I was a child ...

Oh, why was I not a man?
...' Overborne by strain, fatigue, and the weight beyond his years, Kim broke down and sobbed at the lama's feet.
'What a to-do is here!' said the old man gently.

'Thou hast never stepped a hair's breadth from the Way of Obedience.

Neglect me?
Child, I have lived on thy strength as an old tree lives on the lime of a new wall.

Day by day, since Shamlegh down, I have stolen strength from thee.