A very old doll, from my vintage collection, reminded me of this story…

When he was 40, a year before he died, novelist FRANZ KAFKA (1883–1924), who never married and had no children, was strolling through Steglitz Park in Berlin, when he came across a young girl crying because she had lost her favorite doll.

Kafka, along with the girl looked for the doll without success. Kafka felt very sorry for the little girl so he told her to meet him there the next day and they would look again.

The next day Kafka gave the girl a letter “written” by the doll that said, “Please do not cry. I have gone on a trip to see the world. I’m going to write to you every day and tell you about my adventures.”

Every day and for three weeks Kafka read aloud to the girl his carefully composed letters of adventures and conversations about the beloved doll, which the girl found enchanting.

One day Kafka gave the girl a brand new doll he had purchased. “This does not look at all like my doll,” she said.

Kafka handed her the final letter that explained, “My trips, little girl have changed me a lot.”

The girl hugged the new doll and took it home with her.

Not long after Kafka died.

Many years later, the now grown-up girl found a letter tucked into an unnoticed crevice in the doll.

The tiny letter, signed by Kafka, said, “Everything you love is very likely to be lost, but in the end, love will return in a different way.”