Books In English "City Of Illusions" Ursula K. Le Guin | Page 123

Werel—sole survivors of the great journey, returning after centuries to tell
Werel how, on dark barbaric Earth, the Shing bravely hold the torch of
civilization alight. The Shing who are no man's Enemy, the self-sacrificing
Lords, the wise Lords who are really men of Earth, not aliens or
conquerors. We will tell Werel all about the friendly Shing. And they'll
believe us. They will believe the lies we believe. And so they will fear no
attack from the Shing; and they will not send help to the men of Earth, the
true men who await deliverance from the lie."
"But prech Ramarren, those are not lies," Orry said.
Falk looked at him a minute in the diffuse, bright, shifting light. His
heart sank, but he said finally, "Will you do the service I asked of you?"
"Yes," the boy whispered.
"Without telling any other living being what it is?"
"Yes."
"It is simply this. When you first see me as Ramarren—if you ever
do—then say to me these words: Read the first page of the book."
"'Read the first page of the book,'" Orry repeated, docile.
There was a pause. Falk stood feeling himself encompassed by
futility, like a fly bundled in spider-silk.
"Is that all the service, prech Ramarren?"
"That's all."
The boy bowed his head and muttered a sentence in his native tongue,
evidently some formula of promising. Then he asked, "What should I tell
them about the bracelet communicator, prech Ramarren?"
"The truth—it doesn't matter, if you keep the other secret," Falk said.
It seemed, at least, that they had not taught the boy to lie. But they had not
taught him to know truth from lies.
Orry took him back across the bridge on his slider, and he re-entered
the shining, mist-walled palace where Estrel had first brought him. Once
alone in his room he gave way to fear and rage, knowing how he was
utterly fooled and made helpless; and when he had controlled his anger
still he walked the room like a bear in a cage, contending with the fear of
death.
If he besought them, might they not let him live on as Falk, who was
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