Image

A father entrusts a letter to his son, to be delivered to a venerable man in a distant city.

The letter, he says, is very important. About the man I can not reveal much: I only know the name, that is Bernardo. He has a white beard. But when you see him, you will not mistaken. No one is like him.
The father dies and the son goes in search of Bernardo. On foot, on horseback, by boat, following the faintest tracks, speaking with those who have met someone who has met him. The quest takes years. Bernardo is not found. He met many men by the name of Bernardo, but nobody is the venerable one. Having devoted his entire life to searching, he is forced to abandon his mission.
Bernardo, he thinks, does not exists and is the invention of a father who wanted to test the devotion of his son. And the devotion of the son is total.
He is now an old man. Older than his father at the time of the vouchsafing of the letter. He let his beard grow. He is not prepared for any profession, is not interested in any other quest. He decides to do what he would have done a long time ago, if he had not been given the search that is now so distasteful: to retire to a monastery.
Upon taking his vows the spiritual father, as customary, gives him a new name, Bernardo.
He opens the letter.