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and I don't want to.'
'Why art thou dying? Art thou injured?'
'I'm lost,' I said, 'and it's snowing, and I have no place to go.'
'Is- this. reason enough to die amongst thy kind?'
'Isn't it enough?' I said, still angry.
'And how long dost thou expect this dying of thine will persist?'
The voice seemed mildly curious.
'I don't know,' I said. 'I've never done it before.'
The wind howled and the snow swirled more thickly around me.
'Boy,' the voice said finally, 'come here to me.'
Where are you?' I said. 'I can't see you.'
Walk around the tower to thy left. Knowest thou thy left hand
from thy right?'
I stumbled to my half-frozen feet angrier than I ever remember
having been.
Well, boy?'
I moved around what I had thought was a pile of rock, my hands
on the stones.
'Thou shalt come to a smooth grey rock,' the voice said,
'some
what taller than thy head and broad as thine arms may reach.'
'All right,' I said, my lips thick with the cold. 'Now what?'
'Tell it to open.'
What?'
'Speak unto the rock,' the voice said patiently, ignoring the fact
that I was congealing in the gale. 'Command it to open.'
'Command? Me?'
'Thou art a man. It is but a rock.'
What do I say?'
'Tell it to open.'
'Open,' I commanded half-heartedly.
'Surely thou canst do better than that.'
'Open!' I thundered.
And the rock slid aside.
'Come in, boy,' the voice said. 'Stand not in the weather like some
befuddled calf.'
The inside of the tower - for such indeed it was - was dimly
lighted by stones that glowed with a pale, cold fire. I thought that
was a fine thing, though I would have preferred it had they been
warmer. Stone steps worn with countless centuries of footfalls
ascended in a spiral into the gloom above my head. Other than that
the chamber was empty~
'Close the door, boy,' the voice said, not unkindly.
'How?' I said.
'How didst thou open it?'
I turned to the gaping rock and quite proud of myself, I
commanded, 'Close!'
And, at my voice, the rock slid shut with a grinding sound that
chilled my blood even more than the fierce storm outside.
'Come up, boy,' the voice commanded.
And so I mounted the stairs, only a little bit afraid. The tower was
very high, and the climbing took me a long time.
At the top was a chamber filled with wonders. I looked at things
such as I had never seen even before I looked at him who had
commanded me and had saved my life. I was very young, and I was