99 Days

[Alfredo told this story to the young man Toto.]

Alfredo: I'll tell you a story. Just for you Toto. Let's sit down. God Almighty!
Once upon a time, a king gave a feast. The most beautiful princesses were there. A soldier who was standing guard saw the king's daughter go by. She was the loveliest one, and he fell instantly in love. But what is a simple soldier next to the daughter of a king? One day he managed to see her and told her he could no longer live without her. The princess was so taken by the depth of his feeling that she said to the soldier:"If you can wait for 100 days and 100 nights under my balcony, I shall be yours." With that, the soldier went and waited one day, two days......then ten, twenty. Each evening the princess looked out and he never moved! Always there, come rain, come thunder. Birds shat on his head, bees stung him, but didn't budge. After 90 nights, he had become all dry and pale. Tears streamed from his eyes. He couldn't hold them back. He didn't even have the strength to sleep. And all that time, the princess watched him. When 99th night came......the soldier stood up, took his chair, and left.

Toto: How come? Right at the end?

Alfredo: Right at the end, Toto. Don't ask me what it means, I don't know. If you figure it out, you tell me.

[Few years later, Toto has learned a bit more about life, and presents his interpretation of the story's ending.]

Toto: Remember the story about the soldier and the princess? Now I understand why the solider left right at the end. In one more night, the princess would have been his. But she also could not possibly have kept her promise. And that would have been too cruel. It would have been killed him. This way, at least, for 99 nights, he was living under the illusion that she was there, waiting for him.

Alfredo: Do as the solider, Toto. Go away.

- From the movie: Cinema Paradiso