阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
Once there lived a rich man who wanted to do something for the people of his town.      first he wanted to find out    they deserved his help.
In the centre of the main road into the town, he placed         very large stone. Then he        (hide)behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.
“Who put this stone in the centre of the road? ”said the old man, but he did not try    (remove)the stone. Instead, with some      (difficult)he passed around the stone and continued on his way. Another man came along and did the same thing; then another came, and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove     . Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone,      (say)to himself: “The night      (be)very dark. Some neighbors will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone. ”
Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his       (strong)to move it. How great was his surprise at last! Under the stone, he found a bag of money.