Your father will never be able to leave his kingdom for the sake of seeing his little boy . '' `` Well , but , dear mother , '' asked the boy , `` why can not I go to this famous city of Athens , and tell King Aegeus that I am his son ? '' `` That may happen by and by , '' said Aethra . `` Be patient , and we shall see . You are not yet big and strong enough to set out on such an errand . '' `` And how soon shall I be strong enough ? '' Theseus persisted in inquiring . `` You are but a tiny boy as yet , '' replied his mother . `` See if you can lift this rock on which we are sitting ? '' The little fellow had a great opinion of his own strength . So , grasping the rough protuberances of the rock , he tugged and toiled amain , and got himself quite out of breath , without being able to stir the heavy stone . It seemed to be rooted into the ground . No wonder he could not move it ; for it would have taken all the force of a very strong man to lift it out of its earthy bed . His mother stood looking on , with a sad kind of a smile on her lips and in her eyes , to see the zealous and yet puny efforts of her little boy . She could not help being sorrowful at finding him already so impatient to begin his adventures in the world . `` You see how it is , my dear Theseus , '' said she . `` You must possess far more strength than now before I can trust you to go to Athens , and tell King Aegeus that you are his son . But when you can lift this rock , and show me what is hidden beneath it , I promise you my permission to depart . '' Often and often , after this , did Theseus ask his mother whether it was yet time for him to go to Athens ; and still his mother pointed to the rock , and told him that , for years to come , he could not be strong enough to move it . And again and again the rosy-checked and curly-headed boy would tug and strain at the huge mass of stone , striving , child as he was , to do what a giant could hardly have done without taking both of his great hands to the task .
Meanwhile the rock seemed to be sinking farther and farther XXXXX the ground .
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