《再见黑塔》

解剖着时间。询问爱情的花瓣俯下嘴唇

如同无限时空中、滴答的钟声。我们别无选择

只能滑入宇宙那不详的颤抖，如同滑下一道黄昏的斜坡

就这样，群星依旧在头顶赏乐，沿途将是它们优雅的倦容。

洛奇•马丁内斯

近日，笔者注意到《矿工每周报》存在打官腔、不说人话等令人担忧的现象，恐是收了克里珀堡的冬城盾。

从我记事起，第七街区从街头到巷尾都是莱姆士汀的财产，因此我从小都在与孤独这头最可怕的猛兽进行着光荣的搏斗。

说来奇怪，我只记得当初和他一言不合，决定今生今世不再搭理对方。就在不夜侯里，偶然间听到旧友招呼的声音，我便将那些旧时不悦抛之脑后了…

在混沌未分的荒原上，一位母亲问她的孩子：「是不是你弄坏了你爸的弓箭？」那孩子回答：「不是的，肯定是别人弄坏的。」
母亲生气地说：「我们的山洞里根本就没来过别人。如果不是你弄坏的，就只能是我了。」孩子继续回答：「是小魔怪干的。我亲眼看到它弄坏了爸爸的弓箭，但只有小孩子才看得到小魔怪，所以妈妈没看见。」
母亲被气笑了：「那你倒是说说看，这小魔怪为什么要弄坏你爸的弓箭？」孩子坦然地说：「父亲踩坏了它的巢穴吧。你们大人看不见小魔怪，很容易弄坏他们的巢穴。」
这段对话很可能发生过，但也可能从未发生过。但不管怎么说，它所指涉的真理确凿无疑——最初的故事诞生于孩童的幻想。
此后亿万年间，这些幻想将会持续不断地改变这个世界。

「有了故事，我们得以从现实逃脱。」

Whimsy Wax

In the primal wilds, a mother asked her child, "Did you break your father's bow?" The child answered, "No, it must have been someone else."
"No one else has ever stepped foot in this cave," the mother said. "If it wasn't you, then it must have been me." The child continued, "A gremlin did it. I saw it with my own eyes, but only kids can see them, so that's why you didn't."
The mother laughed. "Fine then, why would a gremlin break your father's bow?" The child said calmly, "Father probably stepped on its nest. You adults can't see gremlins, so you're always breaking their homes."
Whether this talk actually happened is irrelevant. The truth it holds is undeniable — the first stories were born from the imagination of a child.
For billions of years since, those same fantasies have continued to change the world.

"With stories, we are able to escape from reality."

还记得那个历史掌故吗？军官指着揭露暴行的画作质问道：「这是你画的吗？」
画家笑着回答：「不，这是你们画的。」
一切试图表现现实的艺术，都不能临摹现实。因为现实粗浅的表象无法涵盖其非物质的深刻意涵。
就像一位死去的战士，如果你只去临摹遗容，那便只是世间无数死者中平凡的另一个。但你若在现实之上探索，找到那些肉眼不可见的崇高、勇气、愤怒、不甘，那才算是真正贴近了属于这位战士的现实。
唯有那样，人们才会知道，这位战士并不只是世间无数死者中平凡的另一个，此人曾使有山、有水、有房屋的地方，也能有人烟。

「有了故事，我们得以与邪恶对抗。」

Remember the old story? An officer pointed at a painting that exposed his atrocities and asked, "Did you paint this?"
The artist smiled and replied, "No, you did."
Art that tries to represent reality cannot simply copy it. The shallow surface of reality can never capture its profound, intangible essence.
Consider a fallen soldier. If you only paint their likeness, they are just one more face among the nameless dead. But if you look past the surface to find the invisible honor, courage, rage, and regret, that is when you truly reach their reality.
Only then will people know that this soldier was not just another statistic. This was someone who once brought the pulse of life to the mountains, the waters, and the homes they left behind.

"With stories, we are able to fight back against evil."

所有值得被严肃对待的故事，都共享同一个主题：「人如何渡过只此一次的人生。」
生命是如此短暂，纵是圣者贤人也免不了被突兀地抛掷在人世间，毫无准备地经历一段人生。也因此，人们总也无法很好地渡过一生，难免有遗憾、难免有虚度。
但好在我们有故事。在故事中，创作者与阅读者得以共享另一段人生；在故事中，人的生命得以被持续地延长；在故事中，我们在有限的囚笼中抵达不朽。

「有了故事，我们得以活上千次万次。」

Lucid Awl

Every story worth taking seriously shares the same theme: "How to live the one life we're given."
Life is so short that even the greatest sages are suddenly tossed into this world, forced to experience a lifetime without any preparation. That is why no one ever lives a perfect life. There are always regrets, always moments wasted.
But luckily, we have stories. In stories, creators and readers share a different life. In stories, the human experience is continuously extended. And in stories, we can reach immortality from within our finite cages.

"With stories, we are able to live a thousand lifetimes."