The Neverending Story: A Heart Stopping Allegory

‘May I ask you another question?’ said Atreyu.

‘Of course, she answered with a smile.

‘Why do you need a new name to get well?’

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

‘Maybe the savior doesn’t know the right name to give you.’

‘Oh yes, he does, she assured him.

Again they sat silent.

For lovers of Michael Ende’s Neverending Story, this stunningly profound conversation between the young hunter Atreyu and the Childlike Empress is most likely recognizable. But for those like me, who had never read the book, seen the movie, nor was interested in either, one some background may be in order. This passage I quoted above could serve as material for this entire article, the levels of meaning in these simple words pierce to our hearts. And we read them again and again for we recognize their Truth. 

Like most parishioners in my St. Gall parish, I am always intrigued by Fr. Chris Kanowitz’s homilies. Because I am a writer, his headliner has so captivated me that it served as catalyst for an article.  But it was not until the third time that Fr. Chris mentioned his favorite book, The Neverending Story, the one he read every single year without fail, that I resolved to buy and read it.

Children’s fiction remains just that - a dormant phrase- until a friend takes the initiative to buy, package and mail A Wrinkle in Time or mentions a Neverending Story enough for me to open myself to the wealth of wisdom and sheer unmitigated delight in the realm of fantasy. Not the dystopian fantasy of silly super heroines so popular in our 21^st century, but the ethereal, light-filled and pure fantasy of childhood.

The hero of the Neverending Story is a most unlikely one. Bastian Balthazar Bux is the neglected only son of a widower. To escape his schoolyard persecutors, the fat, lonely and bullied boy breaks into the antiquarian book store owned by Carl Conrad Coreander. There he spies a book left open on the vacant chair where Coreander had been reading it. The sole place in the world where our hero feels solace and peace is in his imagination, a most vivid one, indeed.

Irresistably enthralled with his find, Bastian picks up the book and begins to read. But after a while, he realizes that the store is going to close...Bastian becomes aware that he simply must read this entire story. So...he steals it.

Therein begins a most beautifully written, imaginative and heroic story of the journeys of two boys: Bastian and Atreyu, strangers who wander through the land of Fantastica, becoming aware that saving this endangered land is their mission and theirs alone.

Reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, the Neverending Story is filled with a delightful assortment of delightful creatures like giant centaurs, unicorns dragons and boy heroes. Immensely entertaining when read for fun.

But for those of us who cannot help themselves from seeking more, Ende’s writing is saturated with passages that ring so true, we are flattened. And return to read again. And again.

Here are just two more of my favorites:

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 if it might come true, you suddenly find yourself wishing you had never wished for any such thing.

I doubt that anyone alive does not know the poignant truth of Bastian’s discovery.

But it is this one that brought tears to my eyes. And does once again as I rewrite Ende’s words:

“I did everything wrong,” he (Bastian) said. “I misunderstood everything. Moon Child gave me so much, and all I did with it was harm, harm to myself and to Fantastica.”

Dame Eyeola gave him a long look.

“No,” she said, “I don’t think so. You went the way of wisdom and that is never straight. You went the long way but that was your way. And do you know why? You are one of those kids who can’t go back until they have found the fountain from which springs the Water of Life. And that’s the most secret place in Fantastica. There’s no simple way of getting there. ”

After a short silence, she added: “But every way that leads there is the right one."

Suddenly Bastian began to cry. He didn’t know why. It felt as if a knot in his heart had come open and dissolved into tears.