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on one wall a large photograph of the Magician with his hands outstretched and an angry look. I looked at the real Wizard and saw that he had the same gaze as the photograph. "I feel... see that you have problems..." he said "Do you have problems?"

Sure I have problems, I was about to answer. If not why would I have come to consult him? But, abandoning any polemical tone: "Yes." I humbly said.

He said he would help me and since he kept looking deep into my eyes, I strongly hoped he would read my problems right away and so I looked at him fixedly and looking I seemed to discover that his gaze was not so magnetic and I was disappointed butconsoled myself because you could not start immediately with the super-magnetic, it probably took a kind of break-through. In fact, he said that in order to help me better, he had to know my name. I was about to point out to him that as a Wizard he could at least try hard to guess it himself, but not to complicate it further: "Adriana." I said humbly.

Nice name, he said. A strong ancient Roman name. Beautiful and complex and as beautiful and complex as I was, not easy to face the forces surrounding such a complex whole, one would have had to proceed step by step, pass from one stage to another with patience and trust, especially trust, did I have faith an Achille d'Angelo, Wizard of Naples?

"Yup." I humbly said. 

"It's good to have faith." observed the secretary. "He is indeed a powerful wizard."

"This she will find out for herself." said the Magician. "Now go over there and don't come until I call you." Then he told me that this was done because trust was the basis of everything and that now I had to relax because I was all stiff, as if tied up.

"Yup." I said. 

Yes, he was quite right, I thought. I was really tied up. From so many ropes. Each rope was joined to another by a complex knot and the trouble was that when you touch a knot,...