“If you are thinking about something that happened a long time ago:Somebody asked you a question and you did not know the answer.That is my name.”

“My Name“I guess you are kind of curious as to who I am, but I am one of those who do not have a regular name. My name depends on you. Just call me whatever is in your mind.If you are thinking about something that happened a long time ago: Somebody asked you a question and you did not know the answer.That is my name.Perhaps it was raining very hard.That is my name.Or somebody wanted you to do something. You did it. Then they told you what you did was wrong—“Sorry for the mistake,”—and you had to do something else.That is my name.Perhaps it was a game you played when you were a child or something that came idly into your mind when you were old and sitting in a chair near the window.That is my name.Or you walked someplace. There were flowers all around.That is my name.Perhaps you stared into a river. There as something near you who loved you. They were about to touch you. You could feel this before it happened. Then it happened.That is my name.”

“I did not hesitate to put the question that came to the tip of my tongue. After all, if you want to know something the best way is to ask.”

“Most people don't know how to ask the right questions. Mondo knew how to ask questions, just at the right time, when you weren't expecting it. People paused for a few seconds, they stopped thinking about themselves and their own business, they thought, and their eyes seemed to blur, because they remembered asking those questions themselves, long ago.”

“Where did you learn to use a gas cooker?” Sam asked.... “And couldn’t you just, you know, use magic or something?” He wriggled his fingers dramatically. Gabriel smiled ... “I’ve been around for a long, long time. Thousands of years, in fact. Don’t you think I would’ve spent at least some of that time here on earth amongst you humans?”

“My name is Daniel, and this is the first volume of my life story, which, hopefully, will be a very long and distinguished one. Who should you read it? Very good question. Maybe because this is your planet, and you have a right to know what's actually happening on it.”