The Student's muscles ached, and despite the chill mountain air against his bare skin his sweat rolled down his back like spring rain from the temple's angled roof. The thought made him proud, he'd helped in thatching the roof himself, and not a drop ever got through his handiwork. He swung his ax again and the timber split with crack.
"Done," he said. The Student could hear the relief in his own voice, and it pained him because the master could surely hear it as well.
"You sound all too, pleased," the Master said.
"Finishing my work pleases me. Having done well pleases me," said the Student. "I have nothing to be ashamed of." He tried to sound matter of fact, but he felt his pitch raise at the end of his sentence. Was he asking a question? Of course not! It did please him. And why be ashamed of a job well done?
"Your work pleases me as well," said the Master. "Your working leaves much to be desired."
The Student opened his mouth to apologize. He knew not for what, but when the Master criticized, the devout student thanked him for instruction and apologized for misbehavior. There was no other way. But the Master raised a hand to silence him.
"I need not your joyless apology. Go to the kitchen and peel the carrots in time for dinner. Your brothers will be hungry, as you surely are."
An hour later the Student had just finished peeling the burlap sack full of carrots. The shavings were all in a large pot, which he could use to mulch the garden. The end of the lives of these carrots would create the soil for a new generation. Nothing wasted. Nothing left undone. Beautiful efficient work. He didn't let himself smile. This was duty.
"Dinner is not for an hour," the Master said from over the Student's shoulder.
The Student turned to his master and bowed sharply. "You said to be ready to by dinner."
"And ready you are. May I ask how, how did you enjoy your work today?"
"It pleases me to do a good job," the Student said. It was true, he had done a good job and he was proud.
"How did you enjoy doing your work," the Master asked again.
"I told you," said the Student. He realized too late that this may be seen as backtalk and pressed on. "I enjoy having done good work. My work today has been exemplary."
"And when you finish today's work?"
"I start on tomorrow's?"
"Will you enjoy tomorrow's work?"
"I'll enjoy having done it."
The Master shook his head. "Come," he said.
The granary was dim. Little light could get through. The students had done their best to seal it off from the outside world. Tight thatching kept the elements out. The base was built on a great stone block, so that rain couldn't seep through dirt and introduce the risk of rot. But that wasn't enough. Animals wanted the grain too. Animals who could chew through thatch like it was soft as river mud. Rats. They had recruited a special sort of student to deal with these intruders.
Student and Master sat side by side in the granary, a candle casting light about the room. Their shadows danced, larger than life on the walls. The Cat's shadow too, reared up like a great tiger. In reality he was small enough to fit in one's lap. Some students would hold the cat when he wanted attention. The Student was too busy for such distractions.
"What is the Cat's job?" asked the Master.
"To catch rats," the student replied.
As if on a cue, a gray Rat scurried from a hole it had chewed in the wall towards the piles of threshed grain in the center of the granary. The Cat darted for the Rat from it's hiding spot. It slapped the Rat on its tail and held it for a few seconds then batted it with a paw sending it sprawling.
"And how does he do at his job?" the Master asked.
The Student sensed a trick, maybe. The Cat was catching the Rat of course, but it wasn't doing it right. The Rat was still alive after all!
"It's wasteful," the student said.
The Cat lifted its paw and let the Rat run a few feet and then pounced, a purely a theatrical display. The Rat had no chance of escape in the first place.
"It's inefficient as well," the student said.
"It's joyful," said the Master. "The Cat does not rush to finish his job. He savors every moment. He exults in the thrill of doing his task, not in having done it. What will you do when no more jobs are left to be done?"
For once the Student was left without an answer. Then he shrugged, "I will... I will die."
The Master nodded, "You say you will be happy when your work is done, but work is never done until you are dead. If you are to be happy, you must find joy in the work itself. You must be as the Cat. His playing with the Rat is not for our benefit, but for his own."
The Student nodded and rose without a word to his feet.
"And where are you going?" the Master asked.
"I think... I want to go play with my ax."
