"Not all who wander around are lost." --- Gandalf
"Fortunately, you hold in your hands a ticket to board the bus to mental freedom." --- From the Amazon Ad for the book Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie : Practical Mind Control Protection for Paranoids by Lyle Zappo. For a more detailed analysis see the discussion in Politically Incorrect Statistics for January 31, 2006.
A young boy traveled across Japan to the school of a famous martial artist. When he arrived at the dojo he was given an audience by the Sensei.
"What do you wish from me?" the master asked. "I wish to be your student and become the finest kareteka in the land," the boy replied. "How long must I study?" "Ten years at least," the master answered."Ten years is a long time," said the boy. "What if I studied twice as hard as all your other students?""Twenty years," replied the master. "Twenty years! What if I practice day and night with all my effort?" "Thirty years," was the master's reply. "How is it that each time I say I will work harder, you tell me that it will take longer?" the boy asked. "The answer is clear. When one eye is fixed upon your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the Way."
Did such relationships ever exist? Probably not, but if they did, but they depended on a very static society. Such stasis is no longer comprehensible, but at times in history it would have made sense. After all, there was a time in Egypt where the social order was completely stable for perhaps a thousand years or more. A person could have the same job that was held by his great-great-great-grandfather, and it would be regarded as part of the normal order of things.
Current culture does not have much rapport with such stasis. Nevertheless, if filtered once, say in an Akido dojo, the stories are charming. We seem to have a deep rooted desire to believe that mastery exists, is learnable, and that the learning is difficult. Usually fewer than three of these conditions are met.
Still, you may want to look at what I suggest for students.