a large waterpipe, one of the main conduits bringing water down to the House, crossed overhead. The pipe was well masked by concealing brickwork, and most people passing beneath would not realize that it was there. But I knew that it was there, and that this wall just to my left now was as thick as four men's bodies lying head to toe. And just outside that wall, though you could never guess it from inside the Labyrinth, was a free, open sunny slope, at this season probably aglow with wildflowers.

  Thunder grumbled, and the indirect daylight in the maze suddenly grew dimmer.

  I had still a few more turns and branchings to negotiate; I, their designer, at each turn made the proper choice unthinkingly.

  … and then I was emerging abruptly into the Labyrinth's central open space, a modest stone's throw across. Here the Bull could feel inwardly secure; his inhuman spirit was really at ease only when he knew he was surrounded by artificial complexity. The space was an easy stone's throw across, partially roofed by connected domes. On the far side of the broad stone dais, waist-high, that occupied the middle of the circular space there yawned the several dark mouths of the Bull's own private rooms, which I had never entered since their construction had been completed.

  In the middle of the the dais, like the gnomon of a sundial, there stood in sunny space a big stone chair upon whose humped seat no human could comfortably have rested. On this chair the White Bull sat waiting, as if he had been expecting my arrival.

  "Learn from me, Dae-da-lus." This had come to be the Bull's regular greeting to me, in place of any more conventional salutation. His speech had not improved noticeably since that first day about five years ago when we had first encountered each other on the seashore.

  Silently I walked closer to the dais, which was surrounded by a gently flowing moat, a couple of strides wide and no more than about ankle-deep. The dweller in the Labyrinth had no physical need of such an open flow of water, but he loved it, as he loved the Labyrinth itself.

  As I approached, the Bull, an almost manlike figure clothed in different lengths of silver hair, stood up to welcome me. His hands, extended in a learned gesture of greeting, were far from human, something I had failed to notice at our first meeting, bewildered by his overall strangeness as I was then. Each hand bore two thumbs on opposite sides of the palm, each thumb fully opposable to the four fingers. Yet fingers and thumbs looked clumsy and sometimes were. Each fingernail was so enlarged as to be almost a tiny hoof, a miniature of the real hooves that were the Bull's feet.

  "Learn from me, Dae-dal-us," he said again, when I had reached the dais without speaking. I came to a stop leaning against the waist-high rim of stone, standing on the last of the short series of stepping-stones that enabled more fastidious human visitors to cross the moat easily without getting their feet wet. Rain was falling now, drumming on the roof and filling the nearby cisterns, trickling into the moat.

  There was movement in the corner of my eye; Talus, the Bronze Man, had entered the circular space from a side passage, and was standing motionless, distant lightning reflecting dully on his metal skin.

  "I have tried enrolling in your school," I replied to the Bull at last, my voice a heavy rasp. "The results were not pleasing to either of us."

  "Learn." The deep voice somehow sounded more bull-like the more I listened to it. The voice could be as stubborn as a wall. "The secrets of the a-toms and the stars are mine to give."

  "Then what need can you have for one more student, an aging craftsman like myself? There must be great numbers of young minds ready and eager to learn from you. I understand your school is becoming a fad all across the eastern Mediterranean. More than a fad. From the Egyptians to the south to the barbarians far in the north, great numbers of the wealthy and powerful are coming to want your education for their children. Even today a fresh contingent of young people has arrived from Athens for your instruction."

  "Dae-dal-us, you are not tru-ly old as yet. De-cades of strong life lie a-head of you. And if you tru-ly learn, you may be ab-le to ex-tend your life." The Bull, suddenly looking remarkably manlike, sat down in his chair again. Lightning flared nearby, close enough to set a human's teeth on edge, and simultaneously thunder smashed. Talus, who had started to move again, stood frozen for a moment, then quivered faintly before pacing on.

  Backing away a little from the edge of the dais, I curtly signed refusal. I said: "For five years now I have watched the young men and women coming to be enrolled in your advanced school, and for the past year or so I have seen the graduates come out. I have spoken with them, and I do not know that I wish to be taught whatever it is that they are learning. Not one of them has whispered to me of the stars' or the atoms' secrets."

  "Some might have done so. But compared to you, Dae-dal-us, all my students thus far have been fra-gile ves-sels of lim-i-ted ca-pa-ci-ty. Lim-i-ted ves-sels can hold only so much. Sometimes they crack. And, once cracked, are good only as ob-jects of stu-dy."

  "Objects of study?"

