Now we are in the Athens of antiquity, Sophie. I wanted you to come here in person, you see. We are in the year 402 B.C., only three years before Socrates dies. I hope you appreciate this exclusive visit because it was very difficult to hire a video camera ..."
Sophie felt dizzy. How could this weird man suddenly be in Athens 2,400 years ago? How could she be seeing a video film of a totally different age? There were no videos in antiquity ... so could this be a movie?
But all the marble buildings looked real. If they had recreated all of the old square in Athens as well as the Acropolis just for the sake of a film--the sets would have cost a fortune. At any rate it would be a colossal price to pay just to teach Sophie about Athens.
The man in the beret looked up at her again.
"Do you see those two men over there under the colonnade?"
Sophie noticed an elderly man in a crumpled tunic. He had a long unkempt beard, a snub nose, eyes like gimlets, and chubby cheeks. Beside him stood a handsome young man.
"That is Socrates and his young pupil, Plato. You are going to meet them personally."
The philosopher went over to the two men, took off his beret, and said something which Sophie did not understand. It must have been in Greek. Then he looked into the camera and said, "I told them you were a Norwegian girl who would very much like to meet them. So now Plato will give you some questions to think about. But we must do it quickly before the guards discover us."
Sophie felt the blood pounding in her temples as the young man stepped forward and looked into the camera.
"Welcome to Athens, Sophie," he said in a gentle voice. He spoke with an accent. "My name is Plato and I am going to give you four tasks. First you must think over how a baker can bake fifty absolutely identical cookies. Then you can ask yourself why all horses are the same. Next you must decide whether you think that man has an immortal soul. And finally you must say whether men and women are equally sensible. Good luck!"
Then the picture on the TV screen disappeared. Sophie wound and rewound the tape but she had seen all there was.
Sophie tried to think things through clearly. But as soon as she thought one thought, another one crowded in before she had thought the first one to its end.
She had known from the start that her philosophy teacher was eccentric. But when he started to use teaching methods that defied all the laws of nature, Sophie thought he was going too far.
Had she really seen Socrates and Plato on TV? Of course not, that was impossible. But it definitely wasn't a cartoon.
Sophie took the cassette out of the video recorder and ran up to her room with it. She put it on the top shelf with all the Lego blocks. Then she sank onto the bed, exhausted, and fell asleep.
Some hours later her mother came into the room. She shook Sophie gently and said:
"What's the matter, Sophie?"
"Mmmm?"
"You've gone to sleep with all your clothes on!"
Sophie blinked her eyes sleepily.
"I've been to Athens," she mumbled. That was all she could manage to say as she turned over and went back to sleep.
Plato
a longing to return to the realm of the soul
Sophie woke with a start early the next morning. She glanced at the clock. It was only a little after five but she was so wide awake that she sat up in bed. Why was she wearing a dress? Then she remembered everything.
She climbed onto a stool and looked on the top shelf of the closet. Yes--there, at the back, was the video cassette. It hadn't been a dream after all; at least, not all of it.
But she couldn't really have seen Plato and Socrates ... oh, never mind!