At the age of 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married or had children, was walking in the Berlin park when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll. She and Kafka searched for the doll, but without success. Kafka asked her to meet him the next day. The next day, when the doll had still not been found, Kafka gave the girl a letter ‘written’ by the doll that read, “Please don’t cry. I had a trip to see the world, I will write to you about my adventures.”
Thus began a story that continued till the end of Kafka’s life. In their encounters, Kafka would read the girl his carefully written letters from her doll, talking about the doll’s adventures and conversations, which the girl found adorable. Finally, Kafka brought back the doll to the girl (he had bought a new doll) that had returned to Berlin.
“It doesn’t look like my doll at all,” said the girl. Kafka handed her another letter, in which the doll had written: “My travels changed me.” The girl kissed the new doll and happily brought her home. Kafka died a year later.
Several years later, the adult girl found a letter on the doll’s wrist. In the small letter signed by Kafka, it said: “Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will come back in another way.”