Installment #3

So saying, he tossed Michael out, and Michael dived down into a strange looking brown sack that the books had fallen into. As he got out of the bag, he saw a little man standing beside him. Supposing him to be Mann, the manservant, he asked him what they were to do about the old man who was still in the library, but just as he was saying this, there was a tremendous crunching sound behind him and he turned around to see that the building was merely a heap of ruins and rubble.
Michael was quite distressed at this, thinking the old man had perished, but Mann walked over to the sack of books and drew out an extremely old-looking volume, faded with exposure to the sun, with no letters or identification of any kind. He opened the book and placed it on the ground. Very soon the old librarian began to materialize from the pages of the book and stepped out of it, thoroughly astounding Michael. He smiled at Michael and said: “I, you see, am merely an idea, animated by the imaginations of those few in the world who still seek wisdom, and if their knowledge, and the knowledge contained in these books disappears, so do I. And that is why Mann and I must now go to the monastery.”
And with that, the old man opened a small paperback entitled: The Three Musketeers, and reaching into its pages as if they were water, drew out a life-sized horse, the strangest looking animal Michael had ever seen. He placed the horse on the ground, mounted it, and instructed Mann to take hold of its tail. Then, without further prompting from the old man, the strange horse galloped off at an unbelievable speed. Michael was puzzled because they seemed to be heading in the direction of a cliff, and then suddenly disappeared. But he didn’t trouble his already confused mind any more with thoughts of this, and went on his way.