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some reason. The rock, as I say, was quite large, and it was white, and it was very, very heavy. It would not move, though I heaved and pushed and strained until I thought my limbs would crack. Finally, in a fury, I concentrated my strength and all my will upon the boulder and grunted one single word. ‘Move!’ I said.
    And it moved! Not grudgingly with its huge inert weight sullenly resisting my strength, but quite easily, as if the touch of one finger would be sufficient to send it bounding across the vale.
    â€˜Well, boy,’ my Master said, startling me by his nearness, ‘I had wondered how long it might be ere this day arrived.’
    â€˜Master,’ I said, very confused, ‘what happened? How did the great rock move so easily?’
    â€˜It moved at thy command, boy. Thou art a man, and it is only a rock.’ Where had I heard that before?
    â€˜May other things be done so, Master?’ I asked, thinking of all the hours I’d wasted on meaningless tasks.
    â€˜ All things may be done so, boy. Put but thy Will to that which thou wouldst accomplish and speak the Word. It shall come to pass even as thou wouldst have it. Much have I marveled, boy, at thine insistence upon doing all things with thy back instead of thy will. I had begun to fear for thee, thinking that perhaps thou wert defective.’
    Suddenly, all the things I had ignored or shrugged off or been too incurious even to worry about fell into place. My Master had indeed been creating things for me to do, hoping that I would eventually learn this secret. I walked over to the rock and laid my hands on it again. ‘Move,’ I commanded, bringing my Will to bear on it, and the rock moved as easily as before.
    â€˜Does it make thee more comfortable touching the rockwhen thou wouldst move it, boy?’ my Master asked, a note of curiosity in his voice.
    The question stunned me. I hadn’t even considered that possibility. I looked at the rock. ‘Move,’ I said tentatively.
    â€˜Thou must command, boy, not entreat.’
    â€˜Move!’ I roared, and the rock heaved and rolled off with nothing but my Will and the Word to make it do so.
    â€˜Much better, boy. Perhaps there is hope for thee yet.’
    Then I remembered something. Notice how quickly I pick up on these things? I’d been moving the rock which formed the door to the tower with only my voice for some five years now. ‘You knew all along that I could do this, didn’t you, Master? There isn’t really all that much difference between this rock and the one that closes the tower door, is there?’
    He smiled gently. ‘Most perceptive, boy,’ he complimented me. I was getting a little tired of that ‘boy.’
    â€˜Why didn’t you just tell me?’ I asked accusingly.
    â€˜I had need to know if thou wouldst discover it for thyself, boy.’
    â€˜And all these chores and tasks you’ve put me through for all these years were nothing more than an excuse to force me to discover it, weren’t they?’
    â€˜Of course,’ he replied in an off-hand sort of way. ‘What is thy name, boy?’
    â€˜Garath,’ I told him, and suddenly realized that he’d never asked me before.
    â€˜An unseemly name, boy. Far too abrupt and commonplace for one of thy talent. I shall call thee Belgarath.’
    â€˜As it please thee, Master.’ I’d never ‘thee’d’ or ‘thou’d’ him before, and I held my breath for fear that he might be displeased, but he showed no sign that he had noticed. Then, made bold by my success, I went further. ‘And how may I call thee , Master?’ I asked.
    â€˜I am called Aldur,’ he replied, smiling.
    I’d heard the name before, of course, so I immediately fell on my face before him.
    â€˜Art thou ill, Belgarath?’
    â€˜Oh, great and most powerful God,’ I said, trembling, ‘forgive mine ignorance. I should