"Under five, you can't tell which way they're going to go," said his instructor Bernd Cernin, whose marvellous mountain-side manner could not be faulted.
Less so is the current interest in that postmodern catch-all term, Balearic (step forward the marvellous A Mountain Of One and Studio).
For Kelderek, Shardik brings mixed fortunes: in the wake of the Ortelgans' victory, he is installed as a sort of priest-king of Bekla, "a city more marvellous than a mountain made of jewels"; but as the years pass, he becomes increasingly mired in realpolitik and desperate for the incarcerated Shardik to deliver more revelations.
Sean might direct a morally important movie, or design a marvellous bridge, or climb a heretofore unscalable mountain, both to prove his prowess and to deliver medicine to a snowed-in camp on the far slope.
We are meeting at Fleming's, a favourite hangout of his with marvellous views of the city as well as the mountains in the distance.
We'd ride the new chairlift with him to the top of the mountain, and be among the first visitors to the marvellous new ski resort.
It really is a marvellous, happy scene, especially seeing them all lined up on the mountain as I make my way down and pull up alongside Heine.
Rio de Janeiro is almost impossibly marvellous, with its curving white beaches and city neighbourhoods studded with green-shrouded mountains, all facing the blue depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
Marvellous, marvellous, absolutely splendid.
