69: The Form of the Saber
The deeper sword teaching began at the morning of the next day.
Lao Wen rose at the second cock. He laid one hand once on the top of Heizi's head at the small fire — by the small specific accumulating reading of the past two years' morning protocol, restored. He sat at the small wooden stool with the small wooden bowl of warmed water Heizi had drawn. He drank slowly.
He set the bowl down.
He said in the small low voice: *lads. After the morning's reading.*
"Yes, master."
"At the small clear ground. The small specific other half of the saber's teaching."
The brothers nodded.
That morning, after the first hour of the *Analects* at the small wooden table, the household went to the small clear ground in front of the south face of the hut. Wang Er brought down the master's *横刀* from its peg at the back of the hut, and his own. Lao Wen took the master's. Wang Er kept his own at the small specific second guard.
Lao Wen stood at the small clear ground.
He said in the small low voice: *lads. The first half of the saber's teaching, by the small specific reading at the past two years, was the small specific shape of the blade-and-foot work — the small specific guard, the small specific thrust, the small specific recovery, the small specific cut. You have laid the small specific shape of the first half in your hands. By the small specific reading at the noon yesterday, you have — at the small clear ground at the small specific moment of the small specific four-band's small specific approach — held the first half well.*
He paused.
"The first half of the teaching is — by the small specific old saying of an old militia officer — the small specific work of the four limbs. It is the small specific work of the body's careful accumulating muscle-and-shape, that any apprentice's hands and feet can learn at the small specific accumulating careful pace of two years."
He paused again.
"The second half — by the small specific reading I am beginning at this morning — is not the small specific work of the four limbs. It is the small specific work of the eye and the small specific work of the hand-at-the-instant."
He paused once more.
"By the small specific reading of an old militia officer's old saying — the first half is the small specific *form*. The second half is the small specific *moment*. The first half can be taught in the small specific way of an old officer at a small clear ground at every noon for two years. The second half cannot be taught. The second half can only be — by the small specific reading at the past two thousand years of the country's small old saying — *shown*."
He paused.
"Lads. By the small specific reading at the noon yesterday, the small specific *shown* began. The big brother saw — at the small specific instant of the leader's small specific weight transferring to the forward foot — the small specific moment for the bow's first shot. He took it. The shot did not, by the small specific reading at the leader's small specific last-moment movement, take the small specific window of the heart. It took the small specific window's neighbor at four finger's-breadths above. The small specific moment was — by the small specific reading of an old officer — *shown* to the big brother for the first time at the noon yesterday at the bow."
He paused.
"What I am beginning, lads, at this morning at the saber, is the small specific *showing* of the moment at the saber — at the small specific instant of an attacker's small specific weight transfer at the small specific reach of the saber's blade-and-foot."
He raised the master's *横刀*.
He held it at the small specific second guard.
"Smith's son. Come at me at the small specific *thrust-and-set*."
Wang Er came at him.
He came at the small specific even pace the smith's son had been at for the past year and a half. The thrust-and-set was, by the small specific reading at Lao Wen's eye, at the small specific accumulating reading of a smith's son's slow honest weight at his second year.
Lao Wen — at the small specific instant of the smith's son's small specific weight transferring to the forward foot at the *thrust-and-set's* small specific reach — moved.
He moved by the small specific careful pace of an old officer at sixty, with the small specific accumulating reading of a man whose hands had been at the saber at the watch in Wen-di seventeen and at the small wooden table at every long evening for the past two years. He moved the saber a small specific quarter-circle, by the small specific reading at the lower edge of his blade. He met the smith's son's *thrust-and-set* at the small specific point — *not* at the small specific point Wang Er had been training at, *not* at the small specific extension of the *thrust-and-set's* full reach, but at the small specific instant *just before* the full reach, when the smith's son's small specific weight had committed but the small specific blade had not yet finished.
The two blades met.
The master's *横刀*, by the small specific reading at the meeting, took the smith's son's blade — at the small specific quarter-circle — to the side, and the smith's son's small specific weight transfer carried him past the small specific point of the meeting.
Lao Wen, at the small specific point of the smith's son's passing, did not — by the small specific careful pace — strike. He stood at the small specific second guard, with the saber lowered at the small specific recovered position, while the smith's son went past him by perhaps three paces and stopped, slowly, in the small specific accumulating reading of his own slow honest weight catching up to the small specific having-passed-the-point-of-meeting.
The smith's son turned.
He looked at Lao Wen.
He looked at the saber.
He said in the small low voice: *master. The small specific quarter-circle.*
"Yes, smith's son."
"It was — by the small specific reading at the small specific instant of the meeting — at the small specific point I had not been training for."
"Yes."
"It was at the small specific point *before* the small specific full reach."
"Yes."
"By the small specific reading at the smith's son's eye, the small specific moment was — was the moment the small specific blade had committed but the small specific weight had not yet finished. The small specific quarter-circle took the blade at that small specific moment."
"Yes."
The smith's son nodded.
He came back to the small specific position three paces east of Lao Wen.
