Merlyn put down his knitting and looked at his pupil over the top of his spectacles. "My boy," he said, "you shall be everything in the world, animal, vegetable, mineral, protista or virus, for a ll I care before I have done with you- but you will have to trust to my superior backsight. The tim is not yet ripe for you to be a hawk - for one thing Hob is still in the mews feeding them - so you may as well sit down for the moment and learn to be a human being."
"very well," said the Wart, "if that's a go." And he sat down.
After several minutes he said, "Is one allowed to speak as a human being, or does the thing about being seen and not heard have to apply?"
"Everybody can speak."
"That's good, because I wanted to mention that you have been knitting your beard into the night-cap for three rows now."
"Well, I'll be. . . ."
"I should think the best thing would be to cut off the end of your beard. Shall I fetch some scissors?"
"Why didn't you tell me before?"
"I wanted to see what would happen."
"You run a grave risk, my boy," said the magician, "of being turned into a piece of bread, and toasted."
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