A perfect heart-warming metaphor for the old ’normal’.
At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, was walking through the park in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll. She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully.
The next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a letter "written" by the doll saying "please don't cry. I took a trip to see the world. I will write to you about my adventures." Thus began a story which continued until the end of Kafka's life.
During their meetings, Kafka would read the carefully written letters 'from' the doll, all about her adventures and conversations, that the girl found adorable.
Kafka brought back the doll (he bought one) that had returned to Berlin. "It doesn't look like my doll at all," said the girl. Kafka handed her another letter in which the doll wrote: "my travels have changed me." The little girl hugged the new doll and happily took her home.
A year later Kafka died. Many years later, the now-adult girl found a letter inside the doll. In the tiny letter, signed by Kafka, he wrote: "Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way."
Know someone who would like this lovely story?: It's quick and easy to forward any pages you like by clicking on your preferred icon below (facebook or email, for example) and hey presto, off it goes....