The Neverending Story

by Michael Ende

Some think their only hope of happiness lies in being somewhere else, and spend their whole lives traveling from place to place.

Atreyu was astonished. ‘Artax,’ he said. ‘You’ve never spoken like this. What’s the matter? Are you sick?’ ‘Maybe I am,’ said Artax. ‘With every step we take, the sadness grows in my heart. I’ve lost hope, master. And I feel so heavy, so heavy. I can’t go on!’ ‘But we must go on!’ cried Atreyu. ‘Come along, Artax!’ He tugged at the bridle, but Artax stood still. He had sunk in up to his belly. And he made no further effort to extricate himself. ‘Artax!’ cried Atreyu. ‘You mustn’t let yourself go. Come. Pull yourself out or you’ll sink.’ ‘Leave me, master,’ said the little horse. ‘I can’t make it. Go on alone. Don’t bother about me. I can’t stand the sadness anymore. I want to die!’ Desperately Atreyu pulled at the bridle, but the horse sank deeper and deeper. When only his head emerged from the black water, Atreyu took it in his arms. ‘I’ll hold you, Artax,’ he whispered. ‘I won’t let you go under.’ The little horse uttered one last soft neigh. ‘You can’t help me, master. It’s all over for me. Neither of us knew what we were getting into. Now we know why they are called the Swamps of Sadness. It’s the sadness that has made me so heavy. That’s why I’m sinking. There’s no help.’

‘Then I beg you to go away. I don’t want you to see my end. Will you do me that favor?’

‘Sakes alive!’ Morla gurgled. ‘We’re old, son, much too old. Lived long enough. Seen too much. When you know as much as we do, nothing matters. Things just repeat. Day and night, summer and winter. The world is empty and aimless. Everything circles around. Whatever starts up must pass away, whatever is born must die. It all cancels out, good and bad, beautiful and ugly. Everything’s empty. Nothing is real. Nothing matters.’

When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.

your turn comes to jump into the Nothing, you too will be a nameless servant of power, with no will of your own. Who knows what use they will make of you? Maybe you’ll help them persuade people to buy things they don’t need, or hate things they know nothing about, or hold beliefs that make them easy to handle, or doubt the truths that might save them. Yes, you little Fantastican, big things will be done in the human world with your help, wars started, empires founded …’

‘Only the right name gives beings and things their reality,’ she said. ‘A wrong name makes everything unreal. That’s what lies do.’

In that moment Bastian made a profound discovery. You wish for something, you’ve wanted it for years, and you’re sure you want it, as long as you know you can’t have it. But if all at once it looks as though your wish might come true, you suddenly find yourself wishing you had never wished for any such thing.

‘You must go from wish to wish. What you don’t wish for will always be beyond your reach. That is what the words ‘far’ and ‘near’ mean in Fantastica. And wishing to leave a place is not enough. You must wish to go somewhere else and let your wishes guide you.’

means that you must do what you really and truly want. And nothing is more difficult.’

And that was very important to the little boy, because up until then he had always wanted to be someone other than he was, but he didn’t want to change.’