Can someone name this story

[johnsemlak]

Hey

I was trying to remember a fantasy short story that I read in a literature book in junior high school. In the story, there is a village healer who has lived a normal life in the village but has mysterious origins. One day a wizard arrives from out of town and seeks out the healer. He claims that the healer is in fact not what he says, but is in fact one of the world's most powerful wizards, and he has come to challenge him. The visitor goes on to say that he can in fact defeat the 'healer' because he knows his name. He utters the name. The healer changes into a huge dragon, breathes fire on the wizard, and then simply flies away, never to be seen again.

Anyone remember this story, and the author?

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Sounds like it might have been one of the Earthsea books, but it's been a long time since I read them (like, 25 years). I remember wizards, dragons, and true-names, anyway.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I think I recall reading the same story in one of my literature classes a very long time ago. But I don't remember the name either.

 

[hafrogman]

Sounds like it might have been one of the Earthsea books, but it's been a long time since I read them (like, 25 years). I remember wizards, dragons, and true-names, anyway.

Working on the assumption that Rodrigo was right I found this. . .

The Rule of Names is perhaps the first story that explored the essential characteristic of how magic works and is controlled in Earthsea — through the knowledge of the "true name" of everything. The story is about the quest of the present Sealord of Pendor to find the wealth that was plundered and carried away by a dragon many years ago. During his quest he finds that somebody killed the dragon and made off with the treasure. The Sealord finally comes to Sattins Island suspecting that its bumbling wizard Mr. Underhill now has the treasure. The Sealord is confident of defeating Underhill as he knows the true name of the wizard who defeated the dragon and got away with the treasure. He uses the true name to summon and bind Underhill only to meet the most unpleasant surprise in his life.

Sound right?

That would be Ursula K. Le Guin