  "To find out how they are made." Now the Bull leaned forward on his chair, until I was able to smell his breath—a not unpleasant smell, like moist dead leaves. The creature ate only vegetables and fruits, and scattered about it on the dais now was a light litter of dried husks and shriveled leaves.

  He went on: "But for such a mind as yours, I bring ful-fill-ment, ne-ver bur-sting."

  In those days always the same arguments, with some variations, were passed back and forth between the two of us. "Are there no sturdy, capacious vessels among your students?"

  "Not one in a thous-and of them will have your mind, Dae-dal-us. Not one in ten thousand."

  "But I tried enrolling once, as you well know. The experience was not good for me."

  "Of course I re-mem-ber, But you gave up too ea-sily. You must try a-gain."

  There were moments when the temptation of the wealth of knowledge became very strong. I knew that wealth existed, and that some doorway to it opened here.

  Drawing a deep breath, I entered new ground. "What I would really like to learn is something quite specific."

  "And what is that?"

  Almost involuntarily I looked around me, to make sure that no one else was listening. The Bronze Man, standing as if still mesmerized by lightning, did not count.

  When I spoke again my voice was lower. "Can you teach me to fly? Show me how the wings should be constructed to support a man? I am sure there must be a way."

  The Bull, as if startled by this request, sat back in his chair and was silent for a few breaths. His half-human face was as difficult for me to read as ever.

  At last he said: "The mat-ter is not that simple, Dae-dal-us. But if you stu-dy in my school four years, you will be ab-le to build wings for your-self. I prom-ise you. Would you learn how to cre-ate a flock of birds? E-ven that is not im-poss-i-ble."

  The temptation, the promise of knowledge, was growing very great, but still I would not yield. I clenched my calloused hands. "How can it take me four years to learn to build a wing? If I can learn a thing at all, the idea of it should take root within my mind inside four days, and any needed skill should come into my fingers within four months. The knowledge might take longer to perfect, of course. And the process of perfection might go on endlessly. But I do not ask to be able to build a flock of birds complete with beaks and claws, and breathe life into them and set them to catching fish and laying eggs. No, all
I want are a few functional feathers for myself."

  "En-roll a-gain, Dae-dal-us." The voice of the Bull, solemn and stubborn, maintained its muted and inhuman roar. "You will be-come a tru-ly ed-u-ca-ted man. Hor-i-zons that you can-not guess will o-pen for you."

  "You mean, I think, that you plan to teach me not what I want to learn, but rather to learn to want something else instead. To make my life depend and pivot on your teaching." Yes, here we were again, getting bogged down in the same old unwinnable dispute, even when I had come here on another errand entirely.

  Why did I keep at it, the arguing? Because there were moments when I hoped that the Bull was right, when I seemed to myself insane for rejecting the chance to gain the undoubted wealth of knowledge that the Bull had somehow at his disposal.

  And yet at the same time in my heart I was stubbornly sure that I was right in my rejection.

  "Bull, what good would it do you to have me come and sit at your feet and learn? There has to be something that you want out of it."

  "In-deed there is. My rea-son for be-ing is to teach." The tall figure on its high chair nodded down solemnly at me where I stood below. Then it crossed its legs, suddenly making itself look like the statue of the Goat-God. "For the sake of teach-ing and learn-ing have I and o-thers of my peo-ple crossed o-ceans un-i-mag-i-na-ble be-tween the stars. For the sake of pro-per ed-u-ca-tion have I come here to Crete, accept-ing ex-ile from my mis-gui-ded com-rades in the base on The-ra."

  Now my "curiosity would not be controlled. "These comrades of yours, sir. Do you mean your kinfolk, who as you once told me still live on the isle of Thera? And do you tell me that they are misguided?"

  "They are in-deed. I mean those of my race who came with me from be-yond the stars. I have cut my-self off from their so-ci-e-ty, because my purpose in com-ing to your world was to teach, and pro-per teach-ing they would not al-low. When I am a-ble to con-vey my teachings to minds ca-pa-ble of hold-ing them, on-ly then will I know peace and be ful-filled."

  I stared at him, trembling.

  The Bull, sensing my resolve was shaken, pressed on: "Shall I tell King Min-os that you still re-fuse to learn from me? That there are wea-pons great-er than cat-a-pults that you could make for him, but you re-fuse to learn?"

  "The king thinks that the Bronze Man will fight for him against his enemies if the need arises." I had heard Minos speculating on what might be done with such a tool, or weapon, in combat. But I had never before heard the Bull utter a word on the subject.

  "It will help him to de-fend this island, if need arises. Yes, I have prom-ised the king that. As long as I am giv-en free rein with the school. What you call the Bronze Man was not de-signed as a weap-on, but on this world it will serve."

