Жозе Сарамаго: Tale of the Unknown Island

A man went to knock at the king s door and said to him, Give me a boat. The king s house had many other doors, but this was the door for petitions. Since the king spent all his time sitting by the door for favors (favors being done to the king, you understand), whenever he heard someone knocking on the door for petitions, he would pretend not to hear . . .» Why the petitioner required a boat, where he was bound for, and who volunteered to crew for him the reader will discover as this short narrative unfolds. And at the end it will be clear that if we thought we were reading a children s fable we were wrong-we have been reading a love story and a philosophical tale worthy of Voltaire or Swift.