Once upon a time in a far away land there lived a young girl name Lara.  Lara lived in poor village along the banks
 of the Tiger River.  The village was composed of a few dozen huts with walls of mud brick and roofs of grass.  The people
 were mostly farmers.  They had orchards of apples and peaches.  They had fields of corn and beans.  Pumpkins and squash 
grew around the edges of their homes. 

    Lara was ten years old.  She lived with her grandmother.  Her parents had died from a fever many long years ago. 
 Lara and granny tended their garden, wove baskets and made pots.  They wove cloth, sewed clothing and baked bread.  
Lara had a friend name Ben who was a Shepard.  He lived with his family on the outskirts of town where the sheep could
 graze.  Lara liked to go with Ben when he drove the sheep to far pastures.  She loved to think of traveling to distant
 lands.  The old village storyteller would speak of wondrous places beyond the boundaries of their little land.

    Lara and Ben would often lie on their backs and look up at the clouds and dream of where they would go and what they
 would do if they were on the road free as birds.
    "I want to sail to the ends of the earth", said Ben, "That would be the most wonderful thing for me", "To be like a 
hero out of legend", "To fight pirates, find treasure, slay dragons", "If only I could get away from these foul smelling
 sheep".  
    Lara laughed and pounced on him.  "Maybe these sheep are really baby dragons", "Maybe they transform later into their
 true form", and "One day they will grow enormous and eat you up in one big bite". "You had best be careful not to insult
 them to much".
    Ben and Lara laughed and wrestled and rolled on the grass.  When they had their fill they lay quiet and thoughtful. 
 "Maybe we should run away together and seek adventure", said Ben.  Lara bit her lip gently.  "And who would look after
 my granny", "And who would look after your sheep".  
    Ben got up and stretched and yawned.  "Who looks after them now", "Not me I'm thinking".  "The fates are in control",
 "The gods look down from their heaven and play us like pawns".  Lara stood up now.  "Don't you think it matters what you 
do and think?"  "Are we just puppets to be toyed with?", "Don't you think we should work hard and do what it right?"
    "Sure we should do what is right", said Ben, "We just can't help doing it is all".  "I propose a wager", "I'll bet you
 can't prove in a meaningful way that you have to power to do a free act", "By this I mean you must perform some act that
 is completely of your own volition", "You must not be influenced by any outside agency". "Not even your granny".
    "How can you do that", said Lara,  "We are always influenced by outside agencies", "We need air to breath and water
 to drink don't we?".
    "Precisely", said Ben, "We can't even exist independent of everything else", "So how can we act independently if our
 intrinsic being is dependent".  "You got me there" said Lara. "It looks like you have discovered an iron clad argument 
in the free will versus pre-determination dichotomy", "Lets go eat lunch".