The Secret of Twah, part VI

The story so far...the farmer has barely gotten through the first two trials of the Rite of Monkhood. He spent a year in a tree, but his answers did not seem to satisfy the doorkeeper. He recovered four golden cups, but took five minutes longer than allotted. Now, he is about to begin his final exam.

The farmer looked through the stack of papers. Five hundred questions. Mostly multiple choice, though there were a few essay questions. Nothing else to do but get started.

The questions were pretty easy for the farmer. Most of them had to do with things he had learned in his time on the mountain. There was a question about how to disperse the tiny bats (light), several questions about the flowers in the field, a few questions about fruits of the trees, and several questions about the habits of roving vagabonds. However, it was question number 500 that tripped him up.

• 500. How do you kill the giant bee?

The farmer thought about this. Obviously, you couldn't just hit it, because it always came back. How did normal bees die? They usually died when they stung people, right? They lost their stinger. And he hadn't seen the giant bee since it stung him, had he? That had to be it. Break off the stinger.

He looked over his answers, confident that he had passed. As soon as his time was up, the door opened, and a hood was thrust over his head. He was walked back through endless corridors, though he couldn't tell if it was the same direction as the first time. Finally, the hood was removed, and he found himself outside the monastery again. He turned to see the eye looking at him from the peephole.

"We will grade the test. Come back in a month for the results." The peephole shut.

The farmer spent most of the next month wandering around the forest. He met several roving vagabonds (who oddly enough only seemed to rove in one place), and had tea with them. Then they beat him up, but it was more for their image than anything else. The farmer also visited the flower field, and was horrified when he was attacked by the giant bee. Its stinger had regrown a bit, not nearly as long and menacing as it was, but still intimidating. Obviously, losing its stinger hadn't killed him. The farmer fought the bee, and after an epic battle that lasted a week, the farmer ripped the bee's wings off. The bee fell to the ground and was still. It was dead.

The month passed, and he returned to the monastery. After he knocked, he waited for five minutes before the peephole finally opened, very slowly.

"You failed," said the voice icily. The farmer stared in shock. The eye regarded him. "Sorry. No monkhood for you. No Secret of Twah. Goodbye." And the peephole closed.

NEXT: A Second Chance