This story about a traveling Doll from the life of Franz Kafka shows his depth of compassion, the transformative power of grief, and the magical power of storytelling. The Transformative Experience of Grief – Franz Kafka and The Traveling Doll A year before his death, the writer Franz Kafka saw in one of Berlin’s park, a girl who was desperate because she had lost her doll. It’s 1923. Franz Kafka is 40. Every afternoon, he is walking in a park near his home. Kafka, the story goes, that it was this last time he had visited Berlin. In one afternoon, he encounters a young girl called Elsi in a park awash in tears. That little girl had lost her doll and was desolated. Kafka offered to help the child to look for the doll and arranged to meet her the next day at the same spot. Not being able to locate the doll, and to soothe the girl, Kafka composed a letter from the doll to the child, to explain her disappearance. Kafka was planning to read it to her when they met again. Kafka makes up a story of wonders and travels. He tells the girl that her doll has gone off on a journey of a lifetime. Here is an opening passage of one of the letters, to see the rich construction that the author performs: “Dear Elsi, first of all, I’m sorry to have left so suddenly without saying goodbye. I’m sorry, and I hope you’re not angry. Sometimes we do things without realizing it, or we react to what our instinct does not say, and we hurt who we do not want. It’s that the farewells are sad, and I did not want you to cry or try to convince me to stay any longer. Now I...

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