Explain the meaning of life to me

In the dark corner of the room, the old man sat down on an armchair and brushed his grey hair out of his face. He adjusted his glasses and bent down to pick up the worn blue book. He studied the scuffed surface of the cover. Someone had scratched and painted symbols and pictograms into the cover with a ballpoint pen. No one had ever understood what the artist meant by the signs mysteriously scattered all over the book cover.

But that had been a long time ago, long before the Old Man found the book in a hiding place in the sacred forest. He sits here tonight in the dark corner of the room and opens the book, the sputter of burning candles the only audible sound. Slowly he straightens up a little, takes a deep breath and begins to speak quietly."Good evening, dear friends, I am delighted that so many of you have come here today. I would like to take you on a journey, the journey of a little girl in search of the future." The old man clears his throat and continues slowly and deliberately, "the little girl lived happily with her parents in the forest. Together with her very best friends, the birds, the fox family, the hare and the hedgehog, she romped happily through the forest day in, day out.

But one day it happened: dark clouds gathered, the sun disappeared and all her friends called out to the little girl to 'hide, hide quickly'. The little girl hid under the big tree that had stood in the centre of the forest for centuries and under which everyone always met to discuss their problems. The darkness lasted for several days, the tree creaked, the branches screamed in pain, swords of fire flashed from the sky again and again and thundered on the ground. The ground shook! The little girl crawled further and further into the tree and held on tightly. 'Don't leave me, don't leave me alone big friend,' she called out to him. The old tree answered in a shaky voice after lightening had struck him with full force. 'Run my little friend, run, hide behind the stones and look for the future so that we can live again.'
The little girl ran for her life, lightening twitching from the sky. She hid behind the rocks and watched in horror as everything was destroyed. Sadly, when she woke the next morning. It was deathly quiet, no cheerful chirping of the birds greeted her.
She called the fox - no answer.
She called the hare - no answer.
She called the hedgehog - no answer either.
She was alone and began to cry bitterly.

She sat on her stone with tears in her eyes and didn't know what to do next. Then she heard a small voice from the earth 'take me, take me with you on your journey, I'll show you the way'.
Confused, the little girl looked around, but there was no one to be seen. But the voice said again and again, 'take me, take me with you on your journey, I'll show you the way'.

The little girl followed the gentle voice calling through the forest, going deeper and deeper. Until she came to a sunny clearing. Here she found a bunch of wild herbs that kept calling softly, 'take me, take me with you! - I'll show you the way! Astonished, the little girl took the bouquet in her arms and looked at it. Her grandmother had always told her about the magical powers of the herbs in the deep forest.

The little girl continued through the forest, following the gentle calls, going deeper and deeper. Until she came upon a sunny clearing in the forest. In the centre stood a large stone house from ancient times. When she was little, she used to come here with her grandmother and they would listen to the old stories. Today there was no one here, she was alone. All her friends had disappeared! Sadly, the little girl sat down on the floor and waited. She started to prepare a coffee. Her grandmother taught her to see the future in a coffee cup but today there was no future.

The little girl sat alone on the stony floor for a long time. Slowly, the cold rose up inside her. She didn't know what to do next. Everyone had disappeared, there was no one to help her. She was alone.
Suddenly she heard voices from the old days, 'Go out! Find the wise women. Look for the future. Be brave, you will make it'.
The little girl left the building and sat down to prepare herself for a long journey.
She remembered what her father used to say when he showed her how to make a pair of shoes. 'Shoes' he said, 'are not about standing still. Shoes are the idea of moving forward, continue moving on. Don’t stand still!'
'I taught you all the skills. So now move on'. The little girl finished her shoes. Then she started walking to find the wise women. After three days walking through a destroyed land, she arrived at the house of the wise women. 'Sister, sister', she asked the wise woman, ‘where can I find the future?' The wise woman looked into the sky and didn't say a word. Suddenly she spoke, 'You must have the will to accept change. Have the will to change your life. Then you will find a wonderful future' The little girl nodded her head, stood up, climbed on the next hill and shouted

'I swear'

She continued walking, climbing up hills, resting overnight in caves. After three days she came to a little stone house. From the inside a nice loud sound invited her to enter, 'ping... ping, pingping,' She saw a woman standing in front of the fire. Hammering with a big hammer . 'Sister, Sister, how can I find the future?' she asked the blacksmith. The woman stopped hammering and looked at her. 'You have to be brave enough to learn everything, even when everybody tells you, this is not for girls!' she said. The little girl continued walking for some days until she arrived at a big building in the middle of nowhere. She opened the door and went in. Behind many glass tubes and apparatuses, she saw a woman in a white coat carefully taking samples with a syringe. 'Sister, Sister, how can I find the future?' she asked the scientist. The scientist continued working, finished what she was doing. Then she turned around, looking into the eyes of the little girl, 'You will only find the future, if you are brave enough to allow all questions to you, even the ones you don't know the answer yet', the woman said.

The little girl walked away, followed the seductive sounds from the middle of the forest until she came to a tree, where a woman was playing the violin so beautifully that the little girl found tears in her eyes. Sister, Sister, how can I find the future?' she asked the violinist. The woman stopped playing and looked angrily at the girl. 'You will only find the future if you respect beauty and allow beauty to become part of your life!' A little irritated after this rebuke, the little girl continued on her way. She reached a mighty, intimidating stone building. Because everyone told her to be brave on the way here, she opened the door and entered. At the other end of the large hall, she saw a friendly woman cleaning and restoring an old manuscript. 'Sister, Sister, how can I find the future?' she asked the friendly woman, who called herself a book doctor. 'You have to study carefully the wisdom of the past, to achieve the future' she answered and smiled. The little girl wandered on until she came to a large hall full of machines. In the hall, she saw a woman conducting all of the machines, full of different colours, like the conductor of an orchestra. She set the rhythm of the machines and brought everything together into a beautiful sound. 'Sister, Sister, how can I find the future?' she asked the orchestra conductor. 'Oh, that’s simple, you teach the machines what they should do for you,' she said. The little girl became hungry. She searched for something to eat. Next door she found a bakery. When she entered into the shop, she saw a grumpy baker woman behind the counter. The little girl was not brave enough to ask her.

During her journey the little girl collected all the advice in her little black box
'Shoes are the idea of moving forward, continue moving on. Don’t stand still!'
'You must have the will to accept change. Have the will to change your life. Then you will find a wonderful future'
'You have to be brave enough to learn everything, even when everybody tells you, this is not for girls!'
'You only find the future, if you are brave enough to allow all questions to you, even the ones you don't know the answer yet'
'You will only find the future if you respect beauty and allow beauty to become part of your life!'
'You have to study carefully the wisdom of the past, to achieve the future'
'You teach the machines what they should do for you!'
Now she has to sort all the advice and live with them.
Suddenly three apples fell from Heaven;—one for the little girl, one for the story-teller, and one for the one who entertained the company. This is the sign for a new life, the little girl will celebrate her life in freedom.