Издания и произведения

"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…

Um dia, um homem dirigiu-se à porta do rei para pedir um barco, mas aquela era a porta das petições, e não foi recebido pelo rei. Depois de muita insistência e de a muitas portas bater pelos meandros da burocracia real lá conseguiu que o rei lhe desse , finalmente, o tão desejado barco. A mulher da limpeza do palácio real foi a única tripulação que arranjou e, depois de apetrechado e limpo o barco, dormiram essa noite no cais. Na manhã seguinte baptizaram a embarcação e, pela hora do meio-dia, com a maré, a Ilha Desconhecida fez-se enfim ao mar, à procura de si mesma.

A wonderful and witty book, part folk fable, part philosophical tale, by the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature and the greatest Portuguese writer of his time. "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…