The priests were befuddled for none could look upon their new charge and all cringed when he came into a room. The other students shrieked in fear and would flee his presence. Amongst the slaves, even the eunichs would refuse to teach him how to properly bathe or dress. The child would be banished to unoccupied sections of the temnple for fear that pilgrams woukd see him and flee and so things went for years. With each passing day, the isolated child grew more bitter and cold and the monks grew ever more fearful that the sea princess would return and see their failure and in her anger devour them.
And so it seemed that this would be how the child's life would pass until fate stepped in. A carpenter from the village was set a work in the temple. Seeing the child, the carpenter was frightened, but; instead of fleeing he set about and carved a wodden mask for the boy and gave it to the monks for the child. To the monk's dismay. the child refused to wear the mask for he had long since stopped caring for the feelings of others and grown a stony heart. The Monks would not be undone. They brought the mask to their fattest monk. And he was indeed great in size for his father had been a great whale and his mother a massive bear from an island in the north. He swept the child up in his arms and threw him to the ground. He knelt upon the chid's chest and pinned him with all his weight. Unable to see the hideous face of the child from beneath his massive belly, the monk demanded the child yield. The child refused and continued to struggle until the great weight of the monk became too painful to endure. Finally the child yielded and the wooden mask was fastened to the child's face.
And in this way, the hideous faced child's spirit was brought to order and thus began his education.
