The Tale of the Unknown

"A man went to knock at the king''s door and said, 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 favours (favours being offered 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 and what cargo it was found to be carrying the reader will discover as this short narrative unfolds. And at the end it will be clear that what night appear to be a children''s fable is in fact a wry, witty Philosophical Tale that would not have displeased Voltaire or Swift.

Product details

• Authors: Jose Saramago, José Saramago
• Assisted by: Peter Sis (Illustration), Sis Peter (Illustration), Margaret Jull Costa (Translation)
• Publisher: Harvill Secker
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 18.11.1999
• EAN: 9781860466908
• ISBN: 978-1-86046-690-8
• No. of pages: 48
• Dimensions: 130 mm x 198 mm x 5 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Portugiesische SchriftstellerInnen: Werke (div.), Fiction in translation, Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary