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Despair and Hope

Lanra's Tower

Once, long ago, there was a man who lived in a tower, his name was Lanra. Lanra's tower was set in the middle of a dense forest. Inside the tower thick carpets covered the floors and beautiful tapestries hung in every room. There were many books to read so that Lanra never grew bored; forest animals would often come to visit Lanra in his tower so he was never lonely. Sometimes Lanra would wander in the forest, always returning to his tower at night.
The tower was so tall that, standing on its top, Lanra could see out over the top of the forest. In the far distance Lanra could just see another tower and sometimes, on the rooftop of the other tower, Lanra would see a beautiful princess her golden hair shimmering in the sunlight. Lanra imagined he could see her smiling at him over the great distance.
Although Lanra was happy in his tower, he wished he could meet the princess. Lanra often searched the forest for the other tower but somehow he would only find the way back to his own home.
One day as Lanra searched forest, a flickering spirit of the wood appeared before Lanra.
"Lanra" it said, "you lead a comfortable and happy life in your tower, is there anything more you would wish for?"
At this Lanra's heart leapt.
"I wish I could escape from here and go to meet the princess in the far tower" replied Lanra.
"Then I will show you the way" replied the spirit.
Pointing to a space between two trees the spirit told him
"Here is the path you must follow to the princess's tower where she waits. I have also granted her an escape. Do not leave the path or you will lose your way."
Lanra followed the path for several hours before reaching the base of the princess's tower. Tired and hungry, he called to the princess that he had arrived. There was no reply so Lanra walked around the tower until he found its door. Strangely it was barred from the outside. Sliding the bar across, Lanra pushed open the heavy door and entered the tower.
Lanra had expected the tower to be as elegant and lovely inside as his own. Inside however, everything was cold grey stone. All the rooms here were cold, windowless, dark and empty. Searching from room to room Lanra found some hard, tasteless bread and a jug of sour milk. Having not eaten or drank since he left his tower he started to eat them, but found that he couldn't finish such an unpleasant meal. After searching through the tower, Lanra had only the roof of the tower left to search. His legs were sore and bruised from stumbling on uneven stone and his feet had many cuts from its sharp edges. Lanra didn't want to stay in this harsh tower a moment more than he had to. Upon the roof he found the body of the princess. Lanra rushed to her body, cradling her head in his lap. In front of the Lanra the spirit appeared again.
"Knowing only her cold stone tower the princess asked me for an escape into the eternal sleep of death."
Lanra wept over the body of the princess and left the tower in a fog of grief. After some time he realised he had wandered off the path and had become lost in the forest. Since that day Lanra has wondered the forest, searching for his tower where he once lived happily.
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The moral of this story is that we never know what things are really like in another person's world, in their life or in their head. We can sit cosily in our own "tower" imagining or judging the other person but having to actually go and live in their world would be something very different.