Prota 2
A Promise to Keep
Theodoros had died. A few bits of bread and cheese were all that was left of his last supper with the young man. Theodoros generously ate less as he knew that he would not awake in the morning.
The young man gently laid his body aside and pulled the dried, bloodied garment off his corpse to put it on for himself as protection from the scorching sun. He rested both of Theodoros's hands over his bloodied chest, closed both of his eyes and tore a piece of cloth to lay over his face. He then stood up and began ripping out branches from the olive tree that provided them shelter for the last day and night. He piled the branches onto the body until it was completely covered and then collected the remaining food scraps. As he left, he quickly realized that he had forgotten something: the wooden toy horse. He hurried back to retrieve it and continued on his journey.
The young man had promised to keep the three wishes of Theodoros:
The first was to keep talking, as Theodoros explained, “Speech is our greatest song and should continue to be written by all.” The second was to pass the toy horse on as a gift, because “Tradition instils order in a world of beautiful chaos.” The third and final wish was to question everything, including the three wishes themselves, as “The pursuit of Truth should be unbound from everything.”
