There was not much work to be got out of Duny. With the few other children of the village he herded goats on the steep meadows above the river-springs and when he was strong enough to push and pull the long bellows-sleeves, his father made him work as smith's boy, at a high cost in blows and whippings. He grew wild, a thriving weed, a tall, quick boy, loud and proud and full of temper.
His father, the bronze-smith of the village, was a grim unspeaking man, and since Duny's six brothers were older than he by many years and went one by one from home to farm the land or sail the sea or work as smith in other towns of the Northward Vale, there was no one to bring the child up in tenderness. The name he bore as a child, Duny, was given him by his mother, and that and his life were all she could give him, for she died before he was a year old. Below the village the pastures and plow lands of the Vale slope downward level below level towards the sea, and other towns lie on the bends of the River Ar above the village only forest rises ridge behind ridge to the stone and snow of the heights. He was born in a lonely village called Ten Alders, high on the mountain at the head of the Northward Vale. His life is told of in the Deed of Ged and in many songs, but this is a tale of the time before his fame, before the songs were made.
Of these some say the greatest, and surely the greatest voyager, was the man called Sparrowhawk, who in his day became both dragonlord and Archmage.
From the towns in its high valleys and the ports on its dark narrow bays many a Gontishman has gone forth to serve the Lords of the Archipelago in their cities as wizard or mage, or, looking for adventure, to wander working magic from isle to isle of all Earthsea. The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards. This story, recommended by librarian Nancy Pearl for fans of Harry Potter, tells the adventures of sorcerer Ged and the difficult tests he must face before he can attempt to re-establish the balance of power in his world. Adventures to Read All Through the Summer
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