  With an effort I had regained something of my composure. And now I pulled myself up onto the dais, where I stood at my full height before the Bull.

  Then I said: "I doubt you will tell the king anything about my refusal to enter your school. It may be that he will not speak to you any more. He might have come here himself today, or had you brought before him, but instead he sent me to talk to you."

  The Bull was silent, his face impossible to read.

  Boldly I went on: "How long is it since the king has been here to visit you? Or invited you to that part of the House in which he lives and works?" Not that the Bull had ever seemed happy to leave his own quarters.

  "You mean, that I have dis-pleased him?"

  What I meant, but did not care to put into so many words, was that Minos seemed to be getting increasingly afraid of his pet monster. Perhaps it was only natural, and men and gods would never be able to live on such intimate terms for a length of time. Perhaps there was some other reason.

  But Minos, though he feared him, was unable to evict or kill any creature so vested with supernatural power and authority, whose school was so popular with' all his neighbors, whose treasury of knowledge might any day now provide the sea-king with some technical advantage that would seal his superiority over his neighbors for good and all—and who controlled the Bronze Man, a weapon of mysterious and no doubt tremendous power. I had seen the strength of Talus, far more than human, employed in lifting some of the huge stones of the Labyrinth into place.

  And it was very likely, I thought, that the king, afraid, did not want to admit his own fear even to himself.

  The Bull considered the idea of the king's displeasure, and appeared to be able to accept it with serenity. "In time Min-os will un-der-stand what great trea-sures I have brought him. But up-on what er-rand did he send you to-day?"

  "Certainly it was not to renew old arguments." Trying to make myself relax, I sat down on the edge of the dais. Turning my head, I spat into the White Bull's moat, then watched critically as the spittle along with an infusion of raindrops was borne along slowly but steadily toward the drain. I was, and am still, proud of all my constructions—yes, even the Labyrinth—and I like to see that they are working properly.

  Turning back to face the Bull, I said: "Among today's fresh crop of Athenians is one young man whose coming here to the school poses problems for us all."

  Briefly I went on to identify Theseus, and to outline the concern felt by Minos for his somewhat shaky alliance with Aegeus. "And the young man is probably here at least in part because his father wants him kept out of possible intrigues at home. Not that Minos said anything of the kind to me; but I thought I could hear it between the words of what he said."

  "I think I un-der-stand, Dae-dal-us. Yet I can but en-roll this prince of Ath-ens with o-thers in the school, and then try to im-part know-ledge to him. If he can-not or will not learn, he must go to the rem-ed-i-al class, or be ex-pelled if all else fails. I can-not cer-ti-fy that he has learned if he has not; he is a prince, not of a dis-ad-van-taged race or class."

  "In this case, surely, an exception might be made." Even as I spoke, I detested the pleading tone that I could hear in my own voice.

  We argued this point for a while, I getting nowhere. Then something occurred that I might have foreseen, but did not. The White Bull suddenly offered that something might be done to make Prince Theseus's way easier, if I myself were to enroll as a student again.

  On hearing this I was suddenly angry, probably at my own failure to anticipate this development. I said: "Minos will really be displeased with you if I bear back the message that you want me to spend my next four years studying rather than working for my king."

  "As I am sure you re-mem-ber, Dae-dal-us, we solved that prob-lem at the time of your last en-roll-ment. You will be a part time stu-dent. Even so, one with a mind like yours may learn in three years what a mere-ly ex-cell-ent student learns in four."

  That, I supposed, might be true enough. Silently I hopped down off the dais and stood in the moat, oblivious to the water curling about my ankles. Trying to think of a way out, I paced a few steps this way and that, meanwhile avoiding looking at the Bull. At last I came to a stop and stood there, silent, holding in, like bronze Talus, like an old soldier at attention, staring at a wall, at the temptation of knowledge that might lie behind it.

  "Why do you al-ways re-sist me, Dae-dal-us? Not really be-cause you fear your mind will crack be-neath the bur-den of my teach-ing. Not many even of the poor-er stu-dents have that hap-pen."

  Gradually I was able to relax somewhat. The wisdom born of experience came to my aid, assuring me that going to school again was not likely to be fatal. I sat down on the fine stone pavement, beside the chuckling moat. Eventually I was even able to smile myself.

  "As I may have already told you, oh great White Bull, whenever I see someone approaching to do me a favor—be it man or woman, god or goddess—I generally do myself a favor first and turn around and flee in the other direction. Through experience I have acquired this habit, and it lies near the root of whatever modest stock of wisdom I may 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 m
ean 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—"