"Master. Can — can the small specific quarter-circle be done at any small specific *thrust-and-set?*"
"By the small specific reading at the past forty years of an old officer's old saying — yes. By the small specific reading at the apprentice's small specific accumulating skill — no. The apprentice can, by the small specific reading at his second year, do the small specific quarter-circle at perhaps two times in ten. The apprentice will, by the small specific accumulating reading at the third year, be at four in ten. By the fifth, six. By the seventh, perhaps eight. By the ten years past the seventh, perhaps nine."
He paused.
"That is — by the small specific reading of an old officer's own small specific arithmetic — the small specific accumulating *moment*."
He paused once more.
"It is — by the small specific reading at the small specific moment of the noon yesterday at the small clear ground at the bow — the small specific same accumulating *moment* the big brother is at, at the bow's first shot at the leader. Two times in ten. By the third year, four. By the seventh, eight."
Heizi nodded.
He filed it.
That morning, at the small clear ground in front of the south face, the four young men took turns at the small specific *thrust-and-set* at Lao Wen, who — at the small specific second guard — met each one at the small specific quarter-circle. Wang Er took it three times. Heizi took it three times. The boy took it two. The lame brother — by the small specific accommodation of the bad foot — took it from the small specific defensive holding-place at the corner, where Lao Wen, at the small specific second guard, came at him in the small specific old officer's saying of the *attacker's accumulating reading*, and the lame brother, at the corner, met the saber with the small specific careful work of his spear-and-knife combination.
By the noon, the four young men had each taken Lao Wen's quarter-circle perhaps ten times.
None of them — by the small specific reading at any of the ten — had — at any small specific instant — been able to strike Lao Wen back.
Lao Wen, at the noon, said in the small low voice: *lads. Good. The small specific *moment* is — by the small specific reading at this morning — beginning to be *shown*. By the small specific reading at the small specific accumulating ten thousand repetitions of the next five years, you will, perhaps, at one of those repetitions, take the small specific quarter-circle yourselves. That is — by the small specific reading of an old officer at sixty — the small specific accumulating teaching of the second half of the saber.*
He paused.
"Eat. Rest. The afternoon will be at the small specific reading of the second small specific instrument: the small specific *cut at the recovery*."
The household ate the small noon meal.
That afternoon, Lao Wen — at the small clear ground — taught the small specific *cut at the recovery* by the small specific careful method of an old officer at a small clear ground. He taught it slowly, by the small specific accumulating reading of the same small specific *moment* but at the small specific instant of the *attacker's* recovery from his own thrust. The small specific cut at the recovery was — by the small specific reading at the past two thousand years — the small specific complement to the small specific quarter-circle.
By the dusk, Heizi had taken the *cut at the recovery* perhaps fifteen times. He had — at three of the fifteen — by the small specific reading of Lao Wen at the small specific instant of the meeting — been able, for the first time, to do something close to what Lao Wen had been doing at the small specific quarter-circle.
Lao Wen, at the third instance, said in the small low voice: *lad. There. That. Hold that.*
Heizi held it.
He filed it.
That evening at the small fire, Lao Wen sat at the small wooden stool with the small bound *Daxue* open on the small wooden table.
He read for a quarter hour, slowly, in the small low voice that had — by the small specific reading at the past two years — been the small specific evening voice of his teaching.
He set the book down.
He looked at the four young men.
He said in the small low voice: *lads. The small specific second half of the saber will, by the small specific reading at the past two days, take five years of the small specific accumulating careful repetition. The lads will not, in any of the next five years, be at the small specific full *moment*. The lads will be — by the small specific reading at the next five years — at the small specific accumulating *being shown* of the moment. The full *moment*, by the small specific reading at the past forty years of an old officer's small specific accumulating reading, comes — by the small specific way of the country's accumulating teaching — at the small specific instant the lads stop trying to take it. It is, by the small specific reading at the past forty years, the small specific accumulating reading of the *Daxue*'s small specific saying at the third chapter, which we will, lads, read at the long evenings of this autumn and the next winter.*
He paused.
"That is — that is the small specific naming of the saber's second half."
The brothers nodded.
That night Heizi, at his watch at the small banked fire, sat with his hand once on the saber Wang Er had — at the dusk — laid at the western corner of the small low pad. Heizi did not yet have his own *横刀*; the third saber, by the small specific reading at the past two years' arithmetic, would be the smith's son's third piece — at the small specific accumulating reading at the next two months' bog-iron — and Heizi would, by the small specific reading at the spring of the third year, take it up.
He laid his hand on the small specific shape of the saber's wooden handle.
He felt, at his fingers, the small specific copper-wire spiral the lame brother had wound at the second saber. He felt the small specific careful balance of the smith's son's slightly improved curve at the second piece.
He filed it.
In the small lighter catalog of moments, beside the small specific dusk of the day of not-speaking, he set: *the small specific morning at the small clear ground when Lao Wen showed the small specific quarter-circle for the first time, and the small specific dusk of the small specific cut at the recovery, when Lao Wen said* — there. That. Hold that.
The lighter catalog stood, at this dusk, at perhaps twenty-eight items.
The dark catalog stood at six names.
He sat his watch through.