The Blue Knight Short Story

The Blue Knight is a heart-touching short story about an old man with ragged clothes who waits outside a half-broken mansion to get work. Read the full story to know more.

The OLD GUITARIST by Pablo Picasso
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THE BLUE KNIGHT
It was a sunny afternoon when the skinny man with ragged cloths was waiting outside a big half
broken mansion along with the other men. Someone spread a rumour that the inheritor of the
abandoned mansion would come to visit the city that day. The skinny old man along with others
hoped that they would manage to convince the owner of the half broken mansion to give them
permission so that they could start repairing his home. Some of them managed to get some food
that day while some did not smell food for at least two days. The old man with ragged cloths was
the least fit among the lot to work as a building repairer. ‘You are wasting your time; it is better
that you head towards your home and get some rest…It will make you feel less hungry at least
for a day’, said a young boy from behind.
The old man tried to look for the hand of that boy and succeeded to find and grab his left hand
after waving own hands at wrong directions for a certain time. ‘Is it my frail body or my
blindness that made you think so, boy? I can still manage to shoot one or two fighters in the
battlefield…you know? Every soldier- young or old- used to call me the great knight!’ said the
man smilingly grabbing the boy’s hand with a strong grip. The boy freed himself from the grip of
the old man with disgust and said, ‘you are no knight and this is no battle, this is the Great War
where you either live or you die on your own...Here is none to blame for your death or none to
bless for saving your life’.
…
Days started to pass like seconds and months, days. The city became so much filthy and men so
much dirty that it was difficult to believe that they were still breathing. Slowly, the group of
hungry men became smaller and smaller as they gave up hope that the owner would ever come.
One day, there was only one man left standing on the yard of the big mansion and that was the
old man with ragged cloths and a blind vision. The war made him so weary that he looked twice
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his age and no one was ready to give him any work. He used to stand at the yard everyday and
used to sleep in a corner every night. The memories of the sweet past used to divert him from his
empty stomach every night. He could not sleep for being hungry but he pretended to dream about
the old days when he used to play his favourite guitar to his beloved. He was good at pretending-
he pretended very well to be a soldier whereas he always hated to fight.
Then the day came when a car stopped outside the mansion and the old man rushed toward the
visitor with all the energy that was left in him. ‘Sir, I am waiting here for days. I can repair your
home...Please give me work...I am very hungry and-’. The visitor looked at him, felt pity and
handed him some money and left. The old man rushed to the nearby market to buy some food
and suddenly heard rumbling of a guitar. He walked following the tune and said, ‘after so many
days... I heard music’. With a frail smile on his lips, he asked, ‘is this for sale? I want to buy it. I
have money see’.
Then the Night came-the bluest night. The northern winds were howling and the old man walked
down the street and kept walking until he could walk no more. With the guitar in one hand and
an old song on his lips, he went into sleep. He slept never better in his lifetime.
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