The rishi paused to glance at the mule, which was shuffling to catch the last quarter of the moon.
‘And look around you, Karna. Men are very little interested in which blade is the sharper, but in which blade is the best. Where best is always judged against the end in view, against the object of the appetite. For men are less interested in truth, in the cold trials of metal against nature, nature against metal, than in the trials of their own mettle, through which they mean to make their mark; in which it is the man himself, not truth, which is on trial. Even now, it is not the truth of what I say that drives me on, but my desire to move you. What little desire I have for truth was sated on this question long ago: it is not for my enlightenment that I play this little game with you. Yet K
