In
the forties,
a sickly boy developed a reputation among family
and friends as the little genius who practically came out of the womb
reading.
Not so. His genius lied not in reading, but
in possessing a photographic memory. Unbeknownst to them, he memorized
stories others had read to him, and would then sit on the floor with the
book, reciting it page by page. Sometimes he had an audience of one,
himself
under the stairs in his apartment building. Other times he had,
thanks to his teacher mother, an entire classroom.
So he knew, practically from the womb, that he wanted to
be a storyteller.
Years later, he had a particular short story in mind.
He didn't outline it. He made it up as he went. He wasn't even sure of
the ending until he came about two chapters from it.
Then he stopped working on it altogether, thinking it "was a dead end."
Two years later, he picked it up once more, and what began as a short
story soon evolved into a fantasy novel about a unicorn.
"I've heard people say that the book changed their
lives," said Peter S. Beagle, "and that startles me. I think of
books that changed my life and I think, I'm not in that class."
Since its original publication,
The Last Unicorn has sold more than five million copies
worldwide, and has been translated into twenty languages.
Not bad for a born storyteller.
