FAMOUS LAST WORDS
FIVE FABLES
by Paul Mann
1. THE MESSENGER
An old man comes from far away. He says: The King has summoned you. Take this packet sealed with red wax, take these directions and leave at once for the capitol of X. He says goodbye to his wife and young son. There was a port, then an uncharted ocean. He floated down rivers and crossed vast deserts. Dense forests and mountain passes choked with falls of rock and ice. At the edge of the steppes he fell ill with fever, and lay for weeks dreaming in a village where no one spoke his tongue. He was taken for a spy and held for a year in a castle keep. On an island he fell in love with a widow and lived there for years till he awakened again to his task. He was captured by nomads and sold as a slave but escaped and barely survived another desert. He slept in haystacks and trees, he foraged for food, he starved. Robbers and demons rose up from the earth. More and more he wondered would he ever arrive. People were kind or cruel and no lesson could be drawn from the way he was treated. He could no longer remember the face of his wife, or the son who hated him. Duty drove him, then hope, then despair, then only habit. Finally he sees: There is no King, no capitol of X. Only a great circle. He comes to a door: His knock is answered by a man wearing what once was his face, and he says: The King has summoned you. Take this packet and these directions, and leave at once for the capitol of X.