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He wondered what lay in the far distance where he had never gone The land didn't end beyond those nearby communities Were there hills Elsewhere? Were there vast wind-torn areas like the place he had seen in memory, the place where the elephant died?

"Giver," he asked one afternoon following a day when he had been sent away, "what causes you pain?"

When The Giver was silent, Jonas continued "The Chief Elder toldof memory causes terrible pain And you described for me that the failure of the last new Receiver released painful memories to the community

"But I haven't suffered, Giver Not really" Jonas save me on the very first day But that wasn't so terrible What is it that ave some of it to me, maybe your pain would be less"

The Giver nodded "Lie down," he said "It's time, I suppose I can't shield you forever You'll have to take it all on eventually

"Let , a little fearful

"All right," The Giver said after afaain to a hill, and a sled"

He placed his hands on Jonas's back

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It was h the hill seemed to be a different one, steeper, and the snoas not falling as thickly as it had before

It was colder, also, Jonas perceived He could see, as he sat waiting at the top of the hill, that the snow beneath the sled was not thick and soft as it had been before, but hard, and coated with bluish ice

The sledforward to the breathtaking slide down through the invigorating air

But the runners, this tih the frozen expanse as they had on the other, snow-cushioned hill They skittered sideways and the sled gathered speed Jonas pulled at the rope, trying to steer, but the steepness and speed took control fro of freedom but instead, terrified, was at the mercy of the wild acceleration doard over the ice

Sideways, spinning, the sled hit a bump in the hill and Jonas was jarred loose and thrown violently into the air He fell with his leg twisted under hi jagged edges of ice and when he ca nothing at first but fear

Then, the first wave of pain He gasped It was as if a hatchet lay lodged in his leg, slicing through each nerve with a hot blade In his agony he perceived the word "fire" and felt fla at the torn bone and flesh He tried to rew

He screa, he turned his head and vomited onto the frozen snow Blood dripped from his face into the vomit

"Nooooo!" he cried, and the sound disappeared into the empty landscape, into the wind

Then, suddenly, he was in the Annex roo on the bed His face ith tears

Able todeeply to release the re, where it lay straight on the bed, unbroken The brutal slice of pain was gone But the leg ached horribly, still, and his face felt raw

"May I have relief-of-pain, please?" he begged It was always provided in his everyday life for the bruises and wounds, for a er, a stomach ache, a skinned knee from a fall from a bike There was always a daub of anesthetic ointment, or a pill; or in severe instances, an injection that brought complete and instantaneous deliverance

But The Giver said no, and looked away

Li The sunburn pain had been so small, in coered

It was not unendurable, as the pain on the hill had been Jonas tried to be brave He remembered that the Chief Elder had said he was brave

"Is sowell? Would you like some medication?"

But Jonas re related to his training

And no discussion of his training At the tis, he simply said that he felt tired, that his school lessons had been unusually deroom early, and from behind the closed door he could hear his parents and sister laughing as they gave Gabriel his evening bath

They have never known pain, he thought The realizationleg He eventually slept Again and again he dreauish and the isolation on the forsaken hill

The daily training continued, and now it always included pain The agony of the fractured leg began to seem no more than a mild discomfort as The Giver led Jonas fir of the past Each time, in his kindness, The Giver ended the afternoon with a color-filled reen lake; a e sunset behind e the pain that Jonas was beginning, now, to know

"Why?" Jonas asked him after he had received a torturous er had caused excruciating spas "Why do you and I have to hold these ives us wisdom," The Giver replied "Without wisdo the Committee of Elders when they call upon er?" Jonas groaned His stoh the o," The Giver told him, "before your birth, a lot of citizens petitioned the Committee of Elders They wanted to increase the rate of births They wanted each Birthned four births instead of three, so that the population would increase and there would be"That makes sense"