Bastian gave a start. Something incredible had happened. Thus far he had been able to visualize every incident of The Neverending Story. Some of them, it couldn't be denied, were very strange, but they could somehow be explained. He had formed a clear picture of Atreyu riding the luckdragon, of the Labyrinth, and the Ivory Tower.
These pictures, however, existed only in his imagination. But when he came to the Magnolia Pavilion, he saw the face of the Childlike Empress - if only for a fraction of a second, for the space of a lightning flash. And not only in his thoughts, but with his eyes! It wasn't his imagination, of that Bastian was sure. He had even seen details that were not mentioned in the description, such as her eyebrows, two fine lines that might have been drawn with Indian ink, arching over her golden eyes, or her strangely elongated earlobes, or the way her head tilted on her slender neck. Bastian knew that he had never in all his life seen anything so beautiful as this face. And in that same moment he knew her name: Moonchild. Yes, beyond a doubt, that was her name.
And Moonchild had looked at him - at him, Bastian Balthazar Bux. But she had looked at him with an expression that he could not interpret. Had she too been taken by surprise? Had there been a plea in that look? Or longing? Or... what could it be?
As Bastian read this and listened to the deep, dark voice of The Old Man of Wandering Mountain, a roaring started up in his ears and he saw spots before
his eyes.
Why, this was all about him! And it was Te Neverendintg Story. He, Bastian, was a character in the book which until now, he thought he was reading. And Heaven knows who else might be reading it and the exact same time, also supposing himself to be just another reader.
And now Bastian was afraid. He felt unable to breathe, as though shut up in an invisible prison. He didn't want to read anymore. He wanted to stop.
And there was nothing Bastian could do about it. He held his hands over his ears, but it was no use, because the voice came from inside him. He tried desperately to tell himself - though he knew it wasn't true - that the resemblance of his story was some crazy accident.
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.
That is exactly how it was with Bastian.
Now that he was in danger of getting his wish, he would have liked best to run away. But since you can't run "away" unless you have some idea of where you're at, Bastian did something perfectly absurd. He turned over on his back like a beetle and played dead. He made himself as small as possible and pretended he
wasn't there.
And so it would go on forever, for any change in the sequence of events was unthinkable. Only he, Bastian, could do anything about it. And he would have to do something, or else he too would be included in the circle. It seemed to him that this story had been repeated a thousand times, as though there were no before and after and everything had happened at once. Now he realized why the Old Man's hand trembled. The Circle of Eternal Return was an end without end.
Bastian was unaware of the tears that were running down his cheeks. Close to fainting, he suddenly cried out, "Moonchild!"
~ The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
This brilliant masterpiece and modern classic has captivated millions of readers worldwide since it was published three decades ago. It was adapted for the screen in the 80's, but the film was before its time and didn't serve the book justice, which includes a beautiful finale at The Fountain of The Water of Life.
The Neverending Story begins with a boy named Bastian who reads the same book and becomes the hero of it by giving The Childlike Empress of Fantasia a new name before The Nothing destroys it. Bastian enters Fantasia where Moonchild grants him a wish, but all his realities become fantasies and he must cross the threshold at The Fountain of The Water of Life to return to the real world.
The fountain above is located at Javits Convention Center in New York City. It
has been dry since it was built 20 years ago. But the state is spending more than
a billion dollars to install a subway station to Times Square and renovate the convention center where I am looking for a producer for The Neverending Story
on stage. Both an opera and ballet score have been composed by Siegfried Matthus. And along with the Kennedy/Marshall Co. and Appian Way, Warner Bros. Pictures is producing The Neverending Story as a modern feature film with an original soundtrack.
"We have not even to risk the adventure alone. For the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. Where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence. Where we had thought to be alone,
we shall be with all the world."
~ Joseph Campbell
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I am the Alpha and The Omega,
The First and The Last,
The Beginning and The End.
Revelation 22:13
