real wisdom. That’s the great difference between a real joker and all the other cards in
the deck.”
“Did you say joker?”
Sophie nodded. “Have you ever thought about the fact that there are a lot of
hearts and diamonds in a pack of cards? And a lot of spades and clubs. But there’s
only one joker.”
“Good grief, how you talk back, Sophie!”
“And how you ask!”
Her mother had put all the groceries away. Now she took the newspaper and
went into the living room. Sophie thought she closed the door more loudly than usual.
Sophie finished doing the dishes and went upstairs to her room. She had put the
red silk scarf on the top shelf of the closet with the Lego blocks. She took it down and
examined it carefully.
Hilde ...
Athens
... several tall buildings had risen from the ruins …
Early that evening Sophie’s mother went to visit a friend. As soon as she was
out of the house Sophie went down the garden to the den. There she found a thick
package beside the big cookie tin. Sophie tore it open. It was a video cassette.
She ran back to the house. A video tape! How on earth did the philosopher
know they had a VCR? And what was on the cassette?
Sophie put the cassette into the recorder. A sprawling city appeared on the TV
screen. As the camera zoomed in on the Acropolis Sophie realized that the city must
be Athens. She had often seen pictures of the ancient ruins there.
It was a live shot. Summer-clad tourists with cameras slung about them were
swarming among the ruins. One of them looked as if he was carrying a notice board.
There it was again. Didn’t it say “Hilde”?
After a minute or two there was a close-up of a middle-aged man. He was rather
short, with a black, well-trimmed beard, and he was wearing a blue beret. He looked
into the camera and said: “Welcome to Athens, Sophie. As you have probably
guessed, I am Alberto Knox. If not, I will just reiterate that the big rabbit is still being
pulled from the top hat of the universe.
“We are standing at the Acropolis. The word means ‘citadel’—or more
precisely, ‘the city on the hill.’ People have lived up here since the Stone Age. The
reason, naturally, was its unique location. The elevated plateau was easy to defend
against marauders. From the Acropolis there was also an excellent view down to one
of the best harbors in the Mediterranean. As the early Athens began to develop on the
plain below the plateau, the Acropolis was used as a fortress and sacred shrine...
During the first half of the fifth century B.C., a bitter war was waged against the
Persians, and in 480 the Persian king Xerxes plundered Athens and burned all the old
wooden buildings of the Acropolis. A year later the Persians were defeated, and that
was the beginning of the Golden Age of Athens. The Acropolis was rebuilt— prouder
and more magnificent than ever—and now purely as a sacred shrine.
“This was the period when Socrates walked through the streets and squares
talking with the Athenians. He could thus have witnessed the rebirth of the Acropolis
and watched the construction of all the proud buildings we see around us. And what a
building site it was! Behind me you can see the biggest temple, the Parthenon, which