The Devil and Miss Prym (Paulo Coelho)

Since QM wanted to kob this book that i borrowed, tot I'd better read it before i hand it over to her.... some parts of it struck a chord with me ...

"She just realised there were two things that prevent us from achieving our dreams: believing them to be impossible or seeing those dreams made possible by some sudden turn of the wheel of fortune, when you least expect it. For at that moment, all our fears suddenly surface: the fear of setting off along a life full of new challenges, the fear of losing forever everything that is familiar."

I chose the former :)

"Once upon a time, a man, his horse and his dog were travelling along a road. As they passed by a huge tree, it was struck by lightning, and they all died. But the man failed to notice that he was no longer of this world and so he continued walking along with his two animal companions. Sometimes the dead take a while to register their new situation... It was a long, uphill walk, the sun was beating down on them and they were all sweating and thirsty. At a bend in the road they saw a magnificent marble gateway that led into a gold-paved square, in the centre of which was a fountain overflowing with crystal-clear water. The man went over to the guard at the entrance.

"Good morning."

"Good morning," the guard replied.

"What is this lovely place?"

"It's Heaven."

"Well, I'm very glad to see it, because we're very thristy."

"You're welcome to come in and drink all the water you want." And the guard indicated the mountain.

"My horse and dog are also thirsty."

"I'm terribly sorry," said the guard, "but animals are not allowed in here."

The man was deeply disappointed for he really was very thristy, but he was not prepared to drink alone, so he thanked the guard and went on his way. Exhausted after some trudging uphill, they reached an old gateway that opened on to a dirt road flanked by trees. A man, his hat pulled down over his face, was stretched out in the shade of one of the trees, apparantly asleep.

"Good morning," said the traveller.

The other man greeted him with a nod.

"We're very thirsty - me, my horse and my dog."

"There's a spring over there amongst the rocks. You can drink all you want."

The man, his horse and his dog went to the spring and quenched their thirst. The traveller returned to thank the man.

"Come back whenever you want," he was told.

"By the way, what's this place called?"

"Heaven."

"Heaven? But the guard at the marble gateway told me that was Heaven!"

"That's not Heaven, that's Hell."

The traveller was puzzled. "You shouldn't let others take your name in vain, you know! False information can lead to all kinds of confusion!"

"On the contrary, they do us a great favour, because the ones who stay there are those who have proved themselves capable of abandoning their dearest friends."

think the world needs to work on this

"Not a single voice in the crowd was raised against the choice. The mayor was glad because they had accepted his authority; but the priest knew that this could be a good or a bad sign, because silence does not always meant consent - usually all it meant was that people were incapable of coming up with an immediate response. If someone did not agree, they would later torture themselves with the idea that they had accepted without really wanting to, and the consequences of that could be grave."

something that i see unfolding in ... ...