The lama lowered his voice . ` And I come here alone . For five -- seven -- eighteen -- forty years it was in my mind that the Old Law was not well followed ; being overlaid , as thou knowest , with devildom , charms , and idolatry . Even as the child outside said but now . Ay , even as the child said , with but-parasti . ' ` So it comes with all faiths . ' ` Thinkest thou ? The books of my lamassery I read , and they were dried pith ; and the later ritual with which we of the Reformed Law have cumbered ourselves -- that , too , had no worth to these old eyes . Even the followers of the Excellent One are at feud on feud with one another . It is all illusion . Ay , maya , illusion . But I have another desire ' -- the seamed yellow face drew within three inches of the Curator , and the long forefinger-nail tapped on the table . ` Your scholars , by these books , have followed the Blessed Feet in all their wanderings ; but there are things which they have not sought out . I know nothing -- nothing do I know -- but I go to free myself from the Wheel of Things by a broad and open road . ' He smiled with most simple triumph . ` As a pilgrim to the Holy Places I acquire merit . But there is more . Listen to a true thing . When our gracious Lord , being as yet a youth , sought a mate , men said , in His father 's Court , that He was too tender for marriage . Thou knowest ? '
The XXXXX nodded , wondering what would come next .
Ay Blessed Curator Law devildom forefinger-nail lama lamassery maya years