How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
And now six years have already gone by… I have never yet told this story. The companions who met me on my return were well content to see me alive. I was sad, but I told them: “I am tired.”
Now my sorrow is comforted a little. That is to say—not entirely. But I know that he did go back to his planet, because I did not find his body at daybreak. It was not such a heavy body… And at night I love to listen to the stars. It is like five hundred million little bells… (27.1-2)
At the end of the book we’re pretty close to where we started, with the narrator thinking about how long it’s been since he had his encounter with the prince. When he first parted from the prince, he “was sad”; six years later, he’s still full of “sorrow.” Although he says the sorrow’s gotten a little better, it’s still there. Looks like losing someone like the prince isn’t something you can get over very quickly.