Korridorium

♫ Fabel­beben ♫

171/398

I enter the cor­ri­dor, clutch­ing a loaf of home­made bread. Mis­for­tune dogs my every step, but today, I intend to turn the tide of my des­tiny. I will finally con­front the Fate who has plagued me with dis­as­ters of every kind through­out my life. Will I suc­ceed in win­ning her over? Will my offer­ing soften her heart?

Ignor­ing the count­less side pas­sages, I fol­low the main cor­ri­dor hewn into Mount Dikti. It leads deep into the moun­tain’s heart, where the Fates are said to dwell. But even here, I sense impend­ing doom. She will not leave me in peace, not even here! The famil­iar, hate­ful con­stric­tion tight­ens in my chest, grow­ing stronger and stronger—a sure sign that she intends to make life mis­er­able for me and every­one around me once again.

With what this time? Wild beasts? A flood? A drought fol­lowed by famine? A plague? Pirate raids? Defeat in war?

No.

An earth­quake. The moun­tain roars and shud­ders, throw­ing me to the ground as the bread slips from my grasp. Ter­ror-stricken, I crawl back toward the day­light. I nar­rowly escape the falling debris, and no sooner have I made it out onto the rocky ledge than the cor­ri­dor lead­ing to the Fates col­lapses. I hear screams—or is it the screech of shat­ter­ing stone?

Sud­denly, all is quiet. Only a few small stones trickle down the moun­tain­side. I can hardly believe it: the oppres­sion that has ruth­lessly shad­owed me my entire life has left me. It feels as though it will never return.

Filled with new courage, I begin the jour­ney back to the city—to the palace, to my deformed brother, and to my fam­ily.

Fairy tale type AT 938A: