Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker

by Gregory Maguire

Mostly his mind wandered. But it didn’t have anywhere special to wander to.

A fellow needed two names, one for affection and the other for civic duty.

Luck and grace: an unmatching pair of boots with which to address a long dusty road.

All paths lead to the same place, and that place is whatever comes next.

The world was a set of alternations, resistance and persistence, writ up in lake and the distant Alpine peaks of eastern Switzerland. In fact, the world was no easier to understand than Bach.

“I’m not slow.” “Well, you’re not hasty,”

I’m not good, I’m just quiet,

“Lost is not an address, it’s not a permission to fail, it’s not an excuse.”

You might forget a story, but you can never unhear a story.

I would leave me were I him. I would leave myself if I could.”

“The person who asks questions like yours always gets to choose the terms,”