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 finger in the dust , of the immense and sumptuous ritual of avalanche-guarded cathedrals ; of processions and devil-dances ; of the changing of monks and nuns into swine ; of holy cities fifteen thousand feet in the air ; of intrigue between monastery and monastery ; of voices among the hills , and of that mysterious mirage that dances on dry snow . He spoke even of Lhassa and of the Dalai Lama , whom he had seen and adored . Each long , perfect day rose behind Kim for a barrier to cut him off from his race and his mother-tongue . He slipped back to thinking and dreaming in the vernacular , and mechanically followed the lama 's ceremonial observances at eating , drinking , and the like . The old man 's mind turned more and more to his monastery as his eyes turned to the steadfast snows . His River troubled him nothing . Now and again , indeed , he would gaze long and long at a tuft or a twig , expecting , he said , the earth to cleave and deliver its blessing ; but he was content to be with his disciple , at ease in the temperate wind that comes down from the Doon . This was not Ceylon , nor Buddh Gaya , nor Bombay , nor some grass-tangled ruins that he seemed to have stumbled upon two years ago .
He XXXXX of those places as a scholar removed from vanity , as a Seeker walking in humility , as an old man , wise and temperate , illumining knowledge with brilliant insight .
Is ate came cleave concerned deliver followed rose spoke troubled