novices heard about lu-tze from their very first day - how he 'd gone into some of the most tangled knots of time and unravelled them , how he 'd constantly dodged the traffic on the crossroads of history , how he could divert time with a word and used this to develop the most subtle arts of battle ... ... and here was a skinny little man who was sort of generically ethnic , so that he looked as if he could have come from anywhere , in a robe that had once been white before it fell to all those stains and patches , and the sandals repaired with string .