#grograman

'O(1) master,' said the rumbling lion's voice. 'Have you spent the whole night like this?'

After reiterating the situation and how Bastian is also the first to shed tears over Grograman, the lion asks once more, if Bastian knows why he dies each night. Bastian explains the Night Forest, and Grograman decides that if his nightly death has purpose, he can be content.

Grograman retrieves a sword from a dark corner, and Bastian names it, and it leaps into his hand from its sheath. Sikanda, a sword of pure light that nothing in Fantastica can resist.(2) Bastian should never use it by force, only if it leaps into his hand by its choice, for to draw it from its sheath will bring great misfortune. Bastian promises never to forget it.(3)

Grograman invites Bastian to ride him again, and they return to the place they met. Grograman can feel that it's the same, though it looks different, because of the upheaval of Perilin's growth and destruction all over. Bastian asks if Grograman has always been here, and the lion confirms it, but Bastian explains his time with Moon Child and how his wishes built the place. Grograman proposes that it has been forever since Bastian created it, so it's not a contradiction.(4)

It grows late, so they return to Grograman's cave-home. Bastian is less heartbroken over Grograman turning to stone, and spends some of the night looking out at Perilin. The next morning, Bastian asks if he can stay here forever. The lion tells him, no, he has to go live his story soon.

Bastian asks how he can leave, when the desert is so big. Grograman tells Bastian of the Temple of a Thousand Doors. Any door in Fantastica can turn into a door to the Temple, but never lead right back to where it started, and inside is a maze of doors to all places in Fantastica. Only a genuine heart's wish can lead you to what you really want.

Some days later they return to the subject. Bastian shows Grograman the inscription on Auryn, and the lion says that it doesn't mean Bastian can do anything he wants, it means he must do what he really and truly wants the most. He must fulfill his deepest secret wish, and he can only find out what that is by following all his other wishes to their destinations.(5) Bastian says that doesn't sound so hard, but Grograman outlines the honesty and vigilance required, because on such a journey it is that much easier to lose yourself to your own desires. It won't be until much later that Bastian looks back on Grograman's words and understands them.(6)

At this time another change took place in Bastian. Since his meeting with Moon Child he had received many gifts. Now he was favored with a new one: courage. And again something was taken away from him, namely, the memory of his past timidity. Since he was no longer afraid of anything, a new wish began, imperceptibly at first, then more distinctly, to take shape within him: the wish to be alone no longer. Even in the company of the Many-Colored Death he was alone in a way. He wanted to exhibit his talents to others, to be admired and to become famous.

One night, Bastian knows somehow that he's watching Perilin grow for the last time, as something inside him calls him away. He barely sleeps, but he startles at one point like someone called his name, to find the door to the bedchamber open a crack, with light spilling out. He looks at Grograman as the door starts to close again.

'Goodbye, Grograman, and thanks for everything,' he said softly. 'I'll come again, I promise, I'll come again.' Then he slipped through the cleft, and instantly the door closed behind him. Bastian didn't know that he would not keep his promise. Much much later someone would come in his name and keep it for him. But that's another story and shall be told another time.

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Never(1) had Bastian slept so soundly as in that glowing red blossom.

He wakes feeling rested, and very strong. He begins also to take this for granted, and forgets he was ever weak or clumsy. Now, physical strength and good looks are not enough for him.(2) He wishes to be tough like Atreyu was.(3) Only, how can he become tough in such a lush jungle?

Dawn begins on the horizon, and Bastian decides that to explore a desert would suffice for his needs and make him proud of himself.(4) Suddenly, the great tree quakes, and cracks, and falls to the ground. The jungle has become a desert, the plants all dead and dying and crumbling to dust. The sand shifts before Bastian's eyes, in all shades of the rainbow. He names it "Goab, the Desert of Colors."

Bastian journeys through the desert, where his strength is of no use, though he finds no water nor food. Soon, he learns how to travel the desert, and his will becomes hard as steel. He remembers being discouraged in the past, and giving up at the first sign of difficulty out of fear of hardship. Now, all that is behind him.

No one before him had dared to cross Goab, the Desert of Colors,(5) on foot, nor would anyone undertake to do so in the future. And most likely no one would ever hear of his exploit. This last thought saddened Bastian.

He knows that if he doesn't come to the end of the desert, he will meet his end, but it doesn't frighten him. Still, just in case someone back in his world is reading the book he left behind, he writes his initials in red sand on a blue dune. Someone would know that he had been here.

He sits on the red dune, and rests, and forgets that he was ever a crybaby. And then, his endurance is not enough, and he wishes for an adventure to prove his courage and daring.

Before he can finish saying what he might want to encounter, he hears a roar, and turns, and sees what might be a ball of fire. He hides between the dunes, then overcomes his fear, and climbs back up again to see.

The figure has come near enough to make introductions. He is the lion Grograman, Lord of the Desert of Colors. Bastian asks for help escaping the desert, but the lion carries the desert with him, and cannot leave. Besides, Bastian is the first person Grograman has ever spoken to, because everyone else burns up in his presence, but Bastian is protected by Auryn. Bastian asks to find something to drink, and the lion invites Bastian back to his palace.

Bastian climbs on Grograman's back, and the lion asks him to promise that he will never take off the gem that protects him while he's in Grograman's domain. Bastian promises, and they go across the desert to the palace. When they arrive, it's nearly night, and Grograman asks Bastian to see if he can explain why something happens to Grograman at night. Inside, Bastian finds sustenance, and a bath to wash in. He leaves only Auryn on while he cleans up.

However, as soon as he finishes, dries, and clothes himself again, he hears a cracking, grinding noise. He approaches Grograman, and finds him turned to stone. Bastian looks outside, and finds Perilin regrowing. He can sense that the transformation is connected to the forest-desert cycle, and returns to the cave, throwing his arms around the stone lion.

The lion's eyes were black and as dead as the rock. Grograman had turned to stone. The lights flared for an instant and went out, leaving the cave in total darkness. Bastian wept bitterly.(6) The stone lion was wet with his tears. In the end, the boy curled up between the great paws and fell asleep!

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