The Night of Wishes by Michael Ende

Author:Michael Ende
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781681372488
Publisher: New York Review Books
Published: 2017-07-05T04:00:00+00:00

Mauricio sat down and looked up at him. “Ramona? Why Ramona all of a sudden?”

“Because she is farthest away,” said the woebegone Jacob, “and that’s where I’d most like to be now.”

“You know,” Mauricio said after a short pause, “I would also much rather wander through foreign lands and melt all hearts with my songs. But if those two villains destroy the world tonight with their magic, what kind of life will be left for a minnesinger, if there is any life left at all?”

“So what?” croaked Jacob angrily. “What can we do about it? We two lousy, pitiful creatures, of all animals? Why doesn’t anyone else bother—up there in heaven, for example? There’s one thing I’d like to know: why do the bad guys in the world always have so much power and the good guys never have anything—except maybe rawmatism? It’s not fair, kitty. No, it’s just not fair! I’m sick of it. I’m going on strike, that’s all there is to it.”

And with that he stuck his head under his wing so as no longer to see or hear anything.

This time it was quiet for such a long time that he finally peeked out from under his wing and said, “The least you could do is contradict me.”

“I must think about what you said before,” said Mauricio. “With me it’s just the other way around. My great-grandmother Mia, who was a very wise old feline, always used to say: If you can get excited about something, then do it—and if you can’t, then go to sleep. I have to be able to get excited, which is why I always try to picture the best of all possibilities and then to do all I can to achieve it. But unfortunately, I haven’t as much experience and common sense as you, or else I would most certainly come up with a way out of this.”

The raven pulled his head from under his wing, opening his beak and closing it again. This unexpected compliment coming from a famous artist of ancient, noble lineage left him speechless. No such thing had ever happened to him in his entire, shady raven’s life.

He cleared his throat. “Hm, well,” he croaked, “one thing’s for sure, nothing is going to happen as long as we’re sitting in here. We’ve got to get out. The question is how. The door is locked. Any ideas?”

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