Part 2, Summary

In an introduction to the next six fables, the author comments that "the essential difficulty in trying to communicate with another is how to get past the interference of the resistance demons who inhabit that other". He suggests that the best way to do that is not confront those demons head on, but allow room for the hearer's imagination and experience to overcome them.

"The Power of Belief," a living man proclaims he is dead. In spite of the best efforts of his family, friends and community to convince him otherwise, he maintains his belief that he is, in fact, dead. He is taken to a psychiatrist and a minister, both of whom leave their conversations with the man frustrated by his unshakeable belief. Finally, his family doctor asks him whether dead men bleed. When the man says no, the doctor asks if...