Summary

Chapter 5 begins when the goatherd woke the boy once more to set out under the light of the moon. As they walked, the boy fell into a dream-like state in which he imagined himself floating above his town. He observed the twisted olive trees and abandoned vinegar plant, making his way to his family’s small stone house near the railway. The train station had closed when a drought struck the already hot, dry village. Half the population had left, leaving only the rich and the stubborn.

At sunrise, the boy noticed a ruined building in the distance. He recognized it as a castle, a common setting in the scary stories told to the village children. Reaching the ruins, he wished he could go home to tell the other children that the terrors of the castle paled in comparison to those of their own...