This is ultimately a rather dark story. It involves a solitary human explorer on an alien planet. The human has an alien as an assistant, or he is helping the alien to travel somewhere through tunnels. They encounter several dangers along the way. The story is told from the alien's point of view. He seems amazed at how easily each danger is overcome by the human. The story ends with the human leaving or being called away, possible to a war. The human makes several comments that indicate a philosophy of great power leading to great responsibility. The alien is left with the impression that humans are too strong to act. I read this sometime in the 1970's-late 1980's.
Clarification: The human takes small actions, but refuses to make mass cultural changes or act to improve the life of the aliens, a form of Star Trek's Prime Directive, but less codified. The alien is, as I recall, angered that the human will not act more broadly, or teach them to.
