The Neverending Story

by Michael Ende

‘Tell me who knows, and I’ll leave you in peace forever.’ ‘...

‘But maybe Uyulala in the Southern Oracle knows. She may know. It’s all the same to us.’ ‘How can I get there?’ ‘You can’t get there at all, son. Not in ten thousand days’ journey. Your life is too short. You’d die first. It’s too far. In the south. Much too far. So it’s all hopeless. We told you so in the first place, didn’...

Bastian had propped his head on his hand and was looking thoughtfully into space. ‘Strange,’ he said aloud, ‘that no one in all Fantastica can give the Childlike Empress a new name.’ If it had been just a matter of giving her a name, Bastian could easily have helped her. He was tops at that. But unfortunately he was not in Fantastica, where his talents were needed and would even have won him friends and admirers. On the other hand, he was glad not to be there. Not for anything in the world would he have ventured into such a place as the Swamps of Sadness. And then this spooky creature of darkness that was chasing Atreyu

without his knowing it. Bastian would have liked to warn him, but that was impossible. All he could do was hope, and go on reading.

Better the huntsman Should perish in the swamps, For in the Dead Mountains There is a deep, deep chasm,

Where dwelleth Ygramul the Many, The horror of horrors.

Bastian gave a start. The clock in the belfry struck one. School was over for the day. He heard the shouts and screams of the children running into the corridors from the classrooms and the clatter of many feet on the stairs. For a while there were isolated shouts from the street. And then the schoolhouse was engulfed in silence. The silence descended on Bastian like a great heavy blanket and threatened to smother him. From then on he would be all alone in the big schoolhouse – all that day, all that night, there was no knowing how long. This adventure of his was getting serious. The other children were going home for lunch. Bastian was hungry too, and he was cold in spite of the army blankets he was wrapped

in. Suddenly he lost heart, his whole plan seemed crazy, senseless. He wanted to go home, that very minute. He could just be in time. His father wouldn’t have noticed anything yet. Bastian wouldn’t even have to tell him he had played hooky. Of course, it would come out sooner or later, but there was time to worry about that. But the stolen book? Yes, he’d have to own up to that too. In the end, his father would resign himself as he did to all the disappointments Bastian had given him. Anyway, there was nothing to be afraid of. Most likely his father wouldn’t say anything, but just go and see Mr Coreander and straighten things out. Bastian was about to put the copper-colored book into his satchel. But then he stopped. ‘No,’ he said aloud in the stillness of the attic. ‘Atreyu wouldn’t give up just because things were getting a little rough. What I’ve started I must finish. I’ve gone too far to turn back. Regardless of what may happen, I have to go forward.’ He felt very lonely, yet there was a kind of pride in his loneliness. He was proud of standing firm in the face of temptation. He was a little like Atreyu after all.

Deep Chasm.

Land of the Dead Mountains.

Ygramul.

groping

jangling

Luckdragons

noxious

cloudmonster’s

crevices

chasm,

innumerable

‘Stop! In the name of the Childlike Empress, stop!’

inconceivable

A cry of fear escaped Bastian.

Could she have heard my cry? Bastian wondered in alarm. But that’s not possible.

‘A Twolegs,’

‘Years upon years of hunger, and now two tasty morsels at once! A lucky day for Ygramul!’

‘Do you know this emblem?’

‘Come closer, Twolegs!’

‘Ygramul doesn’t s...

Southern Oracle,

Uyulala

‘Is that the reason for all the places where there is nothing?’ ‘Yes,’

‘So you too know of them. But the Southern Oracle is too long a journey for a lifetime. That’s why I’m asking you for this luckdragon. If he carries me through the air, I may get there before it’s too late.’

‘You’re all wrong, Atreyu Twolegs. We know nothing of the Southern Oracle and nothing of Uyulala, but we do know that this dragon cannot carry you. And even if he were in the best of health, the trip would take so long that the Childlike Empress would die of her illness in the meantime. You must measure your Quest, Atreyu, in terms not of your own life but of hers.’

‘That’s true,’

‘Besides,’

‘Then there’s no hope,’

‘Not for him, not for me, and not for you either, Ygramul.’

‘Oh w...

‘Ygramul would at least have had one good meal. But who says it’s Ygramul’s last meal? She knows a way of getting you to the Southern Oracle in a twinkling. But the question is: Will you like it?’ ‘What is that way?’ ‘That is Ygramul’s secret. The creatures of darkness have their secrets too, Atreyu Twolegs. Ygramul has never revealed hers. And you too must swear you’ll never tell a soul. For it would b...

‘You must let Ygramul bite you.’

‘Ygramul’s poison,’

‘kills within an hour. But to one who has it inside him it gives the power to wish himself in any part of Fantastica he chooses. Imagine if that were known! All Yg...

‘What can I do in ...

‘W...

‘at least it’s more than all the hours remaini...

‘Will you set the luckdragon free if I ask it in the name of the...

‘...

‘You have no right to ask that of Ygramul even if you are wearing AURYN, the Gem. The Childlike Empress takes us all as we are. Tha...

‘Do what you suggested.’

‘To the Southern Oracle!’