I'd been waiting so long now that I could no longer remember his face.
I remembered vague details – like the texture of his hair and the colour his eyes but I could no longer collect them all together into a solid image. Once every so often a faceless memory of his voice would surface but it would be gone before I could grasp it.
I think that's what made it so difficult. I couldn't even remember who I was waiting for.
Some days I couldn't even remember my own name.
Most people would ignore me and act as if I was simply a part of the landscape. Some people would cast looks my way of shock or pity or disgust. But they never stopped and talked to me or asked me if I was ok. They never offered help or support. They just kept on walking past me.
In the hundreds of years I had stood waiting patiently by this lake, not one person had ever approached me.
Then one day, the man came, and he noticed me.
He was simply walking past me at first, just like they always did. But then I saw him catch my eye, saw him double take. And suddenly he just stopped in his tracks and smiled at me.
"Merlin?" he asked curiously. "That's you isn't it?"
And all of a sudden I could remember everything. I could remember him! The hundreds of years melted away and I could see his face, his speech, his mannerisms, his relationships, his loves, his fears; I could remember the way he talked to me, the way he shouted my name. I remembered all the times I had saved him and the times that he, in turn, had saved me.
I could remember Arthur.
King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot.
All it took was a small sentence from a stranger wearing a bow tie and instantly, everything came back to me. I felt human again! I could remember who I was. Why it was so important that I stayed right here next to this lake, just as I had done for so many years.
My name is Merlin...I am the manservant of King Arthur...I have magic...and I am waiting for my master to return...