The young man’s powerful emotions touched the family. They smiled. «You laugh at me,» the young man said, taking the oldest daughter’s hand. «You think my ambition is silly.» She was very shy, and her face became pink with embarrassment. «It is better to sit here by the fire,» she whispered, «and be happy, even if nobody thinks of us.» Her father stared into the fire. «I think there is something natural in what the young man says. And his words have made me think about our own lives here. It would have been nice if we had had a little farm down in the valley. Some place where we could see our mountains without being afraid they would fall on our heads. I would have been respected by all our neighbors. And, when I had grown old, I would die happy in my bed. You would put a stone over my grave so everyone would know I lived an honest life.» «You see!» the young man cried out. «It is in our nature to want a monument. Some want only a stone on their grave. Others want to be a part of everyone’s memory. But we all want to be remembered after we die!» A sound, rising like the roar of the ocean, shook the house. Young and old exchanged one wild look. Then the same words burst from all their lips. «The slide! The slide!» They rushed away from the house, into the darkness, to the secret spot the father had built to protect them from the mountain slide. The whole side of the mountain came rushing toward the house like a waterfall of destruction. But just before it reached the little house, the wave of earth divided in two and went around the family’s home. Everyone and everything in the path of the terrible slide was destroyed, except the little house. The next morning, smoke was seen coming from the chimney of the house on the mountain. Inside, the fire was still burning. But no one ever discovered who the stranger was. His name and way of life remain a mystery.