Only a few knew: you can catch the sun if you run headlong through the forest in the middle of the night. Run through thickets and bushes. Run where there is no path. Run, slipping on wet leaves and pieces of slippery bark. Running as if from your own shadow. As fast as you can, with all your strength. Paolo knew all this — and ran.

No one fully understood his motivation, but everyone was convinced that he would do it. He ran and ran and ran. And then, when the crunching under his feet became as loud as someone breaking rhubarb for a salad, the damp thicket of the forest ended and dry grass began, already lit by the sun. The man slowed down. He could already feel the first rays of the sun. He sensed that they would break the dark branches with ease, like powerful spotlights. The ringing of the future solemn sunrise rang in his ears. He caught the new day. He was the first in the whole region who not only saw the sun, but also summoned it with